Dive Summary:
- Georgia Tech's plan to offer a MOOC-based master’s degree in computer science for $6,600 may be a turning point for MOOCs, since it will lead to a degree from a high-profile university, rather than credit for individual courses.
- One professor worries that partnering with a for-profit company like Udacity to offer the online master's degree risks creating a trend toward funneling money away from public universities.
- An online education expert doubts the degree's $6,600 price tag is sustainable and predicts tuition levels will drift toward the levels of their traditional classroom counterparts.
From the article:
... “Online is a scale game, so the Georgia Tech thing is interesting,” said Phil Regier, executive vice provost of Arizona State University Online, which takes in $90 million annually in revenue. “What we’re seeing is different price points for different levels of faculty involvement. If you want no touch, or very little touch, they’ll deliver that for $6,000. If you want a higher-touch program, taught and graded by regular faculty, with a lot of faculty interaction, it’s going to be more expensive.” ...
