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ERIC Number: EJ1064612
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2013-Dec-16
Pages: N/A
Abstractor: ERIC
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1938-5978
EISSN: N/A
Striking a Bargain?
Anastasopoulos, Nicholas
New England Journal of Higher Education, Dec 2013
Massive Open Online Courses ("MOOCs") are free, online courses offered by institutions of higher education to individual users across the world, and in the vast majority of cases, without any admissions criteria. MOOCs are popular with individuals because they offer unprecedented, free access to the best institutions in the world that were previously inaccessible to the vast majority of the population--all a user needs is a computer and Internet access. College and university administrators are excited about MOOCs because of the marketing reach and additional revenues available through this medium. Professors are excited to have their lectures seen by as many people as possible. Unions must be on board, right? Not so fast. Many faculty unions take the position that MOOCs undermine faculty intellectual property rights and existing collective bargaining agreements between the union and the institution. More and more, students formally enrolled in the institution are given academic credits for completing coursework via MOOCs. As the use of MOOCs becomes more accepted, unions will negotiate language intended to protect members' courseloads, teaching opportunities, and jobs. This is a particularly sensitive issue at institutions with unionized adjunct professors.
New England Board of Higher Education. 45 Temple Place, Boston, MA 02111. Tel: 617-357-9620; Fax: 617-338-1577; e-mail: info@nebhe.org; Web site: http://www.nebhe.org
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A