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    <div class="moz-cite-prefix">Leon,<br>
      <br>
      What is the problem with this trend? I cannot see any, as long as
      educators are serious when designing and conducting on-line
      courses. Education is not disappearing :-) , it just takes
      different forms :-(.<br>
      <br>
      --Ilia<br>
      On 2013-05-27 19:28, Kappelman, Leon wrote:<br>
    </div>
    <blockquote
      cite="mid:AFDB34A085BDFE478EA6701E1136EBB401368D01@GABMBx04.ad.unt.edu"
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      <div class="WordSection1">
        <p class="MsoNormal"
          style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><b><font
              size="3" face="Times New Roman"><span
                style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New
                Roman","serif";font-weight:bold"><a
                  moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=213114599&authType=name&authToken=Xtq2&goback=%2Empd2_*1_*1_*1_*1_%2F20130524203941*5213114599*5the*56*5600*5master*5s*5degree&trk=mp-ph-pn">Dennis

                  K. Berman</a><o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
        <p class="MsoNormal"
          style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><b><font
              size="3" face="Times New Roman"><span
                style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New
                Roman","serif";font-weight:bold">Business
                Editor of the Wall Street Journal<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
        <p class="MsoNormal"
          style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><b><font
              size="6" face="Times New Roman"><span
                style="font-size:24.0pt;font-family:"Times New
                Roman","serif";font-weight:bold">The
                $6,600 Master's Degree<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
        <p class="MsoNormal"><font size="3" face="Times New Roman"><span
              style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New
              Roman","serif"">May 24, 2013
              <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
        <p class="MsoNormal"
          style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><font
            size="3" face="Times New Roman"><span
              style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New
              Roman","serif"">There comes a time in every
              concept's life when the thing...actually...happens.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
        <p class="MsoNormal"
          style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><font
            size="3" face="Times New Roman"><span
              style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New
              Roman","serif"">If you're reading this
              post, you probably already have some familiarity with all
              the jostling going on in the education business. You know,
              for instance, that a number of companies are experimenting
              with
              <a moz-do-not-send="true"
                href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massive_open_online_course"
                target="_blank">
                MOOCs</a> (Massive Open Online Courses), <a
                moz-do-not-send="true"
                href="http://mashable.com/2013/03/06/classroom-tablets/"
                target="_blank">
                tablet-based learning</a>, and all kinds of in-school
              networking and Big Data analytics.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
        <p class="MsoNormal"
          style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><font
            size="3" face="Times New Roman"><span
              style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New
              Roman","serif"">And then came
              <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://blog.udacity.com/2013/05/sebastian-thrun-announcing-online.html"
                target="_blank">
                last week's announcemen</a>t.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
        <p class="MsoNormal"
          style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><font
            size="3" face="Times New Roman"><span
              style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New
              Roman","serif"">Georgia Tech, one of the
              nation's best engineering schools, said it would begin
              offering fully-accredited, real-world master's degrees in
              computer science via the Internet. The cost: About $6,600.
              Or roughly the cost of a few years of
              <i><span style="font-style:italic">interest</span></i>
              that many graduate students pay on a big loan to fund
              their education.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
        <p class="MsoNormal"
          style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><font
            size="3" face="Times New Roman"><span
              style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New
              Roman","serif"">Here is the key line from
              the
              <b><span style="font-weight:bold"><a
                    moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324031404578483670125295836.html"
                    target="_blank">The Wall Street Journal</a>'</span></b>s
              take on the program:<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
        <p class="MsoNormal"
          style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><font
            size="3" face="Times New Roman"><span
              style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New
              Roman","serif"">The upfront costs to create
              the online lectures run between $200,000 and $300,000, but
              once those hard outlays have been made the cost per each
              additional student is minimal, said Mr. Isbell. He
              estimated the school would have to hire one full-time
              teacher for every 100 online students as opposed to one
              full-time teacher for every 10 or 20 students who study on
              campus.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
        <p class="MsoNormal"
          style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><font
            size="3" face="Times New Roman"><span
              style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New
              Roman","serif"">The description made me
              recall my freshman political science class in the
              mid-1990s, held in a dusty auditorium in West
              Philadelphia, a bow-tied professor reading his erudite,
              but canned, lecture to a few hundred freshmen.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
        <p class="MsoNormal"
          style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><b><font
              size="3" face="Times New Roman"><span
                style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New
                Roman","serif";font-weight:bold">Looking
                back on it now, this experience had far more in common
                with the Middle Ages than the world of 2013.</span></font></b><font
            size="3" face="Times New Roman"><span
              style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New
              Roman","serif""> What's the difference
              between watching a lecture in an auditorium and watching
              HD-quality video in one's living room or beach cabana?<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
        <p class="MsoNormal"
          style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><font
            size="3" face="Times New Roman"><span
              style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New
              Roman","serif"">From there it's not that
              hard to question the cost of a standard master's degree,
              which all-in can cost $50,000 to $60,000 per year. Even if
              the experience is not the same, the
              <i><span style="font-style:italic">value for money</span></i>
              from the $6,600 degree appears at first blush, superior.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
        <p class="MsoNormal"
          style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><font
            size="3" face="Times New Roman"><span
              style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New
              Roman","serif"">For people in business,
              there's plenty to take away here. It's easy to use the old
              trope - disruption - but put that aside for a moment.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
        <p class="MsoNormal"
          style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><font
            size="3" face="Times New Roman"><span
              style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New
              Roman","serif"">The thought exercise I've
              been going through is this: What's the proverbial
              <b><span style="font-weight:bold">$6,600 Master's Degree</span></b>
              in your industry? And what would happen to your industry
              if it happened
              <b><span style="font-weight:bold">now</span></b> rather
              than in the murky future? It's a fun and sometimes
              harrowing game to play.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
        <p class="MsoNormal"
          style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><font
            size="3" face="Times New Roman"><span
              style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New
              Roman","serif"">Let's try:<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
        <p class="MsoNormal"
          style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><b><font
              size="3" face="Times New Roman"><span
                style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New
                Roman","serif";font-weight:bold">For
                doctors, it's nearly-thinking systems that can diagnose,
                prescribe, and treat most common illnesses, absent human
                intervention.</span></font></b><font size="3"
            face="Times New Roman"><span
              style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New
              Roman","serif""><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
        <p class="MsoNormal"
          style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><b><font
              size="3" face="Times New Roman"><span
                style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New
                Roman","serif";font-weight:bold">For
                journalists like me, it's already arrived. It's called
                the free Internet.</span></font></b><font size="3"
            face="Times New Roman"><span
              style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New
              Roman","serif""><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
        <p class="MsoNormal"
          style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><b><font
              size="3" face="Times New Roman"><span
                style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New
                Roman","serif";font-weight:bold">For taxi
                drivers, it's driverless cars.</span></font></b><font
            size="3" face="Times New Roman"><span
              style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New
              Roman","serif""><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
        <p class="MsoNormal"
          style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><b><font
              size="3" face="Times New Roman"><span
                style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New
                Roman","serif";font-weight:bold">For
                hotels, it's
                <a moz-do-not-send="true" href="http://www.airbnb.com"
                  target="_blank">Airbnb.</a></span></font></b><font
            size="3" face="Times New Roman"><span
              style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New
              Roman","serif""><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
        <p class="MsoNormal"
          style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><font
            size="3" face="Times New Roman"><span
              style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New
              Roman","serif"">If you haven't devised the
              answer for what it is you do, you have three choices:
              Prepare for it, build it, or ignore it. What's your path?<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
        <p class="MsoNormal"><font size="3" color="black" face="Tahoma"><span
style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";color:black">Best
              wishes,<br>
              Leon Kappelman<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
        <p class="MsoNormal"><font size="1" color="black" face="Tahoma"><span
style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
        <p class="MsoNormal"><b><font size="1" color="black"
              face="Tahoma"><span
style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";color:black;font-weight:bold">“<a
                  moz-do-not-send="true"
                  href="http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/f/franklind402955.html"
                  title="view quote"><font color="black"><span
                      style="color:black;text-decoration:none">Democracy
                      cannot succeed unless those who express their
                      choice are prepared to choose wisely.  The real
                      safeguard of democracy, therefore, is education.</span></font></a>”
                –
                <a moz-do-not-send="true"
                  href="http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/f/franklind402955.html"
                  title="view quote">
                  <font color="black"><span
                      style="color:black;text-decoration:none">Franklin
                      D. Roosevelt</span></font></a><o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
        <p class="MsoNormal"><font size="1" color="black" face="Tahoma"><span
style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
        <p class="MsoNormal"><font size="1" color="black" face="Tahoma"><span
style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";color:black">----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br>
            </span></font><font size="1" color="black" face="Tahoma"><span
style="font-size:8.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";color:black">Leon
              A. Kappelman, Ph.D.
              <br>
                Professor of Information Systems <br>
                Director Emeritus, Information Systems Research Center<br>
                Fellow, Texas Center for Digital Knowledge<br>
                  College of Business, University of North Texas<br>
                  Voice: 940-565-4698   Email: </span></font><font
            color="black"><span style="color:black"><a
                moz-do-not-send="true" href="mailto:kapp@unt.edu"><font
                  size="1" face="Tahoma"><span
style="font-size:8.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"">kapp@unt.edu</span></font></a></span></font><font
            size="1" color="black" face="Tahoma"><span
style="font-size:8.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";color:black"><br>
            </span></font><font size="1" color="black" face="Tahoma"><span
style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";color:black">----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------</span></font><font
            size="1" color="black" face="Tahoma"><span
style="font-size:8.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";color:black"><br>
            </span></font><font size="1" color="#1c7c00" face="Tahoma"><span
style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";color:#1C7C00">Please
              consider the environment before printing this e-mail</span></font><font
            size="1" color="#006666" face="Tahoma"><span
style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";color:#006666"> </span></font><font
            color="black" face="Tahoma"><span
style="font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
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      <pre wrap="">_______________________________________________
AISWorld mailing list
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:AISWorld@lists.aisnet.org">AISWorld@lists.aisnet.org</a></pre>
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    <pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">-- 
===============================================
Dr. Ilia Bider  
Process- och systemutvecklingskonsult at ibissoft.se
Lektor & Forskare at DSV.su.se
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:ilia@ibissoft.se">ilia@ibissoft.se</a>        +46 (0)8 164998
Design science in action ... <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://slidesha.re/Uq3RTC">http://slidesha.re/Uq3RTC</a></pre>
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