This post was written by Hatchet staff writer Catherine Barnao.
As the higher education world focuses on far-reaching massive open online courses, GW’s professional schools promise small classes and personal connections in their online programs.
GW programs are trying to stand out among giant free courses known as MOOCs by linking online students with mentors and forging connections between users who pay for their degree.
Administrators hope the personalized style resolves the high dropout rates for online courses, especially MOOCs, around the country. Only about 10 percent of students complete the free online courses, run by companies like Coursera and Udacity, according to a Columbia University study.
Most recently, the GW School of Business announced a full partnership with the education company Pearson last week to deliver 44 online short-term MBA courses by next year, a move to put the school on the forefront of an anti-MOOC movement. The program’s total tuition is $74,550.
“Faculty in the school of business strongly believe that the most meaningful and memorable learning experiences occur through interaction – between faculty and student and among students themselves,” Liesl Riddle, associate dean for MBA programs, said.
Students in the business program will view instructional “episodes” recorded in GW classrooms occupied by students and their professor. Students sit in real-time class meetings, during which they can connect with their professor and classmates during planned times for live dialogue. Those meetings comprise about one-fourth of students’ course.
The University announced in January that it would work toward building its own collection of free courses, though Provost Steven Lerman has compared them more to “PBS specials” that market GW than credit-bearing or full courses. They will likely be offered this year.
The School of Public Health and Health Services also announced in November that it would launch its first online program this summer for a $56,160 price tag. Julie DeLoia, the school’s associate dean for academic affairs, said the program steered away from MOOCs because GW’s courses stress student-professor contact.
“The small sessions will consist of 10 to 15 students under the supervision of a faculty member,” DeLoia said. “Such a low student-to-faculty ratio is simply not possible with a MOOC-style course.”
Kris Amundson, senior vice president for external affairs at Education Sector, echoed this detriment to remote learning programs.
“The real issue with online courses is not enrollment – it’s completion. Only a small fraction of students who begin online courses complete them,” Amundson said.
She noted that some of the methods that institutions have made use of for this purpose, such as “online chat rooms and group assignments” employ “what we know about adult learning and are specifically designed to increase the completion rate for students in online classes.”
Paul Berman, who leads a University-wide online effort as vice provost for online education and academic innovation, touted the benefits of such a method. He said the office is boosting schools’ resources to adapt their own online programs, such as marketing, business strategies and technological services.
“The reason to have more interactivity, not just for the professor, but with each other is to provide much more of a sense of network with other students” – which is something he called “a core part of education generally.”
By investing heavily in credit-bearing and tuition-based online programs, administrators have also taken on an anti-MOOC edge, even as states like California consider requiring public universities to accept them as credit for introductory courses.
In a Chronicle of Higher Education column in December, business school dean Doug Guthrie urged colleges to rethink joining the MOOC movement.
“The MOOC model is fine for the informal student or academic dabbler, but it is not the same as attaining an education. Whether face to face or online, learning occurs when there is a thoughtful interaction between the student and the instructor,” Guthrie wrote, adding that the more intimate setting the business school is trying to create is a better alternative.
The focus on credit-bearing courses has a financial upside. While each MOOC costs about $50,000 to produce, online programs that charge tuition help bring in revenue for GW. Propping up online programs is a central part of the University’s strategy to raise revenue while boosting academic quality.
As GW develops its online strategy, it may also create an extended alumni donor base, Stephen Ehrmann, vice provost for teaching and learning, wrote on his blog in February.
He said GW’s digital innovation could have a “long-term and perhaps unexpected benefit” as it strips away the cold, low-resolution style of older online learning experiences and replaces it so “the camera is positioned to make the learner feel part of a small seminar discussion.”
“I suspect that building community in this way may also lead to deeper bonding among students, and with faculty and the institution,” he wrote. “The cohorts of students may feel a bit less like GW customers, and more like (generous) GW alumni.”
