Here, Have Some Free Online Education

I found a couple of parts of Gans’s piece particularly interesting:
First, the MRU model that Gans talks about (students watch video outside of class, then come to class to discuss/work in groups/etc.), is something that professors (at least here at Duke, and I suspect elsewhere) have been experimenting with – using the iTunes University and, now, things like Coursera. In fact, by my understanding, that’s one of the main value propositions of the Courseras of the world: a university can get, say, their econ lecture material from the Jeff Elys, and then use the class time to discuss and more-fully engage students who are supposed to have already learned the material. In its extreme form, it’s called, “Flipping the Classroom” – the lecture is the “homework,” and the “homework” is worked on during “lecture” time.

Second, given that this was built into Coursera’s design, I”m not sure it will necessarily be as disruptive as Gans thinks it will be. What might be disruptive is if the better professors decide to follow the MRU, everything-free approach, instead of those professors using their university’s resources (videographers, recording studios, educational video specialists, etc.). Those details impose a large cost (in terms of time), time that might otherwise be used doing research, or giving talks, or consulting, or whatnot. Not sure that there will be as large a move to that as Gans seems to believe.

*such problems