"Khan/Koller Review"
Khan
Academy
My son, is a 2015 High School graduate and I can recall seeing Emails
from Kahn Academy on our home computer, but until now, I could not tell you
much about it. I enjoyed this exercise and the opportunity to learn more. I
came away with a positive impression and upon talking with my son regarding his
experience, I became even more convinced that Kahn is a solid educational tool,
one, like others, that should be used as the situation warrants. The early
videos were a little rough, but the more recent editions were better. The work
output impresses me – I had no idea this all existed. I have daughter that will
be entering HS next year and I will be very supportive of her using this tool.
I see on line learning as a tool, one that continues to improve in
content, practice, accessibility, and cost. As for credentialing, I see the
possibility of it adding too, but not the practicality of it replacing the name
brand educational institutions we know and love in America. Particularly for name brand employers. For
most companies, the school name behind the courses, is what helps differentiate
candidates in the hiring process, and I believe it will continue to matter for
some time to come. However, that is not so true for entrepreneurs, which is where
much of the seeds of innovation has and will continue to occur. For most
entrepreneurs, the rules of engagement are different and neither diplomas nor credentials
matter.
Coursera
Learning about Coursera was a pleasant surprise. Different from Khan or
other on line environments we see the name brand educational institutions we know
and love in America as participants. What a wonderful alternative for some and
opportunity for others. The “best of the best” putting their wares out on line
for free. Even the Ohio State University is now participating.
Having just left the business world, I spent my time researching the Coursera’s
offerings in Business. It was very impressive and if I had known about it while
still working, there are several courses that would have been beneficial for
the employee development of individuals and teams under my leadership. It would
have been easy enough to have added this to their performance objectives and
reaped the benefits of classes that in some instances, if done via an Executive
Education class at the University of Michigan or Stanford would have cost $ 5 –
10,000/employee. From reading the course content, these seem to be the same
courses, taught by the same professors as in the brochures I would receive in my
inbox at work. My guess is they would be every bit as enlightening and
challenging. What would have been missed was the human interaction over meal times
with participants from other companies. I always found those events to be of great
value.
The drawback continues to be that many of these courses do not provide college
credits. However, there are a few universities that are beginning to do so, but
at a cost. I did find that as of March, 2016, both Georgia Tech and Arizona
State are now offer credits for $200 per credit hour. Columbus State does not
currently offer this option.
MOOC’s are certainly catching on and
advancing in scope and reach. There is no reason to believe this will not
continue. Free is a noble idea, but as we are seeing that business model does
not hold up when someone is seeking credits toward a degree. My hope is that in
time, MOOC’s will serve as a viable competitor and moderate the cost of
the various options that exist today for a college education. One thing is
abundantly clear, the cost of a traditional four-year degree is simply out of
control right now.
