Rosser Lecture: On a Revolutionary Program and the Future of Online Learning

Georgia Tech started a new online master's degree in computer science program OMSCS in January 2014, costing less than $7,000 total, compared to $40,000 at comparable public universities and $70,000 at private universities. The first-of-its-kind MOOC-based program sparked a worldwide conversation about higher education in the 21st century. With an initial enrollment of 380, OMSCS has an enrollment of 12,750 in fall 2023 and is apparently the biggest MS in CS program in the world. So far over 10,000 students have graduated; over 2,000 graduated in 2022 alone. The talk will describe the OMSCS program, how it came about, its first nine years, and what Georgia Tech has learned from the OMSCS experience. It will also discuss the speaker's vision of the future of higher education. Bio: Dr. Zvi Galil served as Dean of Computing at Georgia Tech from 2010. In June 2019 he stepped down as dean and became the Storey Chair in Computing and Executive Advisor to Online Programs. He has been a moving force behind the establishment of the OMSCS program. Dr. Galil's research areas have been the design and analysis of algorithms, complexity, cryptography and experimental design. He is a fellow of the ACM and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a member of the National Academy of Engineering.