[AISWorld] Georgia Tech offers a $6, 600 Master's Degree in Computer Science

[Ferran, Carlos]

Anol's use of the history of eCommerce seems to be very appropriate and I believe we should pursue it further. Nonetheless, I think that there are also some additional issues at hand. Some of them are presented very well by Nathan Heller in Laptop U: Has the Future of College Moved Online? (http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2013/05/20/130520fa_fact_heller?currentPage=all). And I would like to highlight some of them here.

Can the MOOC become the flipped classroom? Instead of asking the student to read some chapters in a textbook (which by the way are generally written by the sharpest minds in the field and certainly not by each and every faculty in the world) we could ask them to do part of a MOCC and then come back to the classroom to have the deeper conversations on the subject or to simply do some of the exercises with a personal mentor (I mean faculty) besides them holding their hand. How would that change our (the common instructor from the common university) job? Will it make it less fulfilling? Will it be deskilling? Could that mentor only have a bachelor's degree solely gained through a MOOC? Or could the MOOC simply be the future of textbooks instead of Higher Education?

Can the MOOC replace all that happens in the higher education classroom? The $200,000 that a student pays to Harvard are not only for the expected knowledge but for the connections, networking, and image-building that they expect to gain while there. We should remember that imparting knowledge is only one of the activities, there is also socialization and assessment. Socialization aids in the growth of the young minds and helps them find their place in society (social groups). Socialization also allows for networks and contacts that help in job seeking and moving upward in society. Are students who hardly have any face-to-face interaction with peers good members of society? Assessment confirms and certifies that the given knowledge set has been mastered by the student. How valid and accepted is the online assessment? Bitcoin is yet to replace Master Card and eHarmony and eBay have done very little in regards to developing social mindness.

Are MOOCs equally good for all fields of knowledge? Or could they be more appropriate for certain types of knowledge? MOOCs might be the panacea for explicit knowledge but useless for implicit knowledge. I am yet to find a good book on how to ride a bike. I wonder if a MOOC will be more successful at that task. And while it is probably just me, none of the books I found on the subject have helped me become a better painter (my audience still has trouble deciphering what was the intended subject of my paintings and even more appreciating any value on them). Maybe math, chemistry, and computer science faculty are the ones that should fear MOOCs the most while arts, dance, and philosophy faculty the ones that have to fear the least.

Just my two cents (of additional questions) on the subject.

Regards,

CF
Dr. Carlos Ferran
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Assistant Professor of Accounting and MIS                   Editor-in-Chief RELCASI
Governors State University                                            Certified Management Accountant
College of Business and Public Administration               Track-Chair for AMCIS 2013 and BALAS 2013
1 University Parkway                                                     UPI GSU Chapter Unit A Vice President
University Park, IL 60484                                               LACAIS President & SIGASYS President-elect
(708) 235-2818 phone & (708) 534-8457 fax                    http://carlos.ferran.net<http://carlos.ferran.net/>
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View my research on my SSRN Author page:  http://ssrn.com/author=2003402
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