MOOC Player Coursera Hires Netflix, Facebook Execs

MOOCs, a/k/a Massive Open Online Course, have touted their ability to "disrupt" traditional academic education by changing "delivery models." These Internet-based schemes offer open courses, worldwide participation, and replay capability. Much as in traditional higher education programs, the Q&A sessions are left to poorly paid teaching assistants. What they don't offer is a walk-in classroom and a live human being delivering "knowledge."

Coursera, started by two Stanford University computer science professors, is in the vanguard of the MOOC movement. Their desire to reshape the higher education landscape recently took an interesting turn. Earlier this month, Silicon Valley Business Journal (SVBJ) reported that Coursera hired two Valley executives. One was poached from Netflix; the other was swept away from Facebook. What do these two men (yes, they are men) have in common? Well, neither are educators. The Netflix wiz understands algorithms that use predictive models to suggest "choices" for end-users. In Coursera's case, that would mean students. The Facebook "engineer" has a background in making video and other groovy "necessities" function in a social network environment.

The SBVJ story noted that Coursera was in Series B venture funding. In other words, it had a long way to go before the VC crowd could cash in on the bull rush to MOOC Ed. However, it also noted that Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg just invested in an "education analytics" firm called Panorama Education. There was no word on whether Panorama Ed received any interest from the Newark, New Jersey school system, which Zuckerberg so publicly donated stock around the time of the opening of the unflattering movie The Social Network.

The MOOC Movement's Big Splash

Daphne Koller
(photo from Stanford University)

The Massive Open Online Courses movement, often called by the acronym MOOC, has recently taken a strong step forward into a brave new higher educational world. An online startup called Coursera is offering courses in selected tech subjects and math suitable for higher education. The firm is the brainchild of two Stanford University professors, one of whom is a MacArthur grant winner. Their goal is to transform "the face of higher education," noted Daphne Koller, one of the Stanford pair.

Coursera, and its MOOC relatives, essentially provide courses taught by star professors. Participants don't earn university credit, but then again, the courses are free. The story, which has received wide, big-league media coverage, hints at MOOC's tremendous implications without really stating them. (The Seattle Times version, which has a hometown interest, as the University of Washington signed a deal with Coursera, is linked here.)

The rather obvious implication in the MOOC movement is turning higher education into a monopoly of star professors. Why would anyone want to study chemistry or poetry from some also-ran doc? Those who has endured the American university system knows first hand how many courses are occupied by researchers who can't teach or communicate. For lower-tier colleges, MOOC is an existential threat, unless they turn their faculty into glorified MOOC teaching assistants. Of course, that strategy would lower salaries and, voila, make college cheaper to operate. The star profs, meanwhile, would be worth millions.

Coursera and others in the MOOC movement have considered the profit motive in their enterprises' calculations. The Seattle Times story quoted a University of Washington provost's estimate of $30,000 required for "one online course, and 'you have to monetize this in some fashion.' Coursera has outlined two models for making money....Under terms of the contract with the UW, the organization would get a 7 to 15 percent return of gross revenue under either scenario...But Coursera's courses still would be free."

Image from Jeremy Knox,
a co-instructor for a Coursera course.

The most interesting part of the story is how Coursera would use "data-mining software" to grasp how students were learning. I'm doubtful any system based on data analytics can foster true intellectual growth. Instead of the Socratic method and dialogue, we're left with a data-driven nightmare principally designed for the benefit of top-down management and financial efficiency. While Coursera and MOOC programs may very well be splendid, they lack the intimate human touch genuine education needs.