From Today’s Hatchet: Professor Soltan on MOOCs
Professor Margaret Soltan is among those interviewed in today’s GW Hatchet, on the topic of MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses):
“GW is on the verge of joining an online education revolution, following in the footsteps of elite universities that have over the past year launched hundreds of free online classes – open to anyone with computer access.
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| Photo by Tamara Trocki |
The massive open online courses, or MOOCs, include videos and slides on topics ranging from philosophy to nutrition, and have elicited tens of thousands of sign-ups from around the world. Despite universal uncertainties about their financial stability and academic quality, the University is making headway on a slow rollout of the non-credit courses that would serve as GW’s first MOOCs, a top official said last week….
One GW professor, associate professor of English Margaret Soltan, has tackled MOOCs independently. She already teaches a course on poetry through the Faculty Project at Udemy, winning considerable exposure on account of the course, including a profile in the Chronicle of Higher Education and a request to speak at Harvard University.
But the exposure comes without direct financial gain.
‘It’s all a rather shaky proposition – if money is your aim,’ Soltan said. ‘If getting your university’s name out there in the world in a big way is a motivation, and if doing some good in the world is a motivation, MOOCs are a very good way to go.'”
