In today’s world, education system has become very versatile and diverse. There are many ways for students to gain education, and one way is through online institutions. An example of an online institution is Minerva Project. Minerva Project is a new higher education online college led by its CEO Ben Nelson that claims to offer a better education than that of traditional colleges. Minerva doesn’t have an elaborate campus, and it requires students to use the community resources for assistance. In addition, Minerva requires its students to have an introductory knowledge to a subject and suggests its students to use the MOOCs to gain rudimentary knowledge about a subject. So far, Minerva’s CEO Ben Nelson has been able to convince one college professor,
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According to Ben Nelson, traditional lectures are not proven to work. The software will allow professors to teach seminar-size online classes from anywhere around the world. Ben Nelson explains that in a traditional classroom, students in the back are not very engaged, but on Minerva’s online platform, students “will be on their toes” because it will monitor every move and activity of the students and the professor. This means that even a slight movement by a student will be noticed by everyone. For example, if a student goes to drink water, then all its classmates will notice his absence. While, this type of learning may prove to be effective, it also has some disadvantages. For example, students may feel “impersonal” and “oddly distant” from their classmates since they are all sitting by each other, but still they have to communicate and discuss via an online platform. Another disadvantage is that students won’t be able to get space and thinking time in this type of education. For example, a student on Minerva has to instantly answer a question without actually thinking about it, while a student in a traditional classroom can take his time to think the question through and have a coherent knowledge about the subject. So, a factor that will likely affect the success of Minerva project is whether college freshmen has the …show more content…
Upon being asked about the difference between MOOCs and Minerva, Ben Nelson answered that Minerva is not as massive as the MOOCs and that lectures are banned on Minerva. For example, on Coursera, there can be hundreds of students enrolled in a single course, while on Minerva, there will be only about 20 students enrolled in a single course. A MOOC provides education through recorded lectures, while Minerva will have live seminars. In fact, Ben Nelson suggests Minerva’s students to use the MOOCs to gain introductory knowledge to a subject, since it’s not offered at Minerva. Minerva will only teach subjects that require students to debate one another and help professors monitor the intellectual development of the students. For example, Minerva’s students will not be offered courses such as Econ 101 and Psych 101 because they don’t provide “habits of mind” and “foundational
According to Ben Nelson, traditional lectures are not proven to work. The software will allow professors to teach seminar-size online classes from anywhere around the world. Ben Nelson explains that in a traditional classroom, students in the back are not very engaged, but on Minerva’s online platform, students “will be on their toes” because it will monitor every move and activity of the students and the professor. This means that even a slight movement by a student will be noticed by everyone. For example, if a student goes to drink water, then all its classmates will notice his absence. While, this type of learning may prove to be effective, it also has some disadvantages. For example, students may feel “impersonal” and “oddly distant” from their classmates since they are all sitting by each other, but still they have to communicate and discuss via an online platform. Another disadvantage is that students won’t be able to get space and thinking time in this type of education. For example, a student on Minerva has to instantly answer a question without actually thinking about it, while a student in a traditional classroom can take his time to think the question through and have a coherent knowledge about the subject. So, a factor that will likely affect the success of Minerva project is whether college freshmen has the …show more content…
Upon being asked about the difference between MOOCs and Minerva, Ben Nelson answered that Minerva is not as massive as the MOOCs and that lectures are banned on Minerva. For example, on Coursera, there can be hundreds of students enrolled in a single course, while on Minerva, there will be only about 20 students enrolled in a single course. A MOOC provides education through recorded lectures, while Minerva will have live seminars. In fact, Ben Nelson suggests Minerva’s students to use the MOOCs to gain introductory knowledge to a subject, since it’s not offered at Minerva. Minerva will only teach subjects that require students to debate one another and help professors monitor the intellectual development of the students. For example, Minerva’s students will not be offered courses such as Econ 101 and Psych 101 because they don’t provide “habits of mind” and “foundational