

University of California Proposes Online Degrees - p_alexander
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/07/12/MN581EAQR0.DTL

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yummyfajitas
_"We want to do a highly selective, fully online, credit-bearing program on a
large scale - and that has not been done," said UC Berkeley law school Dean
Christopher Edley_

There is absolutely no reason to be selective in an online college unless you
are trying to create artificial scarcity.

This quote shows just how pointless college is.

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rick888
"There is absolutely no reason to be selective in an online college unless you
are trying to create artificial scarcity."

If every college let everyone in, it would be worthless. Colleges need to be
selective. They should base admission on grades.

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aaco
_"If every college let everyone in, it would be worthless."_

I think that HN, while not a college, might be a counterexample for this idea.

Here everyone can join and communicate, and yet we can maintain a high level
of communication. The ones who don't fit are quickly flagged or simply won't
come back again.

I think selectivity is good, however it doesn't need to be enforced in the
admission step, it will happen in the middle of the process. People who would
not be able to follow the course requirements would quickly drop out.

I'm not arguing that this idea would work (I don't really know), but based on
the HN experience I think it should be considered.

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rick888
"Here everyone can join and communicate, and yet we can maintain a high level
of communication. The ones who don't fit are quickly flagged or simply won't
come back again."

Universities aren't run by the students. There is only so much space in a
university.

I think selectivity is good, however it doesn't need to be enforced in the
admission step, it will happen in the middle of the process. People who would
not be able to follow the course requirements would quickly drop out.

"I'm not arguing that this idea would work (I don't really know), but based on
the HN experience I think it should be considered."

A forum is easily moderated by the people that go there. The forum owner only
has to pay for the bandwidth and make sure the system us running. This isn't
the case for a university.

A university has a finite number of spaces. Even an online university needs to
have people grading/teaching the class (and they only have so much time in the
day).

They don't need to limit it. However, would you like to go to a university
that is just a glorified forum that is taught by people that might no the
subjects, but not necessarily a professor?

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awongh
_However, would you like to go to a university that is just a glorified forum
that is taught by people that might no the subjects, but not necessarily a
professor?_

Isn't that kinda how it is now? At least the part about your teachers being
TAs and not professors.... At least a forum has some level of interaction.

