Note change of date for this talk from 2/14 to 2/27.

Vice President for Research Dan Reed Launches Obermann Afternoons—occasional informal presentations on recent discoveries, compelling research questions, and current events

The New York Times declared 2012 "The Year of the MOOC" citing recent multi-million dollar ventures that make college and university courses available to large audiences via platforms ranging from mobile devices to cloud services. Massive open online courses are being heralded as the future (or fate) of higher ed, depending on whom you ask. Dan Reed, our new Vice President for Research, will provide a lay of the land in a talk at the Obermann Center, "MOOCs:  History, Hype, and Reality."

Before coming to Iowa, Reed was a professor of computer science at the University of Illinois, professor and Vice Chancellor for Information Technology at the University of North Carolina, and Corporate Vice President at Microsoft. He is thus uniquely positioned to offer an overview of MOOCS, including their history and how they work. He will also reflect on the ways the economics of higher education and the emergence of technology-mediated education set the stage for the MOOC phenomenon and to speculate on their (and our) future. Please join us from 4:00 – 5:30 pm, Wednesday, February 27, in the Obermann library.