from a few students to hundreds of
thousands with virtually no incremental costs. In this new world of learning
technologies there are schools that are
content producers and those that are
content consumers. (Of course, the
producers also consume content as
well.) The content producer in general
bears the full cost of developing technology-enhanced teaching and learning materials and systems.
The technology offers different op-
tions for creating content at different
price points. An instructor might make
10–20 videos that replace lectures
and post them to a learning manage-
ment system. This instructor will also
“curate” material from the Internet,
adding You Tube videos and TED talks
for example to her lectures. Some fac-
ulty will create the lectures using a PC
with a touchscreen and pen, a Web
cam, and video capture and editing
software. Other faculty less comfort-
able with the technology will want to
have a script and record the video in
a studio; it takes considerable time to
create a script and to undertake post-
production of the video. The Smith
School of Business, which has a num-
ber of blended courses, a MOOC and a
completely online MBA program (with
active learning. Active learning means
that students are heavily involved in
their own education as opposed to
passively sitting through a lecture.
Discussing a case study, working on a
simulation, playing a game, breaking a
class into teams to work on a problem
are all examples of active learning.
Learning technology can be divided
into synchronous and asynchronous
components. Asynchronous refers to
course materials and exercises that
students access at a time and place of
their own choosing while synchronous
interaction means that some number of students and an instructor are
interacting at the same time, usually
through video conferencing system of
some kind. Frequently, students access asynchronous material like readings, videos, simulations, and games
through a learning management system like Blackboard or Canvas.
Figure 1 depicts several different
types of courses; online, blended and
MOOCs all make use of teaching and
learning technologies. The traditional
course before the availability of the
technology described here featured a
physical classroom with an instructor
and students. Typically, the instructor
lectured and encouraged discussion
depending on the size of the class.
Course materials came in the form of
textbooks and reading packets in hard
copy. The first online courses were
mostly asynchronous with interaction
between the instructor and students
occurring through email and discussion boards. With the advent of reliable
video conferencing software and fast
Internet connections, it is possible to
have synchronous online classes where
the instructor and students interact in
real time on a computer or mobile device. A blended course features physical interaction between the instructor
and students with course materials,
including lectures, available asynchronously for the student to access at her
convenience. A blended course stress-es active learning when the instructor
relegates all lectures to videos and uses
the physical class meeting for interaction among and with students, for example, discussing current issues, case
studies, student presentations on a
course topic and similar activities.
A massive open online course is a
different animal altogether; virtually
all of the course occurs asynchronously
without direct interaction with an in-
structor. MOOCs utilize videos viewed
by students at their convenience. The
major MOOC platforms provide the
ability for students to submit home-
work some of which is graded automat-
ically and some by peers. But MOOCs
really are massive, with thousands of
“learners” taking the courses, mostly
for fun or for an inexpensive certifi-
cate for passing the course. Recently
Coursera, the largest MOOC provider,
has offered specializations by combin-
ing four courses or more in a particular
area. A small number of colleges are
using MOOCs to offer courses for cred-
it including Georgia Tech with an MS
in computer science for under $7,000
and the University of Illinois with an
MBA for about $20,000. Students who
want to take the MOOC-based degree
programs have to apply to the universi-
ties and be accepted so that the schools
can control the input and size of these
specialized programs.
How Much Does All of This Cost?
Some have suggested that the technology will make it possible to dramatically reduce the cost of college through
innovations like MOOCs, which scale
Figure 1. Traditional versus technology-enhanced courses.
Production of Asynchronous Materials
Instructor using PC Instructional
Designers
Studio and
post production
Professional
(Hollywood)
No live instructor
interaction
TAs and
Discussion
Boards
Low
Quality
High
Low
Costs
High
Synchronous
Video class
Delivery of Online Instruction
Figure 2. Cost-quality trade-offs.
MOOCs
Traditional Blended Online