2,400 MOOCs Starting in April
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2,400 MOOCs Starting in April
1–10 of 31 posts
Re: 2,400 MOOCs Starting in April
#2I've always wondered: what is the incentive for colleges to put courses up for free? I remember more than 10 years ago when MIT OpenCourseWare (OCW) started and at that time, I thought this is probably because MIT is well funded and they can afford to put content up for free. Now we are here, 10 years later and there is an abundance of free college courses - what are the incentives for colleges to do this?
Re: 2,400 MOOCs Starting in April
#3I've always wondered: what is the incentive for colleges to put courses up for free? I remember more than 10 years ago when MIT OpenCourseWare (OCW) started and at that time, I thought this is probably because MIT is well funded and they can afford to put content up for free. Now we are here, 10 years later and there is an abundance of free college courses - what are the incentives for colleges to do this?
Building name recognition and attracting students, I'd say.
Re: 2,400 MOOCs Starting in April
#4I've always wondered: what is the incentive for colleges to put courses up for free? I remember more than 10 years ago when MIT OpenCourseWare (OCW) started and at that time, I thought this is probably because MIT is well funded and they can afford to put content up for free. Now we are here, 10 years later and there is an abundance of free college courses - what are the incentives for colleges to do this?
Marketing? Or maybe they actually take their mission seriously, to educate people, and see free courses as a way to achieve that.
Re: 2,400 MOOCs Starting in April
#5I've always wondered: what is the incentive for colleges to put courses up for free? I remember more than 10 years ago when MIT OpenCourseWare (OCW) started and at that time, I thought this is probably because MIT is well funded and they can afford to put content up for free. Now we are here, 10 years later and there is an abundance of free college courses - what are the incentives for colleges to do this?
Building name recognition and improving their brand. I think in the last ten years, colleges have seen that MOOCS don't reduce the demand for the traditional college experience, and have realized that creating their own MOOCS is actually an effective to create a new pipeline of potential students.
Re: 2,400 MOOCs Starting in April
#6I've always wondered: what is the incentive for colleges to put courses up for free? I remember more than 10 years ago when MIT OpenCourseWare (OCW) started and at that time, I thought this is probably because MIT is well funded and they can afford to put content up for free. Now we are here, 10 years later and there is an abundance of free college courses - what are the incentives for colleges to do this?
Primarily advertising and positioning themselves as merit-worthy schools in a specific field. It also gives the schools a way to sell more materials. Plus, it's a way that professors under the harsh 'publish or perish' regime can constantly publish visible content and keep their name out there. Beyond that, most people who take a free MOOC actually want the certification it leads to - and they're more likely to enroll at a school they've already become familiar with.
Re: 2,400 MOOCs Starting in April
#7I've always wondered: what is the incentive for colleges to put courses up for free? I remember more than 10 years ago when MIT OpenCourseWare (OCW) started and at that time, I thought this is probably because MIT is well funded and they can afford to put content up for free. Now we are here, 10 years later and there is an abundance of free college courses - what are the incentives for colleges to do this?
Nobody cares about the coursework at uni and what you learn. They're selling the accreditation (piece of paper). That's where the value is and they're not giving that away.
Re: 2,400 MOOCs Starting in April
#8I've always wondered: what is the incentive for colleges to put courses up for free? I remember more than 10 years ago when MIT OpenCourseWare (OCW) started and at that time, I thought this is probably because MIT is well funded and they can afford to put content up for free. Now we are here, 10 years later and there is an abundance of free college courses - what are the incentives for colleges to do this?
My bet is to reduce the competition from other MOOC offering sites. If colleges didn't offer MOOC's, then that model would stand in stark contrast to the traditional educational model. And when MOOCs showed to be effective and gained popularity, it would put the authoritative hold universities have on education into question. Now that they are leading the way in MOOC's, they can curb that authority building and reduce the dramatic contrast which makes their model seem absurdly anachronistic.
Re: 2,400 MOOCs Starting in April
#9I've always wondered: what is the incentive for colleges to put courses up for free? I remember more than 10 years ago when MIT OpenCourseWare (OCW) started and at that time, I thought this is probably because MIT is well funded and they can afford to put content up for free. Now we are here, 10 years later and there is an abundance of free college courses - what are the incentives for colleges to do this?
It's not just the college per say that invests time and money to put courses up for free, it's after all the professors who choose to do so, and they definitely have incentives (well deserved) for the same.
Re: 2,400 MOOCs Starting in April
#10If I had MOOCs when I was a student... one of the best ideas of this decade.