Dive Brief:
- Coursera CEO Daphne Koller says online learning will be a staple at major colleges and universities in 5-10 years.
- Most universities are concerned with their academic brands taking a hit on topics of rigor and engagement, Koller said during an educational conference in London last week.
- Koller says the argument for students engagement in online learning is totally subjective. "When you have a lecture hall with 300 people, you're not getting personal interaction."
Dive Insight:
While Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) have yet to become the classroom of the 21st century, there is still a growing interest among most colleges and universities in using the technology. The biggest challenges for administrators are how to create the IT infrastructure on campus to make it work, how to engage faculty to train and effectively use the platforms and which courses are most likely to yield better completion rates than the current 50% offered by most MOOCs.
If there are open opportunities for online learning as the culture becomes more used to the idea of learning outside of a classroom, they rest with degree offerings for military personnel, professionals with uncommon or heavy travel schedules, or stay at home parents.