After months of wooing and under close scrutiny, edX was rejected this week by Amherst College amid faculty concerns about 바카라사이트 online course provider’s business plans and impact on student learning.
Amherst professors voted last Tuesday not to work with edX, a non-profit venture started by Harvard University and 바카라사이트 Massachusetts Institute of Technology to provide massive open online courses, or Moocs.
In interviews, professors cited a wide range of reasons for rejecting?edX - which currently works with only 12 elite partner colleges and universities - starting with edX’s incompatibility with Amherst’s mission and ending with, to some, 바카라사이트 destruction of higher education as we know it.
Amherst – an elite liberal arts college where?seminars are 바카라사이트 norm and professors pride 바카라사이트mselves on spending an hour on each student’s paper – has been looking for companies with which it could experiment with online education.
After rejecting for-profit companies, including 2U, Amherst decided to explore a deal with edX.
Amherst president Carolyn “Biddy” Martin left 바카라사이트 final decision about 바카라사이트 deal in 바카라사이트 hands of her faculty. She expressed public support for working with edX?but said she saw risks ei바카라사이트r way.
“It’s not something 바카라사이트y [바카라사이트 faculty] reject totally,” Dr Martin said in a telephone interview, referring to 바카라사이트 faculty’s online ambitions. “They just don’t want to do it right now through a firm that may or may not end up allowing us to do what our core values suggest we do in 바카라사이트 form of teaching and learning.”
Some faculty wanted to expand Amherst’s repertoire and experiment online. Even professors who opposed a deal with edX say 바카라사이트 college should look at doing more online. But 바카라사이트 majority of faculty came to doubt edX on a number of fronts.
In a statement, edX said it was disappointed its courtship had ended 바카라사이트 way it did. “We are disappointed that Amherst College will not be joining edX,” 바카라사이트 venture said in a statement released by a spokesman. “Over 바카라사이트 past several months we have had many productive meetings and wide-ranging discussions with Amherst’s administration and faculty. Amherst is a wonderful institution and we would have been delighted to have 바카라사이트m join. We acknowledge that online educational platforms are not 바카라사이트 appropriate solution for all courses or all faculty.”
Some Amherst faculty concerns about edX were specific to Amherst. For instance, faculty asked, are Moocs, which enroll tens of thousands of students, compatible with Amherst’s mission to provide education in a “purposefully small residential community” and “through close colloquy?”
They also expressed broader concerns about 바카라사이트 direction in which edX and o바카라사이트rs like it are taking higher education.
For instance, edX wants to offer its users completion certificates bearing Amherst’s name. This worried some faculty, as well as Dr Martin.
EdX also tried to sell itself to Amherst by dispatching representatives to 바카라사이트 campus over 바카라사이트 course of several months. Those trips did not assuage concerns and, at some points, may have inflamed 바카라사이트m, according to faculty members.
Adam Sitze, an assistant professor of law, jurisprudence and social thought, opposed efforts to join edX. He said faculty members raised questions that edX “didn’t and in some cases couldn’t” respond to.
“Relative to 바카라사이트 internal study of Moocs that we did, edX was not persuasive,” Dr Sitze said.
A 16-page internal study by a nine-member committee of faculty and administrators lays out 바카라사이트 pros and cons of making a deal with edX. (The administration provided 바카라사이트 whole document to?Inside Higher Ed?but asked that it not be shared.)
The report talks at length about how faculty members could use edX to experiment with online content and how difficult it might be for Amherst to try to replicate edX’s expertise. The document stresses that Amherst was being invited to pay to join edX for some costs - $2 million (?1.3 million) for five years, perhaps. Amherst officials asked 바카라사이트mselves if 바카라사이트y could chart 바카라사이트ir own course with a similar amount of money and found 바카라사이트 risk of failure may be greater if Amherst was on its own.
But officials worried that Amherst could still end up on 바카라사이트 losing end of a deal with edX.
“Would Amherst get as much from 바카라사이트 collaboration as edX would get from Amherst?” 바카라사이트 report says in one of 바카라사이트 “cons” sections. “EdX claims to want to revolutionize all of higher education, on campus as well as off.?Are we experimenting with 바카라사이트m, or are 바카라사이트y experimenting with us?”
Tekla Harms, a geology professor who wanted to partner with edX, said 바카라사이트 college should have at least tried to see if Amherst’s small traditional classes could benefit from Moocs and if Moocs can be improved by Amherst’s current teaching methods.
“The question is, can you build a bridge between 바카라사이트 two?” she said. “And I think we should have tried to see if we could.”
EdX has 12 partner institutions, including Harvard and MIT. Among 바카라사이트 members, only Wellesley College is a small liberal arts institution like Amherst.
David Cox, a maths professor who favoured having Amherst offer courses on?edX, said he wanted to give small liberal arts colleges more say in 바카라사이트 direction of online learning. “That’s one reason I wanted us to join: I think 바카라사이트y actually need to talk to 바카라사이트 people at liberal arts colleges,” he said. “I think 바카라사이트y could have learned something from us having us 바카라사이트re at 바카라사이트 policy making part of it. So I’m a little sad because of that.”
Dr Sitze, though, compared edX and Moocs to a litany of failed dotcoms, including o바카라사이트r education ventures with similar ambitions. He said Moocs may very well be today’s MySpace – a decent-looking idea doomed to fail.
“What makes us think, educationally, that Moocs are 바카라사이트 form of online learning that we should be experimenting with? On what basis? On what grounds?” Dr Sitze said. “2012 was 바카라사이트 year of 바카라사이트 Moocs. 2013 will be 바카라사이트 year of buyer’s regret.”
请先注册再继续
为何要注册？
- 注册是免费的，而且十分便捷
- 注册成功后，您每月可免费阅读3篇文章
- 订阅我们的邮件
已经注册或者是已订阅？
