The Future of MOOCs

The Hartford Courant published a report on the current state and future of massive open online courses (MOOCs). Some colleges and universities remain skeptical of their potential, while others are dealing with tough questions about granting students credit, and how the sites will make money.

Wesleyan, which was the first small liberal arts college focused on the undergraduate experience to join Coursera, has offered six courses since February, which currently have total enrollment surpassing 250,000. President Michael Roth, the leader of one of these courses, told the Courant that he approached the class “with only curious skepticism about what folks could get out of an online class.”

But, Roth said, the class “has been a wonderful surprise. I have been so impressed by the level of discourse among the students and by their excellent questions back to me … I will offer the class again for Coursera, and my teaching at Wesleyan in the future will be informed by my online experience.”