To a great extent MOOCs have been disappointing. Only a small number of people who initially show interest actually complete most courses. And a majority of those already have degrees. There are a few stories of people who have done well and had no other access to education, but for the most part it hasn't been the dream solution to universal education. Furthermore, the experiment at San Jose State was not particularly successful. Students didn't do any better than with a normal course. Many did worse. This was the case even though there was a great deal of support. It wasn't just watch the video and ask questions on the forum. It was disappointing enough that they suspended the experiment.
Even so, I suspect that the Georgia Tech MS program will succeed. The students are more mature. They are more motivated--because they want the degree and because they are paying money for the courses. They will probably develop a reasonable forum system and find some way to arrange study groups. The first enrollees is limited to 400, which I think is a good idea. They are not trying for the tens of thousands--at least not immediately. One of my students was admitted. Considering that the admission process was quite selective (with only 400 slots), he was pretty happy about it. I can let you know what he thinks of it as the program progresses. Also, we are using one of the San Jose courses in our Intro to Computing course. We use what's called a flipped classroom model. Students watch the videos and do the homework on their own. Then we use class time to go over the homework, resolve questions, and do additional projects. It worked reasonably well that Fall. We are doing it again this quarter. (The course we're using is Cay Horstmann's Udacity Intro to Computing Course.) -- Russ *-- Russ Abbott* *_____________________________________________* * Professor, Computer Science* * California State University, Los Angeles* * Google voice: 747-*999-5105; CS Dept.: 323-343-6690 Google+: *http://GPlus.to/RussAbbott <http://GPlus.to/RussAbbott>,* * http://tinyurl.com/RussAbbott <http://tinyurl.com/RussAbbott>, or * * http://google.com/+RussAbbottCa <http://google.com/+RussAbbottCa> * * vita: *sites.google.com/site/russabbott/ *CS Wiki* <http://cs.calstatela.edu/wiki/> and the courses I teach * A draft of "Abstractions and Implementations <http://philpapers.org/rec/ABBAAI>" * * How the Fed can fix the economy (**2 pages)**: ssrn.com/abstract=1977688 <http://ssrn.com/abstract=1977688>* *_____________________________________________* On Thu, Jan 23, 2014 at 12:25 PM, Pamela McCorduck <[email protected]> wrote: > We mustn’t dismiss the good because we insist on the excellent. > > My (almost, in those days) free education at the University of California > was a far cry from what I later learned Harvard students get. But it was > awfully good, and I’m glad I got it. (Of course, Harvard wouldn’t even have > let me in, as a woman, but they eventually got over that bigotry.) > > MOOCs will be debugged and improved over time, I think, but no, they will > never take the place of everybody sitting together, learning together, f2f > with a great teacher. Should we therefore not even aspire to teach people > who can’t have the intimate experience? I say let’s at least try. > > > On Jan 23, 2014, at 2:44 PM, Stephen Guerin <[email protected]> > wrote: > > On Thu, Jan 23, 2014 at 11:02 AM, Gary Schiltz <[email protected] > > wrote: > >> I’m so ambivalent about this and MOO in general. From the standpoint of >> learning, it offers many advantages, including training many more people >> who don’t have the resources to attend a college or university (notice I >> said training, not educating). From a social standpoint, there are so many >> intangibles to be gained by spending time face-to-face with other knowledge >> seekers (wow, does that sound idealistic). > > > Eric Bonabeau (BiosGroup Paris and founder Icosystem) joined on as Dean of > Computational Sciences at Minerva. Interesting to me is that while the courses > are online, students are required to study together and live in residence > facilities. > > > http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/minerva-schools-at-kgi-names-deans-of-computational-and-natural-sciences-231555771.html > > http://chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/minerva-start-up-college-hires-academic-leaders/48205 > > http://ca.finance.yahoo.com/photos/the-radically-experimental-university-minerva-schools-of-kgi-slideshow/bonabeau-minerva-project-smiles-during-meeting-san-francisco-photo-060227588.html > ============================================================ > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv > Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College > to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com > > > > ============================================================ > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv > Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College > to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com >
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