Business schools are watching the rise of McKinsey Academy, an Open edX-based platform created by the consultancy giant and headquartered in lower Manhattan . "McKinsey has genuine potential to reshape the business education market", says The Financial Times. “When people ask me where my competition is, McKinsey Academy is on the list,” says Glenn Hubbard, dean of Columbia Business School in New York. "A typical McKinsey Academy course might drill the user in the “10 timeless tests” that it applies when hatching corporate strategies (“Does your strategy rest on privileged insights?” asks test five, while number 10 inquires: “Have you translated your strategy into an action plan?”). Alternatively, the student might get sucked into a fictional case study involving a playground equipment manufacturer that has lost its way and needs to get sales growing again." "The content tends to be broken up into 3-5 minute snippets to reflect the fact that participants are unlikely to have much time to spare — there is even an option to watch videos at double speed. McKinsey consultants serve as “teaching assistants” and top students are rewarded with a place on a leaderboard. There is also a “group work” element where participants are broken up into small teams." Beyond McKinsey, other consultancy making similar moves include Korn Ferry and PwC. [Disclosure: IBL has a partnership with McKinsey Academy to host the Open edX Meetups in New York]
"The new micro-credentials are just-in-time learning in the right field. We think that is the future," said Anant Agarwal, CEO at edX on an interview in Business Standard. Mr. Agarwal explained that universities that don't innovate may disappear over a period of time. He highlighted that companies are changing the way they view the credentials their employees hold. "We have launched on edX a micro master's. Why should you get a full master's? You can get micro credentials. Say you are doing a BA (Bachelor of Arts) in Math. But you want to work as a computer programmer. You can take a micro master’s in programming from edX. By the time you have your BA in math, you can have your Masters too and get a job in programming if you like." "As we talk to employers we find they are very excited about micro masters. Let’s say they hire a student after a bachelor’s degree and in India studies have shown that 95% of the bachelor graduates are unemployable. Imagine now they can all do micro masters and learn the skills to make them employable. And at a fraction of the time and cost. You are already working in a company. It’s not easy to go back and get a master’s. We think micro masters will solve this problem." "The courses are free. You pay for the certificate or the credential. You have to pay US $ 50-100 depending on the course. And companies are increasingly beginning to recognize these micro credentials and will place a value on them." "Why should a person go to college for four years? Why at the age of 18? Why a master’s following a undergraduate degree? I see the world becoming more unbundled, more micro – in everything. Learning is life long." "Today universities only give degrees. I think in the future they will give degrees and they will give micro credentials. Universities that refuse to innovate may suffer or die out. But the rest will thrive." "In 2011, my colleagues and I felt that technology had reached a point where one could teach people online in a way that has never been done before. People had done some online courses before but we felt we could use video gaming technology and apply it to learning. And create labs in various subjects – just like you play video games. One could create very engaging courses online."
The University of Michigan (U-M) has announced three certificate programs, comprising 15 courses, on user experience research and human-computer interaction, user experience design and corporate financial analysis. These courses on edX.org (priced between $49 and $99 per unit) are launched under the XSeries group, and they come in addition to the existing four free MOOCs on edX (priced at $49 if you take a verified certificate). It is remarkable that U-M, through its Office of Digital Education & Innovation, plans to release 100 MOOCs by December and 100 more in 2017, according to Campus Technology. Michigan also uses Coursera to host its MOOCs. However, the school has noted that a major appeal of the edX platform is its open source nature.
Two-thirds of MIT's undergraduates have now taken a course that uses Open edX, according to Sanjay Sarma, Vice President for Open Learning at MIT. Mr. Sarma is aiming to change the culture of teaching there by pushing the lecture model into the margins and using technology to rethink the professor's role. In some courses, professors use a "flipped classroom" approach, where students watch lecture videos and do online quizzes for homework so that classroom time can focus on discussion. In others, problem sets are delivered using the edX software, which can instantly grade complicated assignments such as coding exercises or drafts of circuit diagrams. That frees up time for professors and provides detailed data on student performance. Mr. Sarma has even pushed for breaking up semester-long courses into shorter modules, so that students can take only the parts they need, essentially remixing the curriculum into a personalized-learning playlist. "The founding principles of MIT were disruptive. From the beginning, MIT focused more on student research and "learning by doing" than other institutions did. MIT pioneered the online publishing of teaching materials when it started its OpenCourseWare project, more than 10 years ago."
By Michael Amigot / IBL The $6,600 Online Master of Science Computer Science degree –OMS CS, for short– of George Institute of Technology, announced in May 2013, continues to be a seductive proposition for undergraduates. Overall enrollments will reach about 10,000 students. 3,358 students registered during this spring, and the expectation is to attract 1,500 over the summer and about 4,000 in the fall. With a 55 percent acceptance rate and no GRE entrance exam, "the program has elicited wonder, enthusiasm, and trepidation", writes William Fenton for PC Magazine as a contributing editor. Many students praise the program. The OMS CS, offered at Udacity, costs a third of the traditional MS CS degree, priced at $21,000 for Georgia residents and twice as much for out-to-state students. Students can even qualify for financial aid. It contains 30 credit hours, or 10 three-credit courses. To enroll, students only need to maintain a 3.0 GPA or higher in Computer Science at an accredited undergraduate institution and pass a TOELF exam if they're international. "The Georgia Tech online master's program is more in line with ventures such as General Assembly, which enable professionals to advance skills and training," writes William Fenton. PC Magazine: Don't Dismiss Georgia Tech's $6,600 Online Master's Degree
