Gambling on Online?

Prof. Michael Meranze pointed me to an article in the Chronicle of Higher Ed concerning UC's apparent change in policy regarding funding for its online education initiative. Apparently, there will now be borrowing to launch the project, although previous plans were to rely on fund raising. Dan Simmons, chair of the Academic Senate, was quite cautious about the initiative in the Chronicle article: (excerpt)

Daniel L. Simmons, chair of the system’s academic senate, said on Friday that he supported the pilot program and understood the need to experiment with online education even during times of crisis. The senate formally endorsed the plan last year.

However, the online pilot “remains a risky proposition,” he said.

“The office of the president, at the same it is talking about lending this $4- to $7-million to develop online courses, is probably going to cut the funding for some very successful centrally managed research programs,” Mr. Simmons said.

There is considerable ambiguity about what the online pilot program seeks to accomplish, he said. “Are we exploring this as a way to help UC students to complete their degrees in a timely manner? Are we using it as a revenue-raiser? Are we using it to expand access to the UC? Nobody has really sat down and fully explored the answers to those questions.”

Full article at http://chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/reversing-course-u-of-california-to-borrow-millions-for-online-classes/30853

Prof. Meranze's take on this development is at http://utotherescue.blogspot.com/2011/04/on-line-and-in-debt.html

It does seem that when you are gambling, you may need a bond: