Professors promote their own MOOCs

By Nick Anderson. What if two professors at a university launched their own university? Would the first university cheer them on? Surprisingly, it might.
At least that is the case with George Mason University, George Mason economists Tyler Cowen and Alex Tabarrok and the free online education platform they have launched called Marginal Revolution University.
It’s another twist in the high-speed development of massive open online courses: Entrepreneurial professors are creating and promoting their own MOOCs.
The MOOC movement is emerging as a disruptive force in higher education, as The Post reported last week. Universities everywhere are pondering how to react and whether the rush to open courses up to the world, free of charge, will threaten the institutions in the long run.
But many professors aren’t waiting. Some are posting courses — free and for charge — in an online portal called Udemy. More...