By Audrey Watters. OMG, MOOCs
This week,
Coursera announced a series of deals with 9 state university systems: the
State University of New York, the
University of Tennessee system, The
Tennessee Board of Regents, the
University of Colorado system, the
University of Houston system, the
University of Kentucky (
The Chronicle of Higher Education has a copy of this contract), the
University of Nebraska, the
University of New Mexico, the
University System of Georgia, and
West Virginia University. According to its blog, “the partnership with Coursera will give professors the option to experiment with and improve upon the ‘blended learning’ model, which combines online video lectures and content with active, in-person classroom interactions.”
Inside Higher Ed offers a lot more details on the deals, arguing that they will “help the company test new business models and teaching methods and potentially put Coursera in competition with some of the ed tech industry’s most established players.” Many education bloggers have chimed in too, noting that this makes Coursera
less of a “disruptive innovation” and more of an
learning management system, a
courseware provider, or
an academic publisher. “You can stop worrying about MOOCs now,”
says Martin Weller, who says this move shows that the MOOC bubble is already bursting.
Read more... 
By Steve Kolowich. Students at Massachusetts Bay Community College this year got a rare opportunity to take a computer-science course designed and taught online by some of the top professors in the field.
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