Rosé, Cassell Discuss Google, CMU Collaboration on WESA-FM
In the Media
HCII Associate Professor Carolyn Rosé and Professor Justine Cassell recently appeared on WESA-FM, Pittsburgh’s NPR affiliate, to discuss Carnegie Mellon’s collaboration with Google to improve the quality of online education.
Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) were once supposed to change education forever, but though they’re free, they often suffer a dropout rate around 95 percent. And most of the five percent that finish the courses are US college graduates. With help from colleagues and a $600,000 grant from Google, Rosé and Cassell are investigating how to increase the retention rates for MOOCs and personalize the experience for users.
“We can shape the social environment around MOOCs to make them more supportive and to keep people in and to help people find the support that they need,” Rosé said.
“When a student’s about to quit, that student might get an email saying: ‘Jane on the other side of the country is having similar problems to you. We suggest you put a workgroup together and work on problems 23 because both of you are having difficulty,’” said Cassell, who is also CMU’s associate vice provost of technology strategy and impact.
Check out the whole interview here.