Dive Summary:
- Last week, San Jose State University philosophy professors refused to use a MOOC by Harvard's Michael Sandel, issuing an open letter to the government professor suggesting that he and other MOOC-developing professors were complicit in a push to replace professors and dismantle departments.
- In response, Sandel sent a statement to a reporter at The Chronicle of Higher Education stating his belief that online courses are no replacement for face-to-face interaction, particularly in the humanities.
- Stating that he knows very little about the arrangement between edX and San Jose State, he added that his goal was simply to make his lecture videos and other materials freely available as an educational resource and that undermining colleagues at other institutions is the last thing he would want to do.
From the article:
... "My goal is simply to make an educational resource freely available--a resource that faculty colleagues should be free to use in whole or in part, or not at all, as they see fit." ...