College Costs 101
In some respects a college education today unfolds much as
it did a half century ago. Students march to a classroom where the professor
imparts knowledge by lecturing, leading a class discussion or overseeing a
workshop or lab. Research papers, lab exercises, exams and quizzes may be
assigned. Professors render grades and students move on to the next set of
courses. The whole process resembles a menage of cottage industry and
nineteenth century factory assembly lines. Weren’t new technologies supposed to
change all this? Weren’t they supposed to improve learning while reducing
costly inefficiencies?
To be fair, universities haven’t stood still. Students today
are more likely to record notes on a laptop, notebook or tablet. Instructors and
students routinely e mail or text one another. Course websites permit students
to check in with questions, participate in chat groups and the like. Professors
use PowerPoint and other courseware technologies to illustrate and outline
their lectures. And online sources convey visual and audio recordings, assigned
readings, web links and the like to provide course content direct to students’
computers.
Still, New York Times
columnist Thomas L. Friedman, among others, insists that there is plenty of
room for cost savings in higher education. One way is to reduce duplication and
other inefficiencies. Some elite universities are beginning to get this
message. Harvard and MIT’s edX is one example. Instead of repeating courses
over and over again, this Cambridge cabal has put their best faculty to work packaging
key courses and offering them free over the Internet. edX terms these “MOOCs”
or massively open online courses. Beginning this fall anyone can take a MOOC,
though non-Harvard and MIT students will receive no credit for completing one.
If they satisfy all course requirements however, they can earn a “certificate
of completion.” Will these certificates be enough to open employment doors for
edX’s “grads?” Only time will tell.
Similarly, Stanford professors will offer online courses
through Coursera, a Silicon Valley startup. Princeton, Michigan and the
University of Pennsylvania will partner with them. Students anywhere in the
world, not just those enrolled at the participating universities, will be able
to take courses and receive a certificate of completion. Cost? Right now, it’s
$100 per course, less than the price of a month’s worth of Big Macs and fries.
But what if campuses around the world “adopted” some of the
best MOOCs and offered them to their own students? This would permit educators
to “flip” the usual routine. Instead of each campus fielding several sections
of History 101, for example, why not have a single online version taught by
some of the finest instructors available? Instead of diligently trooping to a
classroom to record their prof’s lectures or class discussions, students could
logon to their computers or other devices whenever and wherever they wish.
Instead of five or ten history faculty teaching sections of History 101, a
smaller number would spend less time lecturing and more time in class interacting
systematically with students to answer questions, structure discussions and reinforce
learning. Put simply, what once took place in class (e.g. lecturing) would no
longer take up class time; what used to take place after class (e.g. homework)
would now occur in class --- with an instructor there to reinforce lectures and
answer questions.
So what if Professor X radically disagrees with an edX or
Coursera prof about the origins of the Civil War? He or she can use face time
with students to compare and contrast other points of view, thus stimulating a
good discussion among students.
Universities, of course, could still field their own courses on more
specialized topics that aren’t available online. The typical student might take
one-third to one-half of his or her coursework through MOOC-supplemented offerings
and the remainder through more traditional wholly on-campus auspices.
Of course there is nothing new about online courses. Universities
and for-profit companies have offered them for years. What makes edX and
Coursera different is that courses are highly affordable. (Free is especially cheap)!
And they are taught by presumed experts in their fields. If the MOOC concept catches on, it seems
likely that other campuses will want to sponsor their own MOOC courses and make
them available worldwide at little or no cost to students. This will give
campuses across the land several options in choosing an online Chemistry or
Physics 101 course, for example, for their own students.
As one who has spent more than 30 years teaching in
university classrooms, I know that some faculty may not take to these ideas
with great relish. Yet, the skyrocketing expense of a college degree
underscores the need for economies of scale. MOOCs might offer one possible alternative. Yes, they may lead to universities reducing
the number of full-time tenure track slots in some departments. But cost
savings from such measures may help administrators keep tuition costs
competitive with those of other institutions.
Initially, I confess, I was reluctant to accept the
MOOC/flipped classroom concept. My biggest concern about online education is the
challenge of assessing student learning. Though most students are honest, the
temptation to cheat on online tests and papers is great, given the ease with
which such skullduggery can be accomplished. But then I realized, this is where
the on-campus profs come in. It is they, not the MOOC profs, who would
determine how well students have mastered course content.
With less time spent preparing and delivering lectures, on-campus
instructors can provide frequent in-class assessments of student progress. Quizzes,
exams, student oral presentations and the like can be carried out, giving
students more frequent and personal progress reports. Put simply, online education doesn’t have to
become a subterfuge for dishonesty. On-campus faculty would still retain fundamental
oversight of student learning. They would be free to supplement MOOC content,
agree or disagree with it, discuss it with students, reinforce concepts and
ideas, and most importantly, evaluate student progress and render final grades.
What do you think?
Professor Academe
