March 07, 2013

In a March 6 article about online learning, The Wall Street Journal cites the teaching of Associate Professor Tim Chartier of Davidson College. The article is accessible only to WSJ subscribers, so we cannot present it here in full. However, in summary, WSJ reporter Katherine Rosman contends that teachers are becoming "instant celebrities" on the Internet in the same fashion as have Korean rappers and cute kitties.

The article cites Chartier and his postings on the Udemy site as evidence that teachers are enjoying new-found popularity with audiences of students far larger than those they teach in traditional classroom settings. Chartier's course in "Math is Everywhere: Applications of Finite Math" has been subscribed by nearly 5,500 students around the globe. The article also quotes Seth Kindig, a Davidson math major who has taken courses from Chartier.

While the article is accessible only to subscribers, the site also features a five-minute video discussion of the subject between reporters.

Davidson is a highly selective independent liberal arts college for 1,900 students located 20 minutes north of Charlotte in Davidson, N.C. Since its establishment in 1837 by Presbyterians, the college has graduated 23 Rhodes Scholars and is consistently regarded as one of the top liberal arts colleges in the country. Through The Davidson Trust, the college became the first liberal arts institution in the nation to replace loans with grants in all financial aid packages, giving all students the opportunity to graduate debt-free. Davidson competes in NCAA athletics at the Division I level, and a longstanding Honor Code is central to student life at the college.
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