Download Less than a year ago, few had ever uttered the word “MOOC”

Less than a year ago, few had ever uttered the word “MOOC”- the acronym for “Massive, Open Online
Course”. Today there are dozens of MOOCs, taught by instructors from leading universities in the US
and around the world, and literally hundreds of thousands of students have been enrolled in them. The
University of Michigan joining with Princeton, Stanford, and the University of Pennsylvania was among
the initial set of universities producing MOOCs for Coursera, a MOOC hosting service. Please join us
for an engaging presentation by Martha Pollack who will discuss UM’s interest in developing MOOCs,
as well as our work in deploying other instructional technologies. She will also provide some thoughts
on how the MOOC revolution is changing higher education. In addition, Scott E. Page, the instructor of
one of UM’s first MOOCs, Model Thinking, will describe his experience of teaching to tens of
thousands of students.
Martha E. Pollack is Vice Provost for Academic and Budgetary Affairs at the University of Michigan. She is
also Professor of Information, and Professor of Computer Science and Engineering. A member of the Michigan
faculty since 2000, Dr. Pollack previously served as the Dean of the School of Information. Before coming to
Michigan, she was a professor at the University of Pittsburgh, and a member of the technical staff at SRI
International. A computer scientist whose research expertise is in artificial intelligence, she is well known for
both her theoretical work in automated planning and natural-language processing, and her applied work in
assistive technology for people with cognitive impairment. She is a Fellow of the American Association for the
Advancement of Science (AAAS), the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), and the Association for
the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI). Dr. Pollack holds a bachelor’s degree from Dartmouth
College, and master’s and doctoral degrees from the University of Pennsylvania.
Scott Page is the Director of the UM Center for the Study of Complex Systems, and he is the Leonid Hurwicz
Collegiate Professor of Complex Systems, Political Science, and Economics at the University of Michigan. In
2011 he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Professor Scott’s research focuses on the
myriad roles that diversity plays in complex systems - for example, how does diversity arise? Does diversity
make a system more productive? How does diversity impact robustness? Does it make a system prone to large
events? He has written three books, and has also published papers in a variety of disciplines including economics,
political science, computer science, management, physics, public health, geography, urban planning, engineering,
and history. Professor Page’s research on diversity provides him with many opportunities to talk with
community groups, high schools, corporations, government agencies, NGOs, and university audiences.
MOOCs and More: The Changing Landscape of Online Education
(MOOCs: Massive Open Online Courses) Featured speakers: Martha E.
Pollack, Vice Provost for UM Academic and Budgetary Affairs, Professor
of Information, Computer Science and Engineering; and Professor Scott
Page, Director of the UM Center for the Study of Complex Systems
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
11:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.
Christman Building, 1 st Floor
How We Fund Local Government:
Michigan’s Local Leaders See Need For Reform"
Featured speakers: Panel with Dr. Debra Horner, Project Manager;
and Tom Ivacko, Program Manager, Center for Local, State, and Urban
Policy (CLOSUP), UM Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy
Wednesday, February 13, 2013
11:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.
Christman Building, 1 st Floor
UM Intellectual Property and New Jobs Creation
Featured speaker: Larry Molnar, Associate Director, UM Institute
for Research on Labor, Employment, and the Economy (IRLEE)
Tuesday, March 12, 2013
11:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.
Christman Building, 1 st Floor
How Do We Keep Wolverine Entrepreneurs in Michigan?
Featured speaker: Jim D. Price, Adjunct Lecturer, UM Ross
School of Business
Tuesday, April 23, 2013
11:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.
Christman Building, 1 st Floor
Revitalizing Education in Michigan: What Makes A Great Teacher ?
Featured speaker: Dean Deborah Loewenberg Ball, UM School
of Education
Tuesday, June 12, 2013
11:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.
Christman Building, 1 st Floor
The New Face of Graduate Medical Education
Featured speakers: Physicians and medical faculty (TBD),
University of Michigan Medical School
September 17 or 18, 2013
11:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.
Christman Building, 1 st Floor