There will always be students who want and need a
traditional college education, but there also have to be less costly methods of
earning a degree, according to Richard DeMillo, director of the Center for 21st
Century Universities at Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta.
Colleges must find new ways to deliver education to
remain sustainable and DeMillo says massive open online courses (MOOCs) can
play a role. Georgia Tech began offering MOOCs in 2011 and saw a 40% increase
in applicants in the first year of the program.
The university expanded the program to include a master’s
degree in computer science that costs thousands less than what students working
on the same degree on campus are paying. The program will have 4,000 students
this fall and all were required to meet the same criteria for acceptance, just
like any other Georgia Tech students.
“You
don’t change the existing order by fighting it,” DeMillo said in an article for Campus Technology. “You find new ways of doing things that make the old
ways obsolete.”