UT Considering Massive Open Online Courses
The University of Texas at Austin is considering getting into the MOOC — massive open online course — game.
During a special presentation Wednesday to the University of Texas System Board of Regents on blended and online learning, Harrison Keller, the university's vice provost for higher education policy, said that UT is in negotiations with Coursera and edX, two of the most prominent companies engaged in the mass distribution of course content from elite universities for free online.
"We are looking into this with great interest," UT President Bill Powers told the Tribune.
Coursera already sports an impressive roster of nearly ...
Comments (3)
Ron Smith
It's a great idea. I've downloaded about 30 courses now through iTunes and they've helped alot, but the best thing is they're FREE. However, these courses only cover subjects in the freshman and sophmore years. I was trying to get Austin Community College to do the same since it's a junior college. I don't see much of a challenge with intellectual property though unless UT is trying to milk as much money from it as possible. I mean, how many differrent ways can a professor solve a quadratic equation, or discover the calculus of Issac Newton, or define a quanta and claim it was entirely his own thoughts. I suppose by that reasoning James Joyce(or his estate) should be getting royalties everytime the word "quark" is used in a speech or research paper. Unless, of course, you count the French typesetters who couldn't spell English words very well.
I think UT is just greedy, and they want every penny they can possibly get. And if they don't get it, they'll just raise tuition again, and again, and again.
James McNamara
I'm impressed with UT's effort to work with Harvard and MIT on the matter of on-line courses (Free or Not). It does a couple of important things: 1) extends post secondary learning to the public and 2) puts the issues associated with on-line learning and intellectual property in fuller view of the public. I'm re-reading the exciting 1989 publication, School's Out. Hyperlearning, The New Technology, and the End of Education and hope that the leaders of this initiative have done the same since Perelman (the author) presents a well articulated a passionate argument for a new way of learning the force of which is not only an educated populace but a much improved and improvable economy, based in a great number of ways on the management of intellectual property. So, intellectual property will be one of the most central issues of this initiative but is at risk for becoming an Achilles heal if care is not taken to maintain a balance between the needs of the learners and the rights of the "property" owners. In the background of all this work is the question of credentialing the learning that will occur via the courses offered. MOOC development must engage in this question as well. Finally, I hope the UT contingent proceeds in this endeavor with a sense of what UT personnel do NOT know as well of what it does. Good luck.
Stuart Greenfield
I know w/ certainty that UT will join edX, which will herald UT's move to the Ivy League. Moving to the Ivy League will be a win-win situation for both academics and the football team. Professors will now be able to state that they are Ivy League professors and the football team will go unbeaten, untied and unscored upon. Could one ask for anything more?
P.S. I just finished a Coursera course, Health Policy and the Affordable Care Act, which was taught by Ezekiel Emanuel, which I found quite beneficial. There were around 6K others enrolled and exchanging comments w/ them was quite beneficial. In fact, these exchanges are generally lacking in the 500-600 student MLS (mass lecture section) associated w/ many of the Principles of _________ courses now at our mega universities. I encourage everyone to visit Coursera, http://www.coursera.org and view the offerings. One should find something beneficial, especially given the direct costs.