Tag: online education
-
How UVa Is Addressing the Online Challenge
by James A. Bacon Eight years ago the forced resignation of University of Virginia President Teresa Sullivan embroiled Virginia’s flagship university in a controversy that played out nationally. Rector Helen E. Dragas saw an “existential threat to the greatness of UVa” from demographic, financial and technological forces reshaping the higher-education landscape. The most controversial of…
-
College Education for Free? Eat Your Heart Out, Bernie Sanders
by James A. Bacon Progressive icon Bernie Sanders famously called for “free” higher education. Not free for taxpayers, of course, but free for students. Daniel Pianko, co-founder of the University Ventures fund, thinks that nearly free tuition may be coming — thanks to market-driven innovation. COVID-19 is accelerating trends that were underway before the epidemic…
-
Observations from a Distance Learning Pioneer
by James A. Bacon Last week I published a table showing the level of online enrollment at Virginia’s leading higher-ed purveyors of distance education. The table exaggerated the extent to which distance learning occurs by failing to distinguish between students enrolled in distance learning-only programs and students who took an occasional distance learning class. James…
-
Virginia Online Network Targets Adult Learners
Several years ago when Del. Kirk Cox, R-Colonial Heights, was still teaching high school government classes in Chesterfield County and serving as majority leader in the House of Delegates, he had to take a continuing-education course to get his teaching re-certification. “I went, wow, my schedule was crazy. There was no way I could get…
-
The Revolution in Online Education Nearing Takeoff
by James A. Bacon Jr. The revolution in online education continues. It’s just taking longer than it should. Two years ago, the Georgia Institute of Technology partnered with Udacity, a company that runs massively open online courses (MOOCs) and ATT to launch an online masters degree in computer science charging a fraction the cost per credit…
-
Here Come the OOCs
Is there such thing as an OOC? We’ve all heard of MOOCs (Massively Open Online Courses). But what do you call it when the enrollment in an online course that’s open to the public but only 100 students sign up? An Open Online Course? Whatever you call it, Virginia Commonwealth University taught such a course…
-
Massey Bill to Expedite Online Learning for Higher Ed
A bill submitted by Del. James P. “Jimmie” Massey III, R-Henrico, would promote online education in Virginia by making it easier for the state’s higher ed institutions to enroll out-of-state students. Frank Muraca, executive editor of Fourth Estate, George Mason University’s student-run news publication, has the story here. Colleges and universities such as GMU are turning to distance education…
-
MOOCs: Hyped, Humbled, Hardy
Not unexpectedly, after two years experience, the purveyors of Massively Open Online Courses (MOOCs) are re-evaluating their model for delivering educational services, according to the New York Times. It turns out that the jaw-breaking numbers of students enrolled in some MOOC courses — 160,000 in the case of on Stanford University professor’s course on artificial…
-
VCU: Prime Candidate for a MOOCing
by James A. Bacon I often wonder if higher-education board members can see the forest for the trees. In my mind’s eye, I see university administrations sharing huge volumes of reports and data in thick notebooks — no one can accuse them of a lack of full disclosure. And I imagine most board members (with…
-
Nuke the MOOCs
After a rash of enthusiasm about Massively Open Online Courses (MOOCs), the counter-reaction is setting in. Only a tiny percentage of the hoards of people enrolling in classes actually complete them. Many students drop out because they have competing demands for their time; others get bored by the inability to have meaningful interaction with the…
-
Higher Ed Shakeout Hits HBCUs First
by James A. Bacon All colleges and universities find themselves under unremitting pressure these days as consumers balk at relentless increases in tuition & fees and new business models coalesce around online education. But few are as stressed as the Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), which have special problems all their own. Sidney A.…
-
Curry School to Launch Education Technology Accelerator
I like the sound of this news from Potomac Tech Wire: The University of Virginia’s Curry School of Education plans to launch a new education technology accelerator in Charlottesville, school officials said. … The news comes amid a sharp increase in venture capital for education technology companies in recent years, with UVA Curry spinning out…
-
Where Teachers Make Money Like Rock Stars
If America treated its teachers like rock stars, the theory goes, we’d get better, more motivated teachers. And better teachers would lead to superior academic performance. Well, there is one country in the world where teachers have the potential to make money for nothing, even if they don’t get, in the immortal words of Dire…
-
MOOCs and the Honor Code
In an interview for its June issue, Virginia Business interviewed University of Virginia President Teresa Sullivan about Massively Open Online Courses (MOOCs). University professors are teaching six MOOCs this year. On the positive side, Sullivan said, the experience is changing how the professors are teaching their classes on the Grounds and promoting the UVa brand…
-
Crunch, Rumble, Shake. Georgia Tech Goes MOOC.
The tectonic plates of higher education continue to shift and slide. The latest rumble you heard emanated from Atlanta, where the Georgia Institute of Technology recently announced that it would offer an online master’s degree in computer science at less than one-third the cost per credit hour. Georgia Tech is partnering with Udacity, a company…