Dive Summary:
- San Jose State University philosophy professors are refusing to teach using an edX course developed by Harvard government professor Michael Sandel, saying that doing so would facilitate the replacement of professors, dismantling of departments and diminishing of public university education.
- Additionally, the professors published an open letter to Sandel this week suggesting that he and other MOOC-developing professors are equally guilty in how universities utilize the courses, stating that students benefit more from face-to-face instruction with their school's scholars than watching a video of a scholar from another school.
- The authors' greatest fear, they write, is that MOOCs will lead to two classes of universities: those with real professors teaching privileged students, and those with strained finances where students watch videotaped lectures and interact with professors who have become little more than glorified teaching assistants.
From the article:
... "In spite of our admiration for your ability to lecture in such an engaging way to such a large audience," the letter's authors write, "we believe that having a scholar teach and engage with his or her own students is far superior to having those students watch a video of another scholar engaging his or her students." ...