Dear Commons Community,

While massive open online courses could help increase access to higher education while driving down its costs, President Obama should not intervene in order to push the MOOC movement in that direction.  That’s the advice the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology has offered the president in a letter, that focuses on education technology—and MOOCs in particular.  As reported in The Chronicle of Higher Education:

“Although the new technologies introduced by MOOCs are still in their infancy, and many questions and challenges remain, we believe that they hold the possibility of transforming education at all levels by providing better metrics for educational outcomes, and better alignment of incentives for innovation in pedagogy,” the letter’s authors write.

The letter acknowledges the concerns that have been raised about MOOCs and online courses generally, and notes that it is still unclear whether online courses can actually reduce the cost of higher education. But over all the letter strikes an optimistic note…The council’s advice to the president is to hang back for the time being and “let market forces decide which innovations in online teaching and learning are best,” rather than leaping to subsidize a favorite.”

I agree fully with the Council’s letter.  I also appreciate that it recognizes that MOOCs are not synonymous with online learning and that there was a vibrant online learning movement years before the arrival of the MOOCs.

Tony