Another great read from the Chronicle of Education by Sara Grossman: http://chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/moodys-says-moocs-could-boost-a-universitys-credit-rating/44519
The author describes the role of MOOC's as a mechanism to lift a University's credit rating on wall street by raising profit margins and social marketing media campaigns targeted at incoming students. Additionally, MOOC's offer students a chance to take courses for credit at other campuses while still earning hours for a major degree. Yet, there are drawbacks to this kind of content delivery system and one of the potential downfalls may hurt smaller liberal arts colleges that cannot sustain any kind of enrollment decrease. These colleges lack the kind of infrastructure and resources needed to establish a distance education program, let alone adapt instruction to meet the needs of online students. Also, concerns about the quality of MOOC's and how the courses compare to face to face classes or blended courses in terms of assessment, transfer of learning, and feedback remain unpredictable. The article stresses the financial impact of MOOC's and university profit margins as an economic plan for the future and suggests the volatile nature of MOOC's longevity could see massive changes in the university operations and rankings.
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I'm currently on the team that's developing a 'mini-mooc' (up to 500 enrollments) and I've been reading a lot of articles from the Chronicle about them. I've been a lurker in most MOOCs because my Grad School courses are a higher priority. But going in them has helped me for the development side. It will be interesting to see what happens with our MOOC if it's a success and if the university I work for does any more after our initial one. Thanks for sharing. There are definitely pros & cons.
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