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Purveyor

(29,876 posts) Tue Jan 8, 2013, 11:47 AM Jan 2013

Colleges Resist Free Online Courses, Undercutting Promise

U.S. colleges are resisting adding free online courses because academic leaders say the much- publicized approach is unlikely to make money and could confuse the public about their degrees, a study says.

Only 2.6 percent of U.S. institutions offer such courses and an additional 9.4 percent plan to, according to a survey to be released today by Babson College in Wellesley, Massachusetts. Harvard University, Stanford University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology are among institutions participating in MOOCS, or massive open online courses.

Colleges, teaming up with online educational providers such as Coursera Inc. and EdX, say the free courses have the potential to revolutionize higher education by lowering costs and providing access to top U.S. professors. While institutions explore how to charge fees and grant course credit, Jeff Seaman, co-director of the Babson Survey Research Group, says the report shows there is skepticism among some academics.

“It’s clearly not ready for prime time,” Seaman said in a telephone interview. “People are saying this could make a real difference, but they’re not convinced there’s a sustainable business model.”

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http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-01-08/colleges-resist-free-online-courses-undercutting-promise.html

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Colleges Resist Free Online Courses, Undercutting Promise (Original Post) Purveyor Jan 2013 OP

Free online courses are fine, but they may give the false impression pnwmom Jan 2013 #1

There are other routes. musical_soul Jan 2013 #2

Silly me, I used to think colleges were chartered to impart knowledge, rather than Buns_of_Fire Jan 2013 #3

10 Colleges With Largest Financial Endowments Purveyor Jan 2013 #4

pnwmom

(108,991 posts)

1. Free online courses are fine, but they may give the false impression

Reply to Purveyor (Original post)

Tue Jan 8, 2013, 11:57 AM

Jan 2013

that you can learn as much in the absence of other human beings. All three of my children have participated in online courses and none of them thought they were as valuable as an in-person class would have been.

musical_soul

(775 posts)

2. There are other routes.

Reply to Purveyor (Original post)

Tue Jan 8, 2013, 12:06 PM

Jan 2013

They don't offer a degree, but increased knowledge.

www.universalclass.com

Also, look up the subject that you're interested in and free online courses. Learn them, and then show what you know to an employment agency.

Buns_of_Fire

(17,194 posts)

3. Silly me, I used to think colleges were chartered to impart knowledge, rather than

Reply to Purveyor (Original post)

Tue Jan 8, 2013, 12:58 PM

Jan 2013

serve as a "sustainable business model." I always thought that financially breaking even was sufficient for a college or university -- I was totally unaware that Making A Profit has become a significant part of the equation. Pitifully behind the times, I am.

Purveyor

(29,876 posts)

4. 10 Colleges With Largest Financial Endowments

Reply to Buns_of_Fire (Reply #3)

Tue Jan 8, 2013, 01:14 PM

Jan 2013

Harvard University leads the pack with more than $32 billion.

By KATY HOPKINS
November 27, 2012

In fiscal year 2011, Harvard University was more than $12 billion richer than any other college in the country.

The top-ranked National University's financial endowment was $32,012,729,000 in the 2011 fiscal year, the school reported to U.S. News in a 2012 survey. That figure was well above the fiscal-year average: Of the 1,189 ranked colleges that reported endowment figures to U.S. News, the average endowment was roughly $313,182,000.

[Explore the U.S. News Best Colleges rankings.]

Individual reports ranged from Harvard University on the high end to Providence Christian College's $15,000, the lowest reported endowment. Though Harvard's endowment far outpaced even the next-highest school on the list (Yale University, with $19,174,387,000), 66 ranked colleges had endowments of more than $1 billion each.

Most of the universities with the largest financial endowments are private universities. Just one public school, the University of Michigan—Ann Arbor, cracks this top 10 list. For the purposes of this list, endowments were examined by campus, not across public university systems. Unranked institutions, which do not submit enough data for U.S. News to calculate a ranking, were not considered for this report.

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http://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/the-short-list-college/articles/2012/11/27/10-colleges-with-largest-financial-endowments_print.html

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