The Age of the MOOC

Julie Raynor Gross is the Founder and President of Collegiate Gateway LLC, a boutique educational consulting practice with offices in Manhattan and Port Washington. Collegiate Gateway offers personalized counseling to students throughout the country on high school planning and research programs, college admissions, graduate school admissions, and careers. The goal is for clients to optimize their personal growth and development, identify colleges and careers that are the best fit, and maximize chances of admission. Julie is a Professional Member of NACAC, NYSACAC and IECA, where she serves as Vice Chair of the College Committee. She received her Bachelor’s Degree from Princeton University, and her Ed.M. and MBA from Harvard University. She visits colleges continually to keep informed about trends in admissions, academics and campus culture. Julie is a Certified Practitioner of the MBTI Myers Briggs Personality Type Indicator and Strong Interest Inventory.

The Age of the MOOC

What are MOOCs and Why Do They Matter? MOOCs may be the most buzz-worthy trend in the world of higher ed, and have quickly become the hot-button issue among educators everywhere. MOOCs – short for “Massive Open Online Courses” – are real college courses taught online to large numbers of students around the world. Courses range from Passion Driven Statistics to the more advanced Artificial Intelligence for Robotics. Up to 100,000 students have enrolled in individual MOOCs, such as Intro to Astronomy. While some see these free online courses as a harbinger of greater democratization in higher ed, others remain skeptical. Typically, students watch video lectures and complete assignments that are graded either by machines or by other students. The increasing popularity of MOOCs has led to the issue of whether academic credit should be awarded, based on new standards of academic mastery. MOOCS are made possible through advances in technology and a shifting of the basic paradigm of higher education. What an exciting time to be a student and lifelong learner!

Who Offers MOOCs and How Can They Improve Higher Ed?

MOOCS are often designed and taught by professors from some of the most prestigious universities in the US. There are currently four major players: edX (a non-profit run by Harvard, MIT and Berkeley), Khan Academy (a non profit founded by MIT and Harvard graduate Salman Khan), Coursera and Udacity (both for-profit ventures founded by computer science professors from Stanford, with current members including Princeton, Columbia, Duke, Emory and UVA, among others). Last year MIT and Harvard contributed $60 million to edX, but made it very clear that they intended to use MOOCs to improve, not supplant traditional courses. Princeton professors see MOOCs as an opportunity to bring into the classroom the global perspectives of students from around the world, through skype. Through MOOCs, professors could direct students to learn the most basic material in a course at their own pace via online modules, then use the time saved to create more of the opportunities that make great colleges such fertile learning environments: seminars, project-based courses and mentorship opportunities.