[This is the transcript of my 4jan13 KVMR commentary.? I last covered MOOCs in my 21aug12 post.]
Let?s consider higher education for bit tonight, especially its cost, relevance, and the impact of learning technologies on traditional ways of delivering education products.?? Our post-secondary education and its graduates are the national jewel that affects every American?s quality of life.? As a stake in the ground, consider that our population growth has slowed to under one percent per year, which still translates to adding almost 3M people annually.? With demographic lags, we currently pump out about 4M young people a year into our job markets.
Everyone knows that they will earn more, the more post-high school education they get.? And everyone is told they are college material, and are encouraged to borrow money and apply for scholarships to pay for college.? This encouragement has been so successful that outstanding student loans now amount to over $1T nationwide.? On the whole, it?s hard to see how much of this debt will be paid off given that many or most college students select majors that don?t teach marketable skills.? The Atlantic reports that ?53% of recent college grads are under- or unemployed?.
Distinguished professor Richard Vedder of Ohio University tells us, ?In 2009, spending by Americans for post-secondary education totaled $461B, an amount 42% greater than in 2000, after accounting for inflation. This $461B is the equivalent of 3.3% of total U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) and an amount greater than the total GDP of countries such as Sweden, Norway and Portugal.?, adding that? ??more than 17 million college graduates were ?underemployed? in 2008.??? For many college graduates ?Would you like fries with that?? is a recurring theme across the land.
Many educators and employers, especially those who can?t find enough qualified workers, tell us that not everyone needs to go into debt getting a mushy major.?? Most high school graduates are not ready for a college education, and would do much better for their careers by learning a marketable skill set that is confirmed by various accepted levels of certification.? And to do that, more and more young people and older workers needing to change careers are turning to online education and training courses.? The acronym to remember is MOOC ? massively open online course.
MOOCs are now being delivered by major universities like Harvard, MIT, Duke, and Stanford, and additionally through private companies like Udacity and Coursera, often founded by academics.? MOOCs are free and open to the masses, and cover a widening range of subjects from the sciences to liberal arts.? These online courses are taken by students from all over the world with tens of thousands attending a single course.Most MOOCs don?t yet count for credit toward a degree, but that is also changing as methods are developed to allow students to take proctored exams.? Venture capitalists have taken an interest, and are now investing in for-profit education companies that deliver MOOCs.? The industry is still in its infancy, and, as reported in the 2jan13 WSJ, they are still looking for viable business models.? Some candidate models incorporate job placement services to students who successfully complete courses.
In the meanwhile, there is some pushback from college presidents, many of whom are paid in the multiple millions per year.? But I believe they will be swept aside as the demand for skilled workers dovetails with millions of people who want to upgrade their skills and get good paying jobs.? MOOCs and new automated learning technologies will rapidly obsolete exorbitantly expensive institutions with gleaming student unions sporting steam baths and climbing walls, huge athletic programs, managed by top-heavy administrative staffs, and offering feel-good fields of study that aren?t worth a warm bucket of spit on the job markets.
Recall the ancient teachers lecturing their eager students in the shade of a tree.? We look forward to thousands of teachers again teaching under the virtual trees of the internet, trees that can shade untold of thousands of students who will be more eager than ever to learn something useful.
My name is Rebane, and I expand on this and related themes on georgerebane.com where the linked transcript of this commentary is posted, and where such issues are debated extensively.? However these views are not necessarily shared by KVMR.? Thank you for listening.
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