Online Course Work

   I've been giving some thought to online course work lately.  The Educational Life section of the NY Times ran a lead article categorizing 2012 as "The Year of the MOOC."  In virtually every issue, the Chronicle of Higher Education includes mention of online course work as an integral part of the contemporary undergraduate and graduate curricula. At GSB, conversations with faculty reveal a full range of attitudes towards online education, from enthusiasm to curiosity to disdain. For a school whose students range from 3 year olds to high school seniors, what does it mean?
   It's probably best to start with some definitions.  An online course is more than a class that meets regularly but houses much of its curricular information on a web site. It's a course where the students meet the curriculum on a web site.  The web site virtually always includes two functions: it houses information and it serves as a chat space where students and the teacher can comment on class materials and responses of students to those materials. Because the course is web-hosted, online courses are not limited by geography.  Students from any location can enroll with equal ease. Teachers serve as webmasters for the course site.
   MOOCs (Massive Open Online Course) are a certain kind of online course. Massive refers to enrollment which can exceed 100,00 students. Open refers to admission policies. There are none. All are welcome. MOOCs came in to prominence through the efforts of M.I.T. and Standford. Both schools had the faculty and the institutional support to host MOOCs.  Harvard and UC-Berkeley have followed suit. When it became apparent that this new model of course offering was attractive, a few for-profits got involved, most notably Coursera.
   MOOCs have attracted significant press for a few reasons.  For one, they offer a counter-intuitive approach to educating people. Most assume smaller class size is generally better; MOOCs count enrollment by the tens of thousands. They also offer a new model of placing value on learning for accredited universities. Dating back to the 19th century, course credit was the concrete result of course mastery. With MOOCs, course credit is generally not given. Rather, certificates are awarded to designate specific competencies. And no doubt, the fact that schools like M.I.T., Harvard, Stanford, Wellesley and Berkeley are promoting the movement has brightened the spotlight on MOOCs.
   Independent schools like Gill St. Bernard's School value a variety of learning characteristics that include small class size, a personal relationship between faculty and students and between school and families, and a learning environment where students learn from one another.  It's hard to square these values with online course offerings. My guess is that few current GSB students would willingly exchange a class they have now for an online equivalent.
   Does this mean that online learning has no place as we consider the future of a GSB education? My guess is no; we will see online course work become part of a student's course of study with increasing frequency.  Right now, there are many school districts offering online course work to high school students as part of the district's offerings. There are also private companies formed with the purpose of delivering online course work to students as needed. The ability to broaden our curricular offerings exponentially will be hard to resist. And in the near future, we may see GSB-generated online courses available to summer school students.  Without the constraints of geography, these courses could be open to any interested student. 
   Many of our own faculty have taken some online course work. It's commonly offered at a great many undergraduate institutions and virtually all graduate schools. I've spoken to many about the experience of being a student in an online course, and most say pretty much the same thing; there's plenty of work and there is definitely legitimate learning. It's different than a "physical class," but not necessarily less worthwhile. Given the growth of online course offerings and the very rapid growth of MOOCs, I felt compelled to learn more so I'm signed up to begin a MOOC in January.  It's on data visualization. I'll be sure to use this forum to offer updates on my experience.
   Interested in learning more? Below are a few web sites to check. There are thousands of additional sites for those who are really interested.
     1. How online courses work
     2. MIT's OpenCourseWare
     3. An analysis from The Minnesota Daily
     4. A study by the Southern Regional Education Board surveys 2000 HS and MS students
     5. edX is the consortium of schools offering MOOCs