Dive Summary:
- The Committee on Institutional Cooperation released a position paper this month suggesting that the 13 research universities that make up its membership try to develop a common "framework" for their online offerings.
- Essentially, the consortium is exploring the idea of whether it should develop its own online infrastructure allowing its member institutions to share courses, digital resources and data without having to rely on educational technology companies that range from Blackboard to Coursera.
- The provosts in charge of the task force behind the paper say that they aren't opposed to working with technology vendors on the project and aren't trying to discredit MOOCs or other vendor-supplied tech, but they argue that hype for things like MOOCs could create a cart-leading-the-horse scenario.
The consortium is made up of the following universities:
- University of Chicago
- University of Illinois
- Indiana University
- University of Iowa
- University of Michigan
- Michigan State University
- University of Minnesota
- University of Nebraska-Lincoln
- Northwestern University
- Ohio State University
- Pennsylvania State University
- Purdue University
- University of Wisconsin-Madison
From the article:
... "The ability to project a course online such that hundreds, thousands, or hundreds of thousands can tune in is not, in and itself, a means for extending educational opportunity to millions of potential 'students,'" write the authors.
"While new and cost-effective technological capabilities make certain changes in higher education possible," they continue, "it does not necessarily follow that such changes are desirable, or would be endorsed or utilized by our existing students, faculty, or community members." ...