- Coursera announced new partnerships with 12 new schools today, and the University of Virginia was among them.
- The deal to begin providing free online courses may have come as a surprise to Helen Dragas, the head of the university's Board of Visitors, who wrote, "“I think it’s fair to say that work was going on that some members of senior administration may not have known about," The Washington Post reports.
- That would be significant, since Dragas reportedly discussed online ambitions during the events leading up to Teresa Sullivan's ousting and reinstallation as president this summer at the university.
From the article:
Helen Dragas, leader of the University of Virginia’s governing board, hinted in a statement today that she and other university leaders were surprised — pleasantly — to learn that the institution is joining a Stanford University initiative to offer free online courses to the masses.
Whether Dragas knew of the deal between U-Va. and Coursera is an important consideration. Last month, she chastised the university’s leadership for failing to answer the ambitious online initiatives launched by Harvard, Stanford and MIT over the past year. ...