Yes - -I'd agree with your guess that in order to teach hundreds and hundred of students at the same time, the school is using an "army" of grad students. In an effort to understand the development of education in the US, I've been doing a bit of reading about the development of education in England (not Great Britain). Since so many of the American traditions were brought to this country by English settlers (or rebels), I thought I might gain some useful understanding of our educational practices. Here's what I learned (mostly from Wikipedia) In the mid-1800s, to provide for England's newly-industrialised and (partly) enfranchised society, various types of school began to be established to offer some basic education to the masses. One of the types of education introduced was identified as a "Monitorial school." In this model, the teaching was based on the Bible, but it employed a new method involving the use of monitors and standard repetitive exercises so that one master could teach hundreds of children at the same time in one room. It was the industrialisation of the teaching process. H-m-m-m - -sound familiar? Janet Dr. J. Nepkie SUNY Distinguished Service Professor Professor of Music and Music Industry Fine Arts 145 State University College Oneonta, NY 13820 tele: (607) 436 3425 fax: 607 436 2718 [log in to unmask] From: "Greenberg, Jim" <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>> Reply-To: Teaching Breakfast List <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>> Date: Mon, 21 Nov 2011 08:08:54 -0500 To: "[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>" <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>> Subject: Re: The Power of Stanford's Free Onine Education Janet, Here is a link to one of the courses: https://www.ai-class.com/ If you click the "Visitor" link (enrollment is closed at this point) you can browse through the course and look at the time table, assignments, materials, etc. I've looked through the first section of the course (watched all the videos, taken a quiz or two and participated in some discussions) and it is very very impressive. All that said, I have no idea how they are grading all the papers, quizzes, and discussion postings. My guess is an army of grad students, but I honestly don't know. Mr. James B. Greenberg Director Teaching, Learning and Technology Center Milne Library SUNY College at Oneonta Oneonta, New York 13820 email: [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]> phone: 607-436-2701 fax: 607-436-3677 Twitter: greenbjb "Ignorance is curable, stupidity lasts forever" From: Janet Nepkie <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>> Reply-To: Teaching List <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>> Date: Sun, 20 Nov 2011 15:50:56 -0500 To: Teaching List <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>> Subject: Re: The Power of Stanford's Free Onine Education Jim, Thanks for reporting about this interesting online course. Who corrected the hundreds of assignments for the class? I'd be interested to know who among our own faculty have been involved, or would like to be involved, with a similar project. Thanks Janet Dr. J. Nepkie SUNY Distinguished Service Professor Professor of Music and Music Industry Fine Arts 145 State University College Oneonta, NY 13820 tele: (607) 436 3425 fax: 607 436 2718 [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]> From: "Greenberg, Jim" <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>> Reply-To: Teaching Breakfast List <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>> Date: Thu, 17 Nov 2011 10:52:54 -0500 To: "[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>" <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>> Subject: The Power of Stanford's Free Onine Education TBers, Today's TB discussion orbited around online instruction in High School and what that might mean for us in Higher Ed. It made me think of this one: http://www.fastcoexist.com/1678792/youtube-u-the-power-of-stanfords-free-online-education Enjoy and our final TB meeting of this semester is Dec. 7 at 8 am outside Starbucks. Hope to see you there. Mr. James B. Greenberg Director Teaching, Learning and Technology Center Milne Library SUNY College at Oneonta Oneonta, New York 13820 email: [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]> phone: 607-436-2701 fax: 607-436-3677 Twitter: greenbjb "Ignorance is curable, stupidity lasts forever"