Massive open online courses, or MOOCs, are educational platforms with a large number of students and interactive programs. The courses are flexible, and they usually don’t offer course credit.
However, several universities, including Georgia Tech, are beginning to allow students to earn full degrees via MOOCs.
While MOOCs may be available to N.C. State students as early as January, members of the faculty and staff haven’t exactly clamored aboard the MOOC bandwagon.
According to Thomas Miller, senior vice provost for academic outreach and entrepreneurship, UNC System officials want an online course in global economics for the upcoming spring semester in at least one of the system’s schools.
While N.C. State’s deans have been notified about the opportunity, Miller said no one at N.C. State has expressed an interest thus far. He said the deadline to apply for the course is Oct. 1, which means anyone accepting the challenge would have to design up for the course very quickly.
“They plan to have the course offered Jan. 1,” Miller said. “I’m not sure, honestly, if that’s a realistic time frame.”
Even if N.C. State implemented a MOOC program, it is still uncertain whether the University’s MOOC offerings would resemble those of Georgia Tech. Miller said UNC System administrators have not been clear about the process, and N.C. State would have to invest significant–and increasingly scarce–funds to participate in a MOOC system.
Rebecca Swanson, associate vice provost of Distance and Distributed Education, said MOOCs could be in N.C. State’s future.
“I certainly think [MOOC’s] have wonderful potential,” Swanson said. “It’s a very exciting approach toward education.”
Swanson said N.C. State has a number of master’s programs that could be taught online in the future, but administrators would have to develop the underlying infrastructure first. Administrators would also have to figure out how to manage the most rigorous courses on that platform.
Georgia Tech is one of the nation’s top computer science schools and is offering the same degree a student would get on campus online for a fraction of the cost.
According to The New York Times, Georgia Tech may change the future of how education is provided if their program is successful. The program is supposed to lower cost for the institution and provide the same educational content for less than attending the same course in person.
The computer science master’s program on Georgia Tech’s campus would cost a student $45,000, and the online version of this degree would cost $6,600, according to The New York Times.
After years of budget cuts, it would seem MOOCs would allow the University to save money. But Miller said online courses’ role as a money-saver hasn’t been proved yet.
“Whether [MOOCs] reduce the cost of education, that is yet to be seen,” Miller said.
N.C. State already offers a significant number of distance education courses and some online programs, but they are funded the same way as on-site instruction. Swanson said these classes are designed to help students graduate on time by providing flexible courses that help students earn credit hours toward their degree in the most efficient way possible; bottom-line cost savings are not the most important consideration.
Even so, the University is dipping its toe into the proverbial waters when it comes to MOOCs. N.C. State started a preliminary “Open Online Course” program this summer, which drew more than 700 students. Miller said 5 percent of the enrolled students finished, which is typical for a MOOC program.
The course used open enrollment and has helped Distance Education and Learning Technology Applications learn about what it would take to host a full-blown MOOC program.
While the summer class wasn’t a massive online program, Miller said it was a way for the Distance Education department to determine enrollment rates and plan for the future if the University eventually decides to offer programs as large as Georgia Tech’s.
Swanson said it will take a lot of planning and resources to start MOOCs, and student input will definitely be a major driver of the University’s overall strategy moving forward.
Lacey Shankle, a junior in social work who has taken distance education courses, and said that distance education provides more flexibility than traditional classes.
“Distance education is awesome for summer session,” Shankle said. “You may need the flexibility to drop everything and go to work or go to the beach.”
However, Shankle also said MOOCs might harm the University’s reputation if they come to be seen as just a cheap online alternative to traditional courses.
“If the University offered a huge, completely-online degree program, I feel like we would become just like Devry or Phoenix,” Shankle said. “We wouldn’t be a university, we would be just a continuing adult education program.”
