What campuses can learn from online teaching
October 8, 2012
EdX announcement (credit: MIT)
Also see the three related posts today (below). — Ed.
Higher education is at a crossroads not seen since the introduction of the printing press, said MIT president L. Rafael Reif* in The Wall Street Journal.
“Residential education’s long-simmering financial problem is reaching a crisis point,” he said. “At the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and other campuses, the upheaval today is coming from the technological change posed by online education.”
He pointed out that Coursera, edX, Udacity and other online-learning platforms are beginning to offer the teaching of great universities at low or no cost. Universities have also developed technology that lets them actually teach in an interactive format designed specifically for online learning, such as MIT’s MITx.
“Online education holds the key to making residential education better and less expensive even as it promises to offer education to many millions more people. … Given its possible scale, online education may improve the financial model of residential education.
“If a university’s courses can be offered online for small fees to people around the world, we might arrive at a sweet spot where high numbers of online learners are getting extremely good value for their fees, and the university that creates the content is using those fees to serve the mission of the university as a whole — part of which is to make education, on and off campus, affordable.”
*According to an MIT announcement, Reif led the design and implementation of the strategy that allowed MIT to weather the global financial crisis; drove the growth of MIT’s global strategy; led the development of MITx, the Institute’s new initiative in online learning; and led MIT’s role in the formation of edX, the partnership between MIT and Harvard University that builds on MITx and that aims to enrich residential education while bringing online learning to great numbers of people around the world.
Comments (14)
by de Broglie
I am in the process of taking several courses on Coursera. It is a great medium for learning the material of lecture based courses The only problem is the lack of office hours. One of my classes has a mock office hours, but obviously with the enormous multitude of students enrolled in the class, it is next to impossible to have personalized office hours. The courses are quite rigorous and involve a lot of graded work. In addition, you receive various certificates which can count towards professional advancement.
by DeBee Corley
Way faster than I surmised. Kurzweil is truly correct in his “exponential” acceleration of technology.
Allowing billions of people access to these materials will further accelerate progress. From now on, every really smart child will be able to learn at a rate not hindered by the “average”.
by JC
But if all education occurs on the web and the web goes down hard and long, then we lose the ability to reboot civilization from the centers of learning. It would be like the loss of The Musaeum of Alexandria.
by Bri
Let’s face it, you can’t get hands on experience over the Internet. One of the most important aspects of learning is getting your hands dirty with besides and test tubes and the like. This coupled with first rate, one on one teaching from skilled professors and the business contacts that are forge in peers, away from their families and being independent, are still worth their weight in gold. These top notch learning universities offer cutting edge research. The students grapple with real world issues, in close to real world settings. It’s like private research organizations with training wheels. You don’t have to worry that your not achieving the corporations goals. This is the strengths that these ivy league institutions should promote and advertise.
by Editor
“Can’t get hands on experience over the Internet”: another sign on the wall to be torn down by Arduino boards, 3D printers, and DIY labs.
by Bri
As cool as these developments are, they are not the same as the high tech equipment available at brick and mortar locations. Especially one that are doing cutting edge research. Although it’s an even more rarefied example, look at Paul Allens brain institute. The equipment in use over there will not be printable for some time. I’m envisioning MIT staying at the cutting edge. But your point is well taken. Eventually computers will be able to simulate the actual physical equipment.
by Bri
I also should add that upon reading the other articles, it altered my delivery. It will take awhile for these smaller teaching labs to rival MIT. You yourself know how many articles are generated by MIT alone. They still are Mecca’s of investment from outside interests, trying to solve the most challenging issues, so I wouldn’t take that sign down just yet. Balls I. Your court. Your volley now.
by Bri
Just one more aside. I’ve often thought, as the yearsgo by, that the land of Kurzweilia will become a vital hang out. It would be a gas to have you stroll up as a blue Meanie and bonk me on the head for being a bonobo! LOL!!!
by Bri
That’s virtual not vital. I was poking too fast!!!
by Editor
Yes, specialized equipment and expertise in labs is obviously essential for some fields, and Paul Allen’s Institute for Brain Science is a good example of superior independent resources not available in most academic settings, and they make the Atlas available online.
by Bri
May I buy you a virtual cup of coffee, I mean green tea at Kurzweilia cafe? You can keep the blue Meanie outfit on. Blue kinda suits you sometimes! LOL!!!
by Bri
Try the virtual sugar. It’s unbelievable and totally none fattening. Here, check this out. A little pomegranate and raspberry. It may not have any antioxidants in it, but it tastes out of this world!
by luvmum
They do throw down the gauntlet, do they not?
by Rob Larson
MIT is lucky to have such a leader. He seems to understand that, whatever else, the growth of distance learning is going to drive the cost of education down, but by catering to more people who will have the opportunity to educate themselves, forward looking organizations like MIT will reap the benefits of the technological revolution.