ITHAKA The Next Wave 2016: Charles Isbell - Online MS in Computer Science
Transcript of ITHAKA The Next Wave 2016: Charles Isbell - Online MS in Computer Science
CHARLES ISBELL SENIOR ASSOCIATE DEAN
OMS CS: What is it?• oMS CS • Moving from MOOCs to MOODs, from courses to degrees:
Master of Science in Computer Science • …delivered online using MOOC platforms • …equivalent to the MS CS on campus • …for about $6600 (instead of $42,000)
• Collaboration among GT, Udacity & AT&T
• Announced on May 14, 2013
• Program launched Jan. 15, 2014, now in the ninth term
Why a MOOC-delivered MS CS?• Because we can
• Rapidly maturing technology
• Rapidly maturing experience: Georgia Tech has more than a million enrollments in its MOOC efforts, multiple iterations and changes
• Broad interest: Philanthropic entities, governmental entities, students
• CS, MS, CoC are good places to start
• Because we should
• Frankly, we have a mission to educate when we can
• Move away from prestige === saying no
How We Got to a $6,600 Degree• Figure out costs
• Charge what it costs at scale: fixed vs recurring
• Leave a margin
• Gifts from AT&T fund start up costs
• Faculty Governance
• Appointed faculty working group with minimal College leadership
• Final proposal affirmed by 75% of College faculty
• Main concerns: quality, quality, quality
• Timing and coincidence did help
OMS Enrollments• ~4000 enrollments Fall 2016 (~90% yield) • First 18 graduated December, 60 May, expect 200+ this term
• Demographics of enrolled follow applications • Course enrollment melt at any given term: ~20%
• what is normal when taking courses for $ not $$$? • …and visas are not an issue? • …and most of them return?
• All part-time students • First by our necessity, then by their necessity (60% of first
timers enrolled in two courses drop to one) • …but increasingly seeing shift to younger demographics
OMS Applications• 2,361 applicants in first 21 days, two times our on-campus MS CS
• ~12,000 applicants since October 2013, about 55% accepted
• ~100 countries represented & all 50 U.S. states
• Vast majority are degree-holders working in computing/IT
• ~725 have advanced degrees
• ~125 have PhDs
• 80-85% domestic applications: almost complement of on-campus MS CS
• Average age: ~35 (11 years older than on-campus MS CS)
• We are expanding the market
OMS CS Students Seek Community• Students self-organize on social media
• Dozens of pages, groups & communities on Google+ (~60
groups), Facebook, LinkedIn, HipChat, reddit, etc.
• Subdivided by individual OMS courses, student geographic
location, language & interest areas
• Nerdy Bones Google+ group for OMS women w/123 members
• Main Google+ OMS community has ~4,000 members
• Student Facebook group has ~930 members
GT Computing Community
Not Just Their Obvious Demographics• Uniquely qualified students with control improve class for all
• many employed by companies like Google, Amazon & SpaceX
• Ed Tech includes current teachers; Health Informatics includes current physicians; ML enjoys data scientists; and so on
• Research from Harvard shows that OMS addresses a previously unmet demand for flexible mid-career training: • “Access to OMS CS increases the amount of formal education pursued.”
• “Low cost, high quality online education has the potential to improve the stock of STEM-based human capital, in part by meeting the needs of those unable to enroll in traditional, time- and place-constrained coursework.”
• 8%(!) a year
Lessons Learned So Far• It is not difficult to create a quality product
• Scalability is easy… except the parts that are hard
• Day-to-day support mostly scales in courses
• Grading does not scale without a lot of creativity
• Students are extremely engaged—officially & unofficially
• Interacting via self-created social media groups, planning ATL meet-up
• Providing significant peer support across a range of issues
• Not just a collection of courses but a community built around common goals
• They need better program guidance
• Better technology for community support including group projects, and tests
What’s Next?• Now taking year-round applications, and beginning to have to
really deal with our “minimal” requirements
• Ramp up OMS career services
• Virtual Career Fair participation each term
• Virtual Advising
• International outreach (India, China, Africa)
• Targeted marketing to boost female, underrepresented minority enrollment
• Applying lessons beyond MS CS CoC
Different Ways of Providing Content
• Content-focused
• Presentation-focused
• Interaction-focused
• Quizzes/Forums
• Team teaching easier?
• Multiple faculty across multiple institutions
• Multiple perspectives
• Improvised conversational podcasts ≥ lecture?
Different Ways of Providing Content
GEORGIA TECH MASTER OF SCIENCE IN COMPUTER SCIENCE… ONLINE
Different Ways of Providing Content
• Team teaching easier?
• Multiple faculty across multiple institutions
• Multiple perspectives
• Improvised conversational podcasts ≥ lecture?