MOOCs might replace a traditional university for a few people, but the top universities will remain around. The major benefit to college is not the academics, but the social connections you make. For hackers, this might be meeting a fellow hacker to start a company with. For a director, it might mean meeting an actress to star in a movie. For a businessperson it might mean getting a job at a friend's dad's company.
The central idea behind MOOCs is that education is expensive now. It isn't -- just go to the library and pick up a book. Completely free, and if you're disciplined enough, probably pretty close to a university quality education. I'll concede that this doesn't apply to hard science education where you need sophisticated labs, but it does apply to a lot of students' fields of study.
When most people think "education", they aren't talking about learning, but the complete package of learning, social activities, and making connections. That is expensive. You need a nice campus with plenty of green space to lie about and play frisbee. You need a nice gym, a welcoming student center, and a nice dorm area for people to socialize. If you were to build a campus solely around education, it would probably be pretty cheap. Just buy up some cheap office space in a nondescript office buildings, and have professors give lectures there. But this isn't what students want.
> When most people think "education", they aren't talking about learning, but the complete package of learning, social activities, and making connections. That is expensive. You need a nice campus with plenty of green space to lie about and play frisbee.
Unfortunately this expensive-frisbee-throwing-star-gazing-social-networking-package is a requirement to just get past the front door of most places.
Some of us really don't need or want the social aspect of college. I'd like to get a BSStat degree and a BMath degree, and I'd like to do this without having to throw a frisbee at someone. At the same time I don't want to get a print-out from <insert shady fly-by-night internet college>.
Personally I believe there are more people like me (just give me the degree and keep social networking at the bar) but I don't know if there has been any studies to prove either way.
I'd say the other big advantage - and to my mind even more important than the social aspect - is the access to the tutors and professors. Having done a number of online courses, they're fine as far as they go, but even a well run forum is no substitute for actually being able to talk to the subject expert, get him/her to walk you through the problems...
Edit:
There's another major advantage: formal qualification / certification. There's obviously nothing to stop me cheating at an online course, the certificate or congratulatory email they give you at the end is nearly worthless.
> The central idea behind MOOCs is that education is expensive now. It isn't -- just go to the library and pick up a book. Completely free, and if you're disciplined enough, probably pretty close to a university quality education. I'll concede that this doesn't apply to hard science education where you need sophisticated labs, but it does apply to a lot of students' fields of study.
Hard science doesn't work with MOOC either. While I was getting my undergraduate degree, I was crawling around inside a wind tunnel setting up experiments. How do I do that online?
I have to say I'm bearish on MOOC. I don't think it buys you anything you couldn't do already with correspondence courses, etc, and I think many advocates of MOOC are missing the basic point of a traditional university education.
The end of your comment is describing the US community college system. Cost-effectve lower-to-middle-middle-class career education in a wide variety of trades and skills.
The elite will never be available to the masses, because exclusivity is part of its reason to exist.
The central idea behind MOOCs is that education is expensive now. It isn't -- just go to the library and pick up a book. Completely free, and if you're disciplined enough, probably pretty close to a university quality education. I'll concede that this doesn't apply to hard science education where you need sophisticated labs, but it does apply to a lot of students' fields of study.
When most people think "education", they aren't talking about learning, but the complete package of learning, social activities, and making connections. That is expensive. You need a nice campus with plenty of green space to lie about and play frisbee. You need a nice gym, a welcoming student center, and a nice dorm area for people to socialize. If you were to build a campus solely around education, it would probably be pretty cheap. Just buy up some cheap office space in a nondescript office buildings, and have professors give lectures there. But this isn't what students want.