MOOCs - A Special Issue from Campus Technology Magazine

Campus Technology has a special issue on MOOCs (massively open online courses) in the August issue.  It will surely complement the special issue on MOOCs from JOLT (Journal of Online Learning and Teaching) that I expect to be published any day. 

The first article, What do Massively Open Online Courses Mean for Higher Ed, by John Waters is extremely well written.  The second article, MOOC it Up as You Go, by David Raths discusses the business model for MOOCs.  One of the examples is the computer science masters degree offered by Georgia Tech for $7000 vs a campus version for $40,000.  You do the math.  If you have massive enrollment of students at $7000 each...

In essence, higher education is immersed in a storm of changes, partly spurred by costs and the need for innovation to fix broken education models.  As of now, the turmoil in higher education provides an interesting ride...

The August issue of Campus Technology  is a "must read" by administrators, faculty and students.  Look for the special issue in JOLT on the same topic- coming soon.

NEJM This Week App

New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) has an app for the iPad or iPhone - NEJM This Week.  The app is free and includes numerous articles, images with interpretation, audio summaries of articles, and video tutorials.  The articles are on a variety of topics.  As an example, this week there are articles on implementation of healthcare reform in California, accountable care organizations, and a case study of a 9-month child with liver failure. Examples of videos include blood pressure measurement, chest-tube insertion, and paracentesis.  The videos are pertinent to medical and nursing students.  The quality of the videos is excellent!