The ability of people to enroll in online college course is a grave threat to the power of professors. First and most obviously, it is low cost, high quality competition. If students can listen to lectures by superstar professors from elite schools like Harvard or Stanford for free or nearly free, they might not be so anxious to fork over tuition for the local talent at a second or third tier institution. The faculty at San Jose State University understands this very well, and have revolted against their institution participating in Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs). Walter Russell Meade writes: In California, one college's embrace of MOOCs has sent the faculty into open revolt. Under the leadership of President Mohammad H. Qayoumi, San Jose State has spent the year in the vanguard of early-adopting institutions. In January, the school announced a partnership with Udacity to offer a remedial math course at the university-one of the earliest examples of for-credit MOOCs being...(Read Full Post)