The document discusses differing perspectives on MOOCs. It states that while MOOCs themselves may not be problems, how higher education institutions adopt them could be. It also notes that MOOCs have become a lightning rod for debates around issues like the cost of college. Additionally, MOOCs mean different things to different groups and institutions, leading to many reactions and misunderstandings.

1. “First, MOOCs are not the problem, but I do believe that what higher
education does with them could be. Second, not only are MOOCs a
lightning rod about everything from the price of college education to
relations between faculty and administration, they are also a moving
target. They may already or will come to mean different things for
different institutions and constituencies: faculty, staff and
students. Hence so many reactions, so many ideas, so many
misunderstandings.”
— Tracy Mitrano, Director of IT Policy and the Institute for Computer Policy and
Law at Cornell University, in the Inside Higher Ed blog Law, Policy – and IT

2. *
*Free and conducted at scale
*Rigorous
*Grading automated or by peer
*Available in multiple languages
*Funded by host universities and venture
capital
*Next-generation textbooks

3. *
*World-class instruction, free to all
*Opportunity for purveyors of
knowledge
*Instant feedback improves pedagogy
*A rising tide lifts all boats

4. *
*10% completion rate
*Potential loss of faculty jobs and
academic freedom
*Dwindling institutions and fields
available

5. *
*Founded early 2012 by Stanford
professors Daphne Koller and Andrew
Ng
*For-profit
*Currently 83 university partners
worldwide
*Largest MOOC provider with 375
courses and 3.8 million learners
*ACE approved 5 courses for college
credit

6. *
*Founded May 2012 and governed jointly
by MIT and Harvard
*Non-profit
*Currently 27 institutions worldwide in the
xConsortium
*More than half a million learners
*edX platform available as open source
code

7. *
*Founded February 2012 by
Sebastian Thrun, David Stavens, and
Mike Sokolsky
*For-profit
*Works with individual professors, not
institutions
*Nearly half a million learners

8. *
*Announced in May
*10 state university systems and
flagship universities
*MOOC content used by faculty
voluntarily
*Departure from Coursera’s pledge to
partner with elite institutions

9. *
*SUNY
*Tennessee Board of Regents
*University of Tennessee System
*University of Colorado System
*University of Houston System
*University of Kentucky
*University of Nebraska System
*University of New Mexico System
*University System of Georgia
*West Virginia University

10. *
*Announced in May
*$7,000 online master’s
degree, 10,000 new students
*Revenue: 40% Udacity, 60% Georgia
Tech, AT&T subsidizes
*4 enrollment tracks

11. *
*Daphne Koller as
author, instructor, Coursera co-
founder
*3 offerings: Spring & Fall
2012, Spring 2013
*20% discount to students
*Course based on book, book not
required

12. *
*John Guttag as author and instructor
*3 offerings: Fall 2012, January & Spring
2013
*30% discount to students
*Self-published, recommended, required
*OA, paperback, e-book
*MassBay and Bunker Hill Community
College partnerships

13. *
*Authors and instructors are not the
same individuals
*1 offering: Spring 2013
*paperback

14. * The Chronicle of Higher Ed Prof. Hacker blog, 11/6/12, Doug Fisher guest post
http://chronicle.com/blogs/profhacker/warming-up-to-moocs/44022
* Computing Community Consortium Multidisciplinary Research for Online Education
Workshop
http://www.cra.org/ccc/component/content/article/286-multidisciplinary-research-for-
online-education-workshop
* MIT Communications Forum MOOCs and the Emerging Digital
Classroom, 3/21/13, http://web.mit.edu/comm-forum/forums/moocs.html
* Laptop U, The New Yorker, 5/20/13, by Nathan Heller
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2013/05/20/130520fa_fact_heller
* MOOCs of Hazard, New Republic, 3/31/13, by Andrew Delbanco
http://www.newrepublic.com/article/112731/moocs-will-online-education-ruin-
university-experience#
* The Chronicle of Higher Education
http://chronicle.com/
* Inside Higher Ed
http://www.insidehighered.com/