Pressure mounts as MOOCs force higher ed to rethink — from centerdigitaled.com by Tanya Roscorla

Excerpt:

As massively open online courses continue to gain traction, they’re proving a disruptive force in higher education.

The traditional emphasis on in-person classes has brought universities to a price point that does not look sustainable, said Adrian Sannier, senior vice president of product for Pearson eCollege.

“Maybe for the first time in a really long time, higher ed is under a tremendous amount of external scrutiny,” said Sannier, the former vice president and university technology officer at Arizona State University. “There is growing awareness that the prices charged and the rate at which the prices are growing is simply unsustainable.”

 

Also relevant/see:

  • Minding the money — from insidehighered.com by Allie Grasgreen
    One might hope that the economic recession, which formally ended in 2009, is no longer inhibiting students’ educational pursuits — or, perhaps more realistically, not as much. But an annual survey of freshmen suggests precisely the opposite: more students than ever (66.6 percent) say America’s economic condition significantly affected their choice of college — so the recession’s residual effects, at least, linger on.