Daphne Koller, co-founder of Coursera, a major provider of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), is scheduled to visit campus Thursday to speak on developments in online education. The lecture, entitled “The Online Revolution: Education for Everyone,” will address MOOCs, top-quality courses from high-ranking universities that are offered for free. MOOCs use technology to bring real course experience to students, according to a press release from Koller. This includes video content, interactive exercises that use auto-grading and peer-grading, and peer-to-peer interaction.
Andy Jones, a continuing University Writing Program lecturer and Academic Associate Director for Academic Technology Services, said he was intrigued by Koller after reading that she had received a MacArthur fellowship at 36 and a bachelor’s degree at 17, as well as a master’s degree a year later.
“A thought leader in the fields of probability theory and machine learning, in the last year Koller has focused on higher education, and the potential game-changing arrival of Massively Open Online Courses (or MOOCs),” Jones said in an email interview. “We are lucky to have her present her ideas about technology and learning at UC Davis Thursday afternoon.”
Currently, Koller is a professor of computer science at Stanford University.
The event will take place at 1003 Kemper Hall from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m.
— Muna Sadek
