by Graelyn Brashear, C-ville
Coursera, one of the most popular MOOC hosts on the Web, currently offers nine free UVA lecture series running from four to 16 weeks in a range of topics: history, philosophy, education, and a whole slew of business courses out of Darden. Each of the five courses that launched earlier this year saw between 45,000 and 85,000 eager students sign up, and while the attrition rate is steep—usually, only about 5 to 10 percent of enrollees stick it out to the end—UVA’s courses are showing strong engagement. And even with a high dropout rate, participating in the Web platform has meant hundreds of thousands of learners are getting at least a sliver of a UVA education, and as Bloomfield found out from his influx of snail mail, a lot of those people have come away with a deep appreciation for what they’ve experienced. But it’s having an effect on Grounds, too. One of the big arguments in favor of exploring online education nationwide, even if the courses aren’t widely disseminated, is that it gives instructors the ability to “flip the classroom”: Put the lectures online and make them homework in order to free up more time for discussion.
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