{"id":693,"date":"2013-03-21T16:32:29","date_gmt":"2013-03-21T16:32:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/transfer.writingcommons.org\/2013\/03\/21\/the-gates-foundation-and-three-composition-moocs\/"},"modified":"2022-12-01T11:42:16","modified_gmt":"2022-12-01T11:42:16","slug":"the-gates-foundation-and-three-composition-moocs","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/writingcommons.org\/article\/the-gates-foundation-and-three-composition-moocs\/","title":{"rendered":"The Gates Foundation and Three Composition MOOCS"},"content":{"rendered":"

MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) have been getting a lot of attention lately.  The idea of free access to higher education via  online classes challenges our traditional assumptions about good undergraduate pedagogy\u2013that small class sizes and significant face-to-face time with professors are crucial to learning.  As a parent with two kids at private universities, I find the idea of a quality, free education particularly appealing.<\/p>\n

In its November 13th press release<\/a>, Gates announced awards of 12 grants for a total of 3 million dollars to develop MOOCs for a variety of courses\u2013from developmental math to English Composition.  Given my commitment to developingWriting Commons<\/a>, https:\/\/writingcommons.org<\/a>, so that it\u2019s the go-to site for any college student with a writing question, you can imagine how keen I am on the idea of using Writing Commons for MOOC-orientated writing courses.  That said, to be qualified for Gates\u2019 funding for MOOCs, applicants had to convince a university to write a letter of support for the project.  In my case, for good reasons, this proved impossible.  After all, the worry goes, if you argue that composition can truly be taught to several hundred thousand students at a time, well, then, how do you defend the idea of small class sizes for writing courses?  Wouldn\u2019t successful MOOCs undermine undergraduate education\u2013especially in states with governors who are antagonistic toward education, in states where the bottom line provides the lens for judging success in higher education\u2013the cheaper the degree (say a $10,000 community college degree) the better?<\/p>\n

Sometimes, though, we need to experiment\u2013even if that means challenging some of our most deeply cherished assumptions about teaching and learning.  Flipping the classroom is serious business for those of us who have teaching for 30 years!  Hence, I\u2019d like to publicly congratulate some especially innovative\/courageous faculty and institutions who have been awarded grants from the Gates Foundation for developing MOOCs for composition:<\/span><\/p>\n