Short of cash, the University of California plans to shift much teaching online
March 6, 2013 at 1:22 am 4 comments
“Who would want to replace courses with MOOCs?”
The University of California plans to beef up its online classes enough to make them as much as 11 percent of the undergraduate curriculum over the next five years.
The 10-campus university system, which is based in Oakland, thinks many incoming freshmen could then do a chunk of their lower-division classwork online.
And the university was clear — this move is not about improving things for students or about moving teaching into the 21st century, either. It’s about money, or the lack of it, rather.
Entry filed under: Uncategorized. Tags: MOOCs.
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1.
mgozaydin | March 6, 2013 at 3:49 am
Governer Brow :
As an ex Californian , as an alumni of Stanford, I suggest to license courses from various MOOCs ( from good ones please ) rather than to invest on new online courses . You save millions .
Each school can make their own exams and granting credits and degrees.
If one student takes 5 online out of 10 courses per year you save 50 % from tuition + there are more room for new students + quality of the school increased by MIT Harvard Stanford courses .
2.
gasstationwithoutpumps | March 6, 2013 at 12:33 pm
mgozaydin may not be aware that the UC system offers courses every bit as good as MIT, Harvard, and Stanford.
Of course, the good UC courses are not the mega lectures that are being MOOCified. Students may now be better off taking their first year or two at a community college, unless they have enough AP credit to skip the mega-lecture courses. (At least until the governor manages to kill off the community college system—their funding situation is even more dire than UC’s.)
3.
sirexcedrin | March 6, 2013 at 12:55 pm
As a current undergrad, I would welcome the choice between a traditional classroom and a lower cost MOOC alternative. If the method of assessment is the same then I don’t understand the argument against MOOCs. I mean, it’s my GPA and my money that is being put at risk by my choosing a MOOC alternative. I don’t feel that I need a self-serving teacher’s association making the decision for me.
4.
Andy R. Terrel | March 6, 2013 at 6:49 pm
Reminds me of the comment “We expect more from technology and less from each other”
http://www.cnn.com/2012/05/27/opinion/turkle-ted-technology