Massive open online courses (MOOCs) are in the early
stages and show plenty of potential. Tech firms such as Coursera are working
closely with some of the largest and best-known colleges and universities in
the nation, but what happens to the balance of those partnerships if the web
courses start to bring in money?
That’s the question University of Virginia professor
Mark Edmundson asked in his Inside Higher Education column.
“If the partnership with Coursera works out well, we
may soon become dependent on their good will,” he wrote. “We may, in other
words, need to take very seriously their thoughts about the kinds of courses we
should teach and make available online. At Virginia, and at all the schools
that begin teaching online, the distribution companies may come to have a
consequential say in the way that professors teach and students learn.”
It could turn into a lot of money, considering the
potential of MOOCs to reach hundreds of thousands of students for each class.
If there’s money to be made, all the players involved, including colleges and
universities that have seen their budgets trimmed drastically over the last 10
years, are going to want to make as much as possible. That could lead to a
number of compromises in Edmondson’s estimation.
“There will, in other words, be a constant dialogue
between professors and the corporation about what kind of content is going to
be admissible,” he wrote. “There will be disagreements and there will be
disputes. Some professors may walk away. But in the end, it is not hard to
predict who will win the arguments, provided the online courses are capturing
significant revenues.”
Edmondson points to big-time college sports, where schools
have become “addicted” to the revenue generated by athletics. They could very
well fall under the same spell when it comes to money earned through Internet
education.
“In not too long we may be speaking of academic
Internet factories,” he said. “This is especially distressing, now that some of
our best universities have jumped aggressively into the distance learning
game.”
