The Chronicle of Higher Education reports that the State of Minnesota's Office of Higher Education has banned Coursera from offering its free online courses in the state. For now, Coursera has added a note to its terms of service in order to advise Minnesotans that they can't use it within the state boundaries. Questions of how this will be enforced are raised in the article.
It seems like MOOCs - specifically Coursera in this case -- are seen as a threat to other institutions of higher education, even though they may serve a different audience and are not offering for-credit or degree programs at this time.The reason cited for blocking Coursera is a Minnesota seems to be a technicality - a law relating to the permissions sought by institutions that are offering courses both online and face-to-face.
This Forbes article has a bit more information - apparently, it is because the content in Coursera comes from institutions that do grant degrees.
Coursera itself is not offering degrees, so this seems like a pretty
fuzzy line to draw - what defines a course? Would online tutorials or
self-study materials on YouTube fall under this category? What about
other open education resources? This seems like a very slippery slope.
Citation:
Mangan, K. (2012, Oct 18). Minnesota gives Coursera the boot, citing a decades-old law. Chronicle of Higher Education. Retrieved from http://chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/minnesota-gives-coursera-the-boot-citing-a-decades-old-law/40542
Pereira, E. (2012, Oct 19). Minnesota bans free online education. Forbes. Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/evapereira/2012/10/19/minnesota-bans-free-online-education/
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