More on Online Courses: Does UA Want to Move in This Direction?

We post a link to this article in The Chronicle for the benefit of those administrators who may believe that an increasingly online presence is the, or an, answer to budget deficits and an increasingly competitive higher education “marketplace.”  It just may be that Universities are being sold a bill of goods.
“Online education was going to revolutionize the University of California system, drawing thousands to the selective institution’s online courses and bringing in new revenue to help allay budget cuts….But UC Online now appears to be struggling, even as other highly selective colleges rush to offer their courses online at no charge (and, unlike the University of California, with no credit)….University of California officials failed to rustle up those private donations and were forced to take out a $6.9-million loan from the system’s Office of the President last year to prop up the effort, with strong opposition from faculty members who did not want university money used for the project.”
Read the entire article “UC Online Strives to Compete in an Era of Free Courses” by Alsiha Azevedo on the The Chronicle’s web site here.