Provostial-Senate MOOCs Taskforce report.

Abstract

Earlier this year, SUNY Chancellor Nancy L. Zimpher launched a SUNY initiative, Open SUNY, with the goal of creating the largest online education system in the country. Open SUNY, which will start next year, will offer 10 online bachelor’s degree programs and will enroll up to 100,000 students within three years. As in the past, technology will open up the gates of public education to new horizons, as well as to new types of students. Also, as in the past, these emergent technologies can lay the ground for new types of teachers and new types of classrooms. A Taskforce was established, to address some of the challenges that Stony Brook University faces (limited classroom space, growing class sizes, the challenge of serving an increasingly diverse student body) and may help to facilitate the attainment of immediate goals (improved graduation rates, decreased graduation time, and the increased ability to gather outcome data). As part of a larger online education strategy, MOOCs can align with the University’s mission of offering a 21st century education, in which creativity, critical thinking, communication, and collaboration are brought together to catalyze a new Stony Brook University.