MOOCS and the Three Year Degree

A few years ago, the Higher Education community was discussing how we could reduce the cost of higher education if we could create three-year degree programs. I remember that Time published articles about it from Lamar Alexander, George Miller, and others. Universities started to draw up plans to create new three-year tracks. As you might guess, the idea fizzled mostly because students were not really interested in working that consistently (i.e. over the summers and through Winter break). For the past 18 months or so, MOOCs are the new three-year College degree program. Actually, this idea has had more energy and financial support. While some of my students have graduated in three years even without the creation of official three-year degree tracts, I anticipate that some of my students will take MOOC courses. For my highly motivated students, this will work out well. For the majority, I don't think the massive online format with minimal instructor contact will satisfy the needs and wants of my students. My students (who are mostly traditional students between the ages of 18 and 24) want faculty-student interaction, student-to-student interaction, and find that the time and spatial demands of the "seated" class are generally more favorable than other formats. None of the above should be read as a full or effective rebuttal to the growing cost of higher education. That, especially as student loans become the primary way students pay for higher education, is a real problem. I just don't see MOOCS as a viable or effective solution to the cost problem, just as the three-year degree track never really met the needs of students.