Duke and 2U
Updates from Duke on its engagement (now broken) with 2U…
Provost Peter Lange discussed online education with the Board in the aftermath of the Arts and Sciences Council voting down for-credit online courses.
The Arts and Sciences Council vote broke a pre-existing contract with internet education company 2U, which entered the University as a partner in the company’s Semester Online consortium of schools. Prior to the vote, neither the decision to pursue online courses for credit nor the decision to sign with 2U was voted on by any faculty body or committee.
Lange said the discussion with the Board was brief. They discussed why the issue was voted down and how administrators will follow-up on the matter in the Fall. He said the outcome of the faculty vote was in large part a result of timing.
“The intense opposition came up very late and we had to get a vote by the end of the semester if we were going to start in the Fall, so things got kind of squeezed,” Lange said. “As a result we weren’t really able to talk through all the issues with people who were so intensely opposed and the vote went against us. It was really low key.”
He added that administrators still plan on moving forward with Semester Online, but did not specify in what capacity.
[Source]
