Coursera's announcement may help assuage the concerns of those professors who warned that adopting wholesale this educational model will create a system of "two classes" where the top-tier schools remain vigorously well-funded at the expense of teetering sub-standard public and private institutions where either state funds evaporated or the prestige factor is less compelling. Participating schools, some of which include the University of Colorado System, the University System of Georgia, and the State University of New York (SUNY), will have the ability to create and distribute content that is aimed at complementing and not necessarily replacing existing curriculum.
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When thinking about higher education, it's important to consider outcomes. That is, what is the quantifiable result of someone receiving a university schooling? Are students graduating to become productive members of society? Indeed, there is a clear economic advantage afforded those who earn a college degree and those who don't. This earnings-potential premium is reflected in numerous studies which, despite underemployment among recent graduates, has remained constant over time. So, how will these outcomes be affected by changes in the quality of education provided? This is a difficult question because there is a high degree of uncertainty regarding what defines a high-quality education.
There is a tendency among both professors and students to assume that online education is either haphazard, insufficient, or lacking real value. Professors complain that online content removes the human element from the equation -- personal interaction, instant feedback, and customized Q&As. Some fear losing those indescribable moments of enlightenment when two (or three or more) minds work together to arrive at a consensus of thought. Others bemoan the highly informal way online courses are delivered to people in their pajamas or students simultaneously watching a video lecture while Facebook chatting their friends.
From an institutional perspective, to suggest that the sustainability of higher education is somehow compromised by the introduction of online content is exaggerated. What are MOOCs really providing? A substitute for a rich, interactive college experience? Probably not. The amenities afforded enrolled students are too wide in breadth and scale to replicate on a computer screen. No one can seriously suggest that a discussion board will serve the same purposes as a face-to-face meeting. Yet what these courses can provide is increased access to high-quality educational content, better allocation of resources, and rich opportunities for data collection and analysis.
Access is imperative. Are we already losing what we've gained?
Moving forward, one of the key determinants of MOOCs' success or failure will be their openness. Already billed as "massive and open," MOOCs have helped deliver knowledge to people without preference for socioeconomic factors or sovereign borders. The Internet's capacity to flatten (or more appropriately disregard) formal barriers between peoples has coincided with the growth of information distribution on an unprecedented scale. How open will these courses remain? Already, we are witnessing carefully coordinated attempts to monetize this space. As with newspapers throwing up paywalls, this is somewhat reactionary. Yet how will this affect those most likely to benefit from free entry?
In theory, education should be non-exclusive. Thomas Jefferson once said that "knowledge is the common property of mankind." Information wants to be free. In practice, however, information is a scarce and highly guarded resource. America's founding fathers envisioned universities as "temples of knowledge." Yet over time education, like many other public goods, was reinterpreted as a for-profit enterprise with good intentions. Now, crowded lecture halls are not necessarily a market failure. On the contrary, a highly educated society is desirable. Demand is simply outpacing supply. What clearly needs fixing is the increasingly unrealistic cost of obtaining an education.
Missing from the MOOCs debate is what effect it's having on the global citizen. As more people come online across the world and Internet access is expanded to include new populations, open and accessible knowledge will shower untold benefits on the world's un- and undereducated. Obviously, there are limitations; backward-looking countries and Big Brother states will always find ways to erect walls or taper the velocity of information. But in places where information is allowed to flow freely, a convergence of standards will help educators across international borders align their teaching know-how in a way unimaginable in modern history.
The data doesn't lie
Perhaps one of the brightest prospects for MOOCs is the ripe potential for data collection these online courses will provide. Every time a class is administered, there are thousands of data points worth tracking at both the micro and macro level. Best of yet, the data is provided in real-time so there is less of a risk that an instructor will find out 30 percent of his/her students failed after the fact, or students will get their grades back wondering why they received a 'B' instead of an 'A.'
Consider that when students fail to understand a particular component of a teacher's curriculum, in the brick-and-mortar classroom this is difficult to identify due to either time constraints or students' fear of asking "dumb questions." Yet when we shift gears to online content, thousands of students have the ability to voice their concerns instantaneously (and hopefully anonymously), providing a venue for clarification, peer-to-peer discussion, and real-time temperature gauging.
On a micro level, data will not only help teachers respond proactively but also provide new insights about teaching methods. Maybe it's discovered that students perform at a higher level when beautiful visuals complement traditional video lectures. Another way to think about this is not every student learns new information in lockstep. Different content delivery formats cater to different individuals' learning styles. In the middle of a video lecture, a student might run into trouble answering a certain question (sometimes referred to as "retrieval"). With calibrated algorithms, a student can be posed a second (or even third) question tailored in a way that fits that student's learning profile.
Looking at this on a macro scale, MOOCs have the ability to act as a sort of invisible hand, clearing away the content which fails to provide tangible benefit and focussing attention on what really matters. As more students sign up and (importantly) complete these courses, universities will learn where to direct their resources, what subjects are in high-demand, what teachers are worthy of their pay scale, and what the educational landscape really looks like. This isn't so much "market-based" as it is reality-based. The best teachers will not go unnoticed and the brightest students will find what it is they're looking for.
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