Universities Shift To Online Learning
http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2012-07-31/universities-shift-online-learning
Stanford University computer Science professor Andrew Ng uses tablet-recording technology he developed to instantly display notes for his interactive video lecture.
Photo credit: Stanford News Service
The nation’s top universities have traditionally offered courses to an elite few. Only qualified students with enough financial resources need apply. But today, hundreds of thousands of people around the world are enrolling in classes at universities like Stanford and MIT. These higher ed institutions and many more now provide free online classes to anyone, anywhere. At the same time, other universities are offering on-campus students the opportunity to enroll in a growing number of online classes. As universities move toward instruction online, observers say higher education -- and possibly the business model -- is being redefined. Diane and her guests discuss the new generation of online learning and what it means for the future of higher education.
Guests
Daphne Koller
founder of Coursera and professor at Stanford University.
Jeffrey Selingo
editor of The Chronicle of Higher Education.
Kevin Carey
director of the Education Policy Program at the New America Foundation.
Peter Struck
professor at the University of Pennsylvania.
Comments
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90% of the education at any higher learning institution is worthless – not applicable in the real life situations. The education providers are in the business of making money and higher profits is the goal. The true learning comes from the passion for learning and not from the production lines of academic institution. I will be very reluctant to hire anyone unless I can verify the depth of knowledge regardless of if they came from virtual or real academic institutions.
90% of the education at any higher learning institution is worthless – not applicable in the real life situations. The education providers are in the business of making money and higher profits is the goal. The true learning comes from the passion for learning and not from the production lines of academic institution. I will be very reluctant to hire anyone unless I can verify the depth of knowledge regardless of if they came from virtual or real academic institutions.
I am mostly bemused, and also a bit annoyed, at the perspective being offered by the panelists on this show. Listening to their comments, one would think that current online higher education is mostly schlock, but fortunately the elite institutions are coming to save the day, that MOOCs, Coursera, etc. represent a new way of learning, and that MOOCs, Coursera, etc. represent actual education as opposed to learning.
In fact, none of these is true. There is a lot of high quality online education already out there, and it's an open question as to whether or not the elite institutions will do as well with their current offerings. Kevin Carey's comment that we're at the "birth" of online education is false and misleading; in fact there has been quality online education for the past 15-20 years. A better question to ask is whether the elite institutions can catch up to the current state of practice or whether they have already been disruptively out-competed.
Likewise, the new ways of learning which Daphne was talking about has been standard practice in many online courses for many years. I just recently had dinner with a colleague who has been using some of these practices for over 15 years.
And MOOCs, Coursera, etc. are not actual education yet, because they do not offer credit. Nor do they solve the problem of how to scale those elements which distinguish education from learning, for instance enabling teachers to fulfill those multiple roles which add value to the educational experience.
As to the notion that online courses are data dumps and hoop jumping exercises (Eric from Texarkana's comment), the reality is that his statement applies more truly to traditional classroom courses (precisely because they are more numerous), and many online courses move beyond that. His criticism pertains to educational practice more generally, not to delivery mode in particular.
These new developments are interesting and are a wildcard in terms of growing online education; they could have a positive effect overall. But the notion that they represent the dawn of online education is deeply offensive to the hundreds of thousands of online education practitioners who have endeavored to create higher quality educational experiences, often in the face of criticism and deep skepticism, over the past 15-20 years. And it's just plain false...
I am extremely concerned with the need to distinguish between "traditional" online courses which students take at community colleges and universities, for which they earn credit from the college toward their degrees, and MOOCs which are essentially continuing education courses, for which students do not receive credit, but experience to learn more about a subject for their own personal enrichment.
More than 92 percent of colleges and universities offer online courses according to the US Department of Education. In November 2011, ITC surveyed its 400 colleges that offer online courses, and 79 percent limit the number of students who can enroll in a course to no more than 30 students. This is due to the high levels of student-to-teacher and student-to-student interaction that takes place - technology makes it easy to send an e-mail question, or post a thought or an idea on an online discussion board. Faculty and administrators who are concerned about course quality and student learning (and physical burn out for the faculty member!) demand the college puts these limitations in place.
The colleges and universities take pains to make sure the students have access to online student services, such as tutoring, career counseling, orientation programs, technical support, library services.
I am afraid that folks will confuse our for-credit courses, which have to follow accreditation guidelines for quality, with MOOCs which offer few of these services (in addition to testing to show learning has taken place and quality control). Listeners are correct to be concerned with the question - how can one faculty member interact with 120,000 students. In the education world, these types of courses are rare, whereas one-third of students, according to a report by the Sloane foundation have taken a "traditional" online course. And the number is growing.
I attended a prestigious brick and mortar university in my late teens and early twenties (in the 1970s) and got a fabulous education - most of which did not appear on my transcript.... In-person learning did not seem to have a huge advantage to me, in fact I had one freshman chemistry professor who was, literally, dead! His lectures, video-taped over the years, were available in the library for viewing in study carrells and then we had lab periods overseen by teaching assistants.
In the 2000s, in an attempt to improve my employability in a field in which I had been working for 30 years, I completed an online degree at Capella University. It was a blast! I had great real-time conversations with class-mates via Skype, did in-depth, collaborative projects creating business plans, web sites, and security plans. One of the best classes I took was a philosophy class where we wrote Socratic dialogues and debated the existence of God - all moderated and guided by a professor who was teaching a course in Bejing and including students located all over the world - even in war zones in Afghanistan and Iraq. Because the classes were not homogenous - not all recent high school graduates, not all full-time students, not all experiencing the same environment at the time - the points of view in every class were all different and valuable.
What I mean to say is that you get out of any educational opportunity what you put into it. I wanted to 'get my ticket punched' but I also wanted to LEARN, so I did. My BSIT, Summa cum Laude, is an accomplishment I am proud of, and that I think actually reflects the work and growth that went into it. The online environment allowed me, as a non-traditional student, to go to school while continuing to work and live with my family. It was ideal and worth every penny of the tuition I paid - including the student loans that I will be paying off for the next 8 years.
This is absolutely right. Teaching online is not at all new. Colleges and universities began offering online courses in the early 1990's, as soon as the costs for computers and Internet connections became affordable to students, who take the courses from their home or workplace, and to colleges, who purchase learning management systems, like Blackboard, and now Desire 2 Learn and Instructure to teach students online. Offering free non-credit online courses to hundreds of thousands of students - is different, but teaching online to small classes of students for credit has been around since the Internet became popular and affordable.
"Don't knock it, 'til you try it!" - as they say. Please direct me to the online university where I can cheat my way to a Master's Degree in Science in Nursing! Please! And when I ruin my integrity...still be able to stay employed at my facility as a staff/patient/student educator! There may be programs where you can cheat your way through, but there are programs with strict rules of conduct - weekly mentor calls, mentors for each subject, webcams they send you if you want to take your exams at your home or you have to go to a proctored site with photo ID's and such - (the same site I took my State Board exams), papers screened at least three times for plagiarism, etc. Fake degree or not, you still have to prove yourself in the real world. I have worked with nurses that have degrees from top universities - Harvard, UCLA, Loyola, etc. and have seen some fired. Just like that expensive puppy in the window, you have to have a piece of paper that justifies the cost. Why is a facility paying you soo much money?
Because of the economy and the demand for highly skilled professionals, online learning is the best option we have, for the academic portion. Especially those of us with families. With Nursing, as exciting as it can be, we need the higher education to get ourselves out of the rut and move elsewhere in the profession. There are many new graduate nurses coming out of the community college system with just the bare minimum, that most facilities now are looking for new graduate RNs with a BSN or higher degree.
Before you judge those of us that have graduated from, or are currently enrolled in, an online university program, walk our walk and see where the path leads you. Even Shaq graduated from the University of Phoenix and moved on to Barry University for his doctorate! Getting off your butt to take that path is the most difficulty thing to do!
Learning is Growing!
WGU! Go Owls! Peace!!!!
"Don't knock it, 'til you try it!" - as they say. Please direct me to the online university where I can cheat my way to a Master's Degree in Science in Nursing! Please! And when I ruin my integrity...still be able to stay employed at my facility as a staff/patient/student educator! There may be programs where you can cheat your way through, but there are programs with strict rules of conduct - weekly mentor calls, mentors for each subject, webcams they send you if you want to take your exams at your home or you have to go to a proctored site with photo ID's and such - (the same site I took my State Board exams), papers screened at least three times for plagiarism, etc. Fake degree or not, you still have to prove yourself in the real world. I have worked with nurses that have degrees from top universities - Harvard, UCLA, Loyola, etc. and have seen some fired. Just like that expensive puppy in the window, you have to have a piece of paper that justifies the cost. Why is a facility paying you soo much money?
Because of the economy and the demand for highly skilled professionals, online learning is the best option we have, for the academic portion. Especially those of us with families. With Nursing, as exciting as it can be, we need the higher education to get ourselves out of the rut and move elsewhere in the profession. There are many new graduate nurses coming out of the community college system with just the bare minimum, that most facilities now are looking for new graduate RNs with a BSN or higher degree.
Before you judge those of us that have graduated from, or are currently enrolled in, an online university program, walk our walk and see where the path leads you. Even Shaq graduated from the University of Phoenix and moved on to Barry University for his doctorate! Getting off your butt to take that path is the most difficulty thing to do!
Learning is Growing!
WGU! Go Owls! Peace!!!!
Unfortunately, there is no one comprehensive list of online courses (although there are plenty of sites that charge colleges a lot of money to be included - so smaller colleges, which could have excellent, less expensive, online programs cannot afford to add their names to the list).
One thing is for sure - make sure the course is accredited by the U.S. Department of Education because there are plenty of online diploma mills out there that are happy to take your money and give you nothing in return. http://ope.ed.gov/accreditation/
Note that nearly all colleges offer online courses - so check with a local college, or a college or university that offers a degree program you are interested in. They can at least point you in the right direction.
Here is a list ITC has compiled of statewide or regional networks - many offer a list of the courses that are offered in their state or region.
http://www.itcnetwork.org/resources/research-directories.html
You can also just look at our list of ITC members - since they have to pay to join ITC, they are more likely to offer a significant number of online courses. http://www.itcnetwork.org/membership/members.html
Hi Patsy,
I have to disagree with you. I've been diagnosed with an anxiety disorder and sometimes it is very difficult for me to answer questions verbally. However, this does not reflect my level of understanding. My online learning experience has allowed me to express myself through writing and prove my understanding of the material. We all are different and to say that one way or another is right for everyone may allow for many students to slip through the cracks of education. Because my skills and abilities differ does not mean I am unworthy of an education and have nothing to offer society. There are many ways that we can assess a student's comprehension. Thanks.
Can a CLEP test can be passed from the information acquired in these classes? This would ensure the popularity of MOOCs.
I think the organizers of this interview were taken for a ride by Coursera. Daphne is founder of Coursera. This is mentioned. What's missed is that UPenn as an investor in Coursera, and Peter's conflict-of-interest is never mentioned.
The movement was started by Sebastian Thrun of Udacity -- the startup Coursera is trying to copy. Sebastian is mentioned, but Udacity never is. MIT and Harvard are both mentioned -- but their not-for-profit initiative to put courses on-line -- edX -- was hidden until a very direct question and downplayed.
I have to smile. For younger colleagues, this all seems new, but some of us have believed in this, and taught online, since the 1980s (yes 80s!).
Yes, the technology has improved, and students have gotten better at being online students (as faculty have gotten better at teaching online), but the underlying concept is the same as it was 30 years ago.
What IS new is the concept of MOOCs and the entry of the elite schools.
The business model for MOOCs is mushy, to say the least. However, elite schools are diving in because the PR value is very real, and they are willing to spend, at least initially. Time will tell if that enthusiasm continues -- those old enough will recall the Fathom project, which failed miserably a few years back.
The great heroes in all of this may be those institutions with strong Continuing Ed/Professional Studies schools/colleges/divisions who will translate the value of MOOC-driven certificates or badges to employers. These types of entities within traditional universities are often overlooked, yet they were behind the DL movement full-force in the early days, and they will, most likely, continue their un-sung hero role as translators and credentialers.
There are some great continuine ed. schools/colleges/divisions here int he DC region, and Diane Rehm and Jeff Selingo should consider taking a "deeper dive" into the roles these units play in relation to online learning, and especially MOOCs.
I think this is the tip of something very interesting in higher education. Classroom professors are going to have to starting proving that they provide value over and above what can be delivered online. Except for the "credit," what makes that on campus experience worth all that money? In too many cases, especially at the undergraduate level at larger universities, the large lecture format..where the famous professor talks to huge audiences and the papers and tests are graded by poorly paid graduate students...is really not much different than the experience of an online class. If we are playing thousands of dollars for just a piece of paper....well, that starts to look like a scam.
I think this change will bring higher levels of learning to so many around the world, which will be a wonderful thing. And I think it will force colleges and universities to clean up their act and provide meaningful, interactive education for those who have the opportunity to partake. Winners all around.
I am a recent MIT Master's recipient and I am taking Gilbert Strang's Linear Algebra and Differential Equations course on MIT's OCW which is completely independent learning: video lectures and recitations with homework & exams with solutions. plus a text book.
I am finding this to be really excellent. I have not taken a MOOC and I am not sure how well I could adapt to set times given my out-of-school schedule.
The whole world of online learning is both exciting and still not-completely-developed; for example, MIT is involved in three online ventures: OCW, MITx and EdX and it's hard to find one's way through this thicket, and this is for just one school.
I agree 100 percent. I just finished taking a fabulous online class at coursera.org from Professor Andrew Ng. The subject was machine learning. There are discussion forums where students have the opportunity to ask lots of questions. They get get answered by other students. A very critical question that I asked was answered superbly within a day. The class has ended now, and the discussion forum is being filled by many hundreds of sincere thank you messages from students from all around the world. Many of them state that it was the very best course they had ever taken--online or in person!
There is excellent technology being used in the videos, in the review questions and in the assignment exercises--all automatically and immediately graded. The content of the videos was excellent. A LOT of work went into preparing the assignments, so that students could focus on the important aspects of the material.
I plan to take another course in September, given by Professor Daphne
Koller. I expect it to be another great course.
Kudos to coursera!
I have completed one course and am currently taking three Coursera courses. I have been very pleased with the experience. My goal is certainly to gain knowledge, but also to have exposure to experienced and educated thinkers. I have six years of on-campus college experience and so far my needs and expectations have been exceeded by the Coursera instructors. That was not always the case on-campus courses. I have also enjoyed the multinational aspect of this format. I have learned a great deal from my fellow students abroad.
Karen, I teach a variety of university courses in different modes. Some are strictly face-to-face. Some are strictly online. Some are mixed. What I have learned in the ten years or so that I have been incorporating this technology into my pedagogy is that chat rooms, bulletin boards, and discussion forums are absolutely crucial for successful online learning. Moreover, I find that using discussion forums for my face-to-face students allows them the communication space to participate in discussions when they might not say a word in the traditional classroom setting.
Your situation as an "older working adult" illustrates perfectly how well-designed online courses can benefit a much larger group of students than the traditional brick-and-mortar set up. Kudos to you for going the extra mile to incorporate this new technology into your educational experience.
try peterson's
Am extremly glad to be part of coursera online classes.i just can't wait till on the 22nd of Oct.2012 for my first lecture and alot of thanks to the founders of this great initiative.