50,000 Strong to Change Higher Ed

By Carl Straumsheim. Can 50 face-to-face courses, one massive open online course and more than 50,000 students working together change higher education? That’s what Duke University professor Cathy N. Davidson hopes, even as she embraces the technological issues of guiding an effort the size of a small city. The initiative, called “The History and Future of Higher Education,” is being coordinated by Davidson, co-founder of the Humanities, Arts, Science and Technology Alliance and Collaboratory, or HASTAC. The sprawling collaborative includes dozens of universities across the world, international conferences, webinars, an open online discussion forum and -- of course -- a MOOC. Read more...