After three semesters debating hot-button issues like smoking policy, the Reserve Officers Training Corps, and public course evaluations, the University Senate continued its quiet semester Friday with a plenary largely consumed by updates on online education and the new data sciences institute.

Sree Sreenivasan, Columbias newly appointed chief digital officer, told senators about Columbias efforts to establish a presence in the growing world of online education. Several Columbia schoolsincluding the School of Engineering and Applied Science, the School of Continuing Education, and Teachers Collegehave offered online courses for years, and next semester the University is offering its first two massive open online courses, or MOOCs, through Coursera.

This is part of whats a growing movement in higher education, Sreenivasan said. We want whatever we do to be thoughtful, strategic, sustainable, without locking into the current technology and keeping with Columbias brands and strengths.

Still, some concerns remain about Columbias impending entry into the online marketplace. University Senator Paige West, an anthropology professor, asked Sreenivasan how online courses might affect intellectual property rights, cultural hostility towards higher education, grading, and Columbias brand.

Im thinking of the people in the courses taking the intellectual property that belongs to Columbia and the faculties and reproducing it in ways that we would not be particularly happy with, West said.

Sreenivasan didnt address Wests question about intellectual property, although he assured her that neither professors nor teaching assistants would be responsible for grading the work of the up to 30,000 students who might be enrolled in a MOOC. Instead, he said, grading will largely be done by computer, even for written work, such as essays.

Sharyn OHalloran, the chair of the senates executive committee, said that she didnt want to get into a conversation about intellectual property rights for online courses. O'Halloran is the chair of a senate task force examining online education.

Thats very much an emerging field, and I think we are going to talk about best practices for individuals and for the University in relation to this, she said.

Sreenivasan added that MOOCs are only part of what he envisions as the future of online education at Columbia. He said that administrators are looking into expanding online components for a wide variety of traditional courses, as well as utilizing the flipped classroom model, in which students learn the material at home through the Internet and then participate in hands-on activities during class time.

Also at the plenary, Assistant Vice President of Benefits Fiona McLennan described professors and administrators health care options. McLennan reviewed the changes to this years policies, which include expanded access to child care subsidies and increased reimbursement for out-of-network services.

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University Senate plenary focuses on online education