Skip to content


Survey finds presidents are skeptical on MOOCs

From Inside HigherEd:

MOOC Skeptics at the Top

“It would be easy to think that the leaders of American higher education are all in when it comes to MOOCs. Dozens of colleges and universities — many of them among the elites — have rushed to offer massive open online courses. Top foundations back the effort. The American Council on Education has moved quickly to certify some of the courses as credit-worthy. Many other colleges are considering plans to award credit for MOOCs or to use them in instruction.

But it turns out that — when asked privately — most presidents don’t seem sure at all that MOOCs are going to transform student learning, or reduce costs to students — two of the claims made by MOOC enthusiasts and an increasing number of politicians and pundits.

That is a major finding of a Gallup survey of college presidents (based on responses from 889 of them) being released today.”

Presidential Views of MOOCs

I consider MOOCs to be a solution to the following:

Scale is from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree)

1Strongly

Disagree

2 3 4 5Strongly

Agree

Don’tKnow
Improve the learning of all students 28% 31% 24% 10% 3% 4%
Solving colleges’ financial challenges 31% 33% 21% 9% 2% 4%
Getting superior teachers in front of more students 18% 22% 28% 22% 7% 3%
Fostering creative pedagogical strategies 10% 17% 27% 32% 11% 3%
Increasing collaboration among colleges 10% 19% 30% 29% 7% 5%
Reducing costs of education to students 15% 23% 31% 20% 8% 4%

So how to make sense of this skepticism with the seemingly endless flurry of MOOC-related announcements these days?”

Read more: http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/05/02/survey-finds-presidents-are-skeptical-moocs#ixzz2S8hPhoBu
Inside Higher Ed

 

Twas ever thus.  Academia has a strength in skepticism but that’s also the weakness.  You see that in the slow reaction of other industries that have been disrupted by radical change from the fringes that remain in denial about how to survive let alone thrive.  The winners will be those that aren’t just skeptical but seek to pilot, experiment, learn and understand,  . . . quickly.

Ask other sectors like newspapers, television, retail, publishing, etc. etc. what what they wish they had done retrospect and when they should have been adapting.

Stephen

 

0 Shares

Posted on: May 2, 2013, 9:55 am Category: Uncategorized

6 Responses

Stay in touch with the conversation, subscribe to the RSS feed for comments on this post.

Continuing the Discussion