"Kahn/Koller Review"

"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.