MIT offers its full catalog of world class course material for free over the Internet. Apple iTunes offers free downloads of hundreds of lectures by professors from dozens of universities. This is a wonderful trend that will bring many of the fruits of learning to everyone, everywhere. But what will it mean for the major universities if students find a course posted by a community college prof better than the ivy's offerings? This is almost inevitable, since top universities choose profs based on their research grants, not teaching skills. Soon, the only purpose of the major “bricks-and-mortar-board” universities will be to serve as venues for class reunions and home for basketball and football games.
Universities should exploit the value of their brand before it disappears. Here are some naturals: the University of North Carolina sponsors a NASCAR entry, Texas brands beef, Notre Dame backs Lucky Charms, Florida promotes a sports drink (done that), the University of Southern California recommends, um, defense lawyers.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment