MOOCs are a ‘distraction’, warns sector expert

Massive open online courses, or MOOCs, could prove a distraction to universities and cost them money, according to a consultancy that advises governments, investors and institutions on higher education issues, writes David Matthews for Times Higher Education.

Ashwin Assomull, a partner at the Parthenon Group, told a conference last week that the firm was going to “sit on the fence” over whether MOOCs could be beneficial to the sector or not. A MOOC can be a cheaper way to provide education but “on the flip side it does reduce the revenues that are associated with introductory courses”, he told the Gulf Education Conference and Exhibition in London.
Full report on the Times Higher Education site