The online learning service Coursera, which announced a partnership with the University July 17, added 17 universities to its list of participating institutions Wednesday.
Coursera is a free online course service available to anyone with computer access. It currently partners with six of the schools in the U.S. News and World Report’s top 10, as well as 27 other institutions.
The company’s expansion bodes well for the future of online learning at the University — a topic of debate this summer during the ouster and reinstatement of University President Teresa Sullivan.
Coursera’s new partners include Vanderbilt, Berklee College of Music, Brown and Columbia.
Coursera spokesperson Nikki Sequeira said in an email that the company’s expansion would positively impact the University’s online learning initiatives.
“As Coursera continues to experiment with online education strategies and learn from the experience of teaching online courses, institutions like UVa will have access to information about student learning and other insights to help improve teaching on campus and online,” Sequeria said.
Philosophy Prof. Mitchell Green already has 20,000 students signed up for his Coursera course titled “Know Thyself.” That figure, however, may be deceptive.
“There’s a huge drop-out rate,” Sullivan said last week in an interview with The Cavalier Daily. “It is more a taste of a course.”
The University is not just interested in following a trend in higher education. Green said it is eager to experiment with a new learning platform.
“I did not get the sense that ‘Stanford is doing it, Princeton is doing it, we better do it,’” Green said. “Coursera is exciting because it offers people without access to higher education access to it.”
The University’s decision to partner with Coursera took many by surprise when it was announced three weeks after Sullivan’s reinstatement as president. It was a move University Rector Helen Dragas also supported.
Sullivan last week referenced the success the program had at Michigan, where she served as provost, as well as at Stanford, where faculty said that Coursera changed the way they approached residential students.
“We think that the experiment is worth doing and that the benefits at schools like Michigan and Stanford are worth looking into,” Sullivan said.
She expressed optimism that Coursera could help improve the University’s international exposure, as students from abroad could get an online taste of the school’s academic offerings.
“To me, the fact that students in other countries have an easy way to learn more about U.Va. strikes me as a good thing,” Sullivan said.
The University will offer five courses using Coursera this academic year. The first, a five-week business course taught by Darden Prof. Edward Hess, launches Jan. 28.
Read More
Shots fired on 800 block of West Main Street
By Ford McCracken | YesterdaySafety advisories are delivered when certain crimes that pose a serious threat to the community occur at or near the University.
Former Congressman Will Hurd visits U.Va. to discuss voters’ trust in Congress
By Sophie Long | 2 days agoDuring the event, Hurd and Lawless discussed the best ways to increase public confidence in Congress.
January Term courses provide opportunities for hands-on and experiential learning
By Caroline Hagood | 3 days agoJ-term courses provide students with an opportunity to earn class credit towards their degree or major program.
