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January 25, 2010, 07:03 PM ET
Grant Writers, Get Ready -- Bill Gates Is Fired Up About Online Learning
Bill Gates praises the potential of online learning today in his annual letter about the priorities of his foundation, which has a $34-billion endowment.
The Microsoft Corporation chairman says he's a fan of the movement to publish course materials free online. He seems especially impressed with online systems that gauge students' knowledge and give them specific feedback, a specialty of the Open Learning Initiative at Carnegie Mellon University. But while he acknowledges the work of open-content aggregators like Academic Earth, Mr. Gates wants to see better organization of the vast course materials on the Web.
"The foundation has made a few grants to drive online learning, but we are just at the start of this work," Gates writes. "So far, technology has hardly changed formal education at all. But a lot of people, including me, think this is the next place where the Internet will surprise people in how it can improve things—especially in combination with face-to-face learning."
Mr. Gates's interest could be welcome news for a movement that lost one of its main sources of philanthropic support last year, when the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation announced plans to close a longstanding online-education grant program.
Each day on Wired Campus, The Chronicle's technology reporters highlight key IT developments and put them in perspective.
Comments
1. gmacipc - January 26, 2010 at 11:21 pm
Amen, Bill.
Maybe we can get off square one with this foundation helping.
I have often heard that online learning isn't as good as face to face. My response has always been, then make it better! Unfortunately, the people making those comments don't want to make it better.
2. powe5426 - January 27, 2010 at 09:31 am
If online teaching is done right, the result is a very challenging course. I know because I earned, not "took", a doctorate online and it was stimulating, engaging, and worth all the considerable time and effort. Faculty on my campus who construct online courses do so without financial support for all the time spent. Grants would be a wonderful thing to back their time and effort, especially for the adjuncts involved.
CTpto
3. pjrichardson - January 27, 2010 at 07:44 pm
Well, judging by the "Colleges See 17 Percent Increase in Online Enrollment" article (here: http://chronicle.com/blogPost/Colleges-See-17-Percent/20820/) any Universities still dealing with head-in-the-sand Luddites, might wind up missing the boat.
4. larryc - February 07, 2010 at 12:08 am
I'm ready. Pick me, Bill, pick me!
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