The Illusory Appeal of the UW-Madison MOOCs
It was only a matter of time. The anticipation was palpable when a group of about 50 concerned faculty, students, and staff from around UW-Madison gathered last summer to talk about the governance crisis at UVA . The president of that flagship university had just been ousted for failing to quickly embrace MOOCs-- a sign some UVA board members thought meant that she was failing to embrace the "disruptive innovation" that will purportedly transform higher education. While President Teresa Sullivan was reinstated some weeks later, after a period of alumni outrage, the writing was on the wall. MOOCs were established as an especially hot new trend with broad appeal among the powerful who find "shock and awe" scenarios the best way to promote change-- and it wouldn't be long before UW-Madison lept into the quicksand. This morning UW-Madison is going public with the news that we're joining with Coursera to offer four pilot MOOCs . Our administrators have app...