{"155321":{"#nid":"155321","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Panelists Discuss Online Education at Tech","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EMaking education more accessible \u2014 that\u2019s what motivated Tucker Balch, an associate professor in the School of Interactive Computing, to teach a course through Coursera. \u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cIn designing this course, I recognize that I\u2019m not teaching an accredited Georgia Tech course,\u201d said Balch, who will be teaching a six-week course titled \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.coursera.org\/course\/compinvesting1\u0022\u003E\u201cComputational Investing, Part I\u201d\u003C\/a\u003E that begins in late October. \u201cInstead, I\u2019m trying to take a portion of what I usually teach and make it accessible to a broad group.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EDuring last Thursday\u2019s \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/provost.gatech.edu\/town-hall\u0022\u003ETown Hall on Online Education\u003C\/a\u003E, Balch\u2019s sentiments were echoed by each of four faculty panelists who shared their experience in developing a course for Coursera, which recently partnered with Tech and other prestigious universities to offer free courses for the general public. Since the partnership was announced in July, about 70,000 people have enrolled in Tech\u2019s Coursera courses.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe event, hosted by the \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/provost.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003EOffice of the Provost\u003C\/a\u003E, offered a forum for members of the campus community to discuss the future of online education at the Institute.\u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWe\u2019re pursuing opportunities such as Coursera because we want to ensure that Tech has input into the online learning revolution that is occurring,\u201d said\u0026nbsp;Rafael L. Bras, provost and executive vice president for Academic Affairs. \u201cI don\u2019t think we have anything to fear \u2014 we\u2019re not going to compromise quality \u2014 but we need to anticipate student needs.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBras was joined by Nelson Baker, dean of Professional Education; Donna Llewellyn, associate vice provost of learning excellence; and Rich DeMillo, director of the Center for 21st Century Universities (C21U).\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWe\u2019ve been doing this [offering distance learning options] for more than 30 years, so this isn\u2019t brand new to us,\u201d Baker said. \u201cOur enrollment is close to 28,000 students annually.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EOne of the advantages of using online teaching methods is that faculty members are able to reach more people with their ideas, which translates into greater exposure for their research and for Georgia Tech, he added.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBaker, Llewellyn and DeMillo emphasized each of their units are available to help faculty members craft and teach courses for online audiences.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cI\u2019m hoping that everyone has an opinion that they will share,\u201d DeMillo added. \u201cBring us your ideas, questions and criticisms.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe town hall also provided an opportunity for the audience to ask questions of the speakers and Balch and his fellow panelists: Irfan Essa, a professor in the School of Interactive Computing; Sam Shelton, a principal research engineer in the Strategic Energy Institute and Fatimah Wirth, an instructional designer in Georgia Tech Professional Education.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EOne of the first questions focused on how students might have more opportunities to cheat when taking courses online. Baker explained that his unit is experimenting with technology, such as eye retina scanners, that can hold students accountable.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cAnd if we\u2019re teaching people who want to learn, they\u2019re not going to cheat \u2014 they\u2019re going to do what we ask,\u201d Balch added.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAnother question related to the quality of the courses. DeMillo responded by saying that it\u2019s important to look at platforms such as Coursera and Udacity and understand that they have nothing to gain by offering courses that are low quality. For example, \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/chronicle.com\/blogs\/wiredcampus\/udacity-cancels-free-online-math-course-citing-lack-of-quality\/38998\u0022\u003EUdacity recently removed a course for this reason\u003C\/a\u003E, he added.\u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ERegents\u2019 Professor Emeritus Ray Vito shared that the School of Mechanical Engineering is planning to offer students credit to take some of these noncredit courses. The plan is to get feedback directly from online learners regarding the pros and cons of these courses.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cIt will provide us with information we can use to make some better decisions about how this might affect mechanical engineering education,\u201d he added. \u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ETo watch the town hall in its entirety, click \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.provost.gatech.edu\/town-hall\u0022\u003Ehere\u003C\/a\u003E. \u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ECoursera FAQs\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EHave questions about Coursera? The Center for 21st Century Universities is ready to answer them. The center has created an \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/c21u.gatech.edu\/coursera\/coursera-faqs\u0022\u003EFAQ site\u003C\/a\u003E devoted to the topic. Here are a few of the featured Q\u0026amp;As:\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cul\u003E\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cem\u003EWhat kinds of courses are best for Coursera?\u003C\/em\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EThe actual selection of courses is determined by faculty members. Our objective is to showcase Georgia Tech\u2019s unique and innovative courses. That doesn\u2019t mean that a course in biostatistics is not a good course to offer, but in general, standard courses or general education courses are low on the priority list.\u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp;\u003C\/li\u003E\u003C\/ul\u003E\u003Cul\u003E\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cem\u003EWho owns Coursera course content?\u003C\/em\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EThe Coursera agreement does nothing to modify employment agreements with Tech, so the exact answer depends on how and for what purpose the course was created. There\u2019s more information related to this in the intellectual property (IP) definition of the faculty handbook.\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cem\u003EHow much communication is there among instructors and Coursera students?\u003C\/em\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EDirect communication will be on a limited basis due to the number of enrollees in these courses. The individual faculty member will determine the degree of interaction. Some faculty members plan on having end of the week chats or using summary questions as a means of reaching out to students.\u003C\/li\u003E\u003C\/ul\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EMaking education more accessible \u2014 that\u2019s what motivated Tucker Balch, an associate professor in the School of Interactive Computing, to teach a course through Coursera.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Making education more accessible \u2014 that\u2019s what motivated Tucker Balch, an associate professor in the School of Interactive Computing, to teach a course through Coursera."}],"uid":"27445","created_gmt":"2012-09-18 16:41:25","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:12:50","author":"Amelia Pavlik","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2012-09-18T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2012-09-18T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"155291":{"id":"155291","type":"image","title":"Online Education Town Hall","body":null,"created":"1449178859","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 21:40:59","changed":"1475894789","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:46:29","alt":"Online Education Town Hall","file":{"fid":"195269","name":"onlinepanel.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/onlinepanel_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/onlinepanel_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":164022,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/onlinepanel_0.jpg?itok=08vjur-o"}}},"media_ids":["155291"],"related_links":[{"url":"http:\/\/c21u.gatech.edu\/coursera\/coursera-faqs","title":"Coursera FAQs"},{"url":"http:\/\/www.provost.gatech.edu\/","title":"Office of the Provost"},{"url":"https:\/\/www.coursera.org\/gatech","title":"Georgia Tech Coursera"}],"groups":[{"id":"1259","name":"Whistle"}],"categories":[{"id":"129","name":"Institute and Campus"}],"keywords":[{"id":"13481","name":"C21U"},{"id":"14381","name":"center for 21st century universities"},{"id":"38281","name":"Coursera"},{"id":"14368","name":"Donna Llewellyn"},{"id":"1432","name":"education"},{"id":"43891","name":"Fatimah Wirth"},{"id":"15155","name":"Irfan Essa"},{"id":"13997","name":"nelson baker"},{"id":"9213","name":"Office of the Provost"},{"id":"43871","name":"Online Learning Town Hall"},{"id":"2662","name":"professional education"},{"id":"15591","name":"Rafael L. Bras"},{"id":"14256","name":"richard demillo"},{"id":"171224","name":"Sam Shelton"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:victor.rogers@comm.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EVictor Rogers\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EOffice of the Provost\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}