“..Stanford has come a long way since founders Leland and Jane vowed to make the children of California their own.
But should worldwide online education now be a part of Stanford’s mission — and bright students like Porios part of the family?
Should Stanford encourage more of its faculty to produce these so-called massive open online courses, or MOOCs?
Should anyone profit from their distribution?
And if the University does invest more heavily in online education – how might that affect students — and professors — on the home campus?
During the past year such questions have been the subject of intense debate.
Many professors say they like the idea of mass online education for humanitarian reasons.
Some believe high-quality online courses could enhance the University’s prestige in the same way that faculty-authored textbooks do – and help Stanford attract and identify brilliant students from around the world.
And some would be happy to replace their large lecture courses with a more engaging educational model — one that many plugged-in Stanford students prefer.
Other professors loathe the idea of lecturing to a camera-
- or of trying to assess thousands of students online…”
(cont..)
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Stanford Magazine – Stanford for All – September/October 2012.
