Wednesday, June 6, 2001

U. of Washington to Offer Free Online Short Courses By SARAH CARR The University of Washington plans to offer free, short versions of some of its online courses, partly as a marketing strategy. "We hope some of the people who take the short courses will then become interested and register for the full-blown courses," says David P. Szatmary, the vice provost of educational outreach. Mr. Szatmary adds that university officials also hope to "extend access to the resources of the university far and wide." The short courses, which will be offered in such subjects as "Business Writing" and "History of New Orleans Jazz," will take students only a couple of hours to complete. "We wanted it to be long enough to be a meaningful experience and not so short that it would just be a teaser," says Bill Corrigan, the director of distance-learning design. Each of the short courses will be followed by a brief online quiz. Mr. Szatmary said the main cost of the new offering is the time that the university's instructional designers spent creating the courses. The venture follows on the heels of a high-profile announcement by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology that professors there will put all course materials on the Web for free viewing. (See an article from The Chronicle, April 20.) The M.I.T. courses will not involve any interaction with professors or other students. Moreover, the University of Washington is not the first place to try to attract customers by offering free short courses. Last year, Barnes & Noble developed a series of "mini courses" in subjects like yoga to try to increase its Internet sales. "Barnes & Noble is creating courses to sell books, but the university is creating courses to sell educational content, not specific books or materials," says Mr. Szatmary. He adds that another motivation -- beyond serving the public -- is to bolster the reputation of online learning generally. "We want to create an awareness among the general public of the power of online learning," he says. Easy-to-print version E-mail this article

After a long battle, Rutgers U. alumni magazine will publish anti-sports ad Performance-based aid has had little effect on colleges in South Carolina, report says Financier may pull out of Russia if it tightens grip on scholars New group to defend the rights of scholars and students across the globe 12 new chief executives announced Spring commencement speakers are announced by 10 colleges Major university presses are signing deals with a new online venture U. of Washington to offer free online short courses