UC Online Faces Challenges in Era of Free Courses - Technology - The Chronicle of Higher Education

"Online education was going to revolutionize the University of California system, drawing thousands to the selective institution's online courses and bringing in new revenue to help allay budget cuts. That was the pitch for UC Online, started two years ago with the belief that millions in seed money could easily be raised from foundations or other private sources to get the bold effort off the ground. But UC Online now appears to be struggling, even as other highly selective colleges rush to offer their courses online at no charge (and, unlike the University of California, with no credit). University of California officials failed to rustle up those private donations and were forced to take out a $6.9-million loan from the system's Office of the President last year to prop up the effort, with strong opposition from faculty members who did not want university money used for the project. And key figures driving the project have stepped back or moved on, including Daniel Greenstein, formerly vice provost for academic planning, programs, and coordination in the university system, who left this summer to take a job at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The online effort will face its toughest test this winter. That's when it will first open its virtual doors to students not already enrolled at a University of California campus. It needs to attract at least 3,000 non-UC students this year and add 1,000 more each year until it reaches 7,000 non-UC students to pay back its loan on time, said DoQuyen Tran-Taylor, project manager for UC Online. The hope is that the project will draw on the strength of the system's brand and the promise of University of California course credit. If UC Online is successful, students at campuses in the system will reap the benefits, its leaders say. Students will be able to expand their options while studying abroad, gain greater schedule flexibility, and take courses for credit from any UC campus. But the project has fallen behind schedule in providing those benefits. In April 2011, The Chronicle reported that the pilot project would seek to offer up to 20 undergraduate courses by January 2012. But only six courses were offered last spring, and eight are available this fall. As of now, students are only able to take online courses offered through their home campuses. Because each campus has its own registration system, cross-campus enrollment will not be available until 2014, project leaders say. The pivotal question is whether people will choose to shell out money for UC Online courses rather than for already-established online programs or one of the many free online courses, known as massive open online courses, or MOOC's, offered by a growing number of well-known colleges. Richard Garrett, vice president and principal analyst at the consulting group Eduventures Inc., and an online-education expert, described student demand for UC Online courses as 'questionable' at best. 'They will have a hard time generating a lot of interest given the range of choices available,' he said. 'They're entering an already crowded market with nothing particularly distinct being offered.' Richard A. DeMillo, director of the Center for 21st Century Universities at the Georgia Institute of Technology, said he has heard 'relatively little' about the UC Online project. 'Our peer institutions have looked at the business plan, and decided to go in a different direction,' he said. Has MOOC mania become the biggest obstacle to California's online vision? ..."