"There is currently much interest and excitement at the emergence of an educational approach commonly termed the ‘Massive Open Online Course’ or MOOC. ... I feel there is much we can learn from the delivery of MOOCs that can be used to enhance the on-campus experience supplemented by online course material and delivery. This format offers us the opportunity to investigate learning and improve teaching processes, perhaps more similar to the edX approach. It would seem appropriate to collect and use data to inform this process; treating learning and teaching as a field ripe for research, tying in to a research-led approach."
Join Scoop.it for Free
Share ideas that matter on the social web and experience
the benefits of curating the world's best content.
I don't have a Facebook, a Twitter or a LinkedIn account
Already have an account: Login
Anything on matters of online, networked learning and training
Curated by
Peter B. Sloep
|
Scooped by Peter B. Sloep onto Networked Learning - MOOCs and more |
Scoop.it!
Peter B. Sloep's insight:
This is the single, most compehensive resource on MOOCs that I have come across yet. It discusses the history of MOOCs and describes Mark's personal experience with a number of them (both the c- and x- variety). Although it is a personal account, particularly the latter part, there is much value in learning the opinions of someone who 'has walked the walk' and not just 'talked the talk'. Anybody who wants to form an opinion on MOOCs - whether administrator, teacher of regular courses, teacher aspiring to teach a MOOC, or student in the widest sense of the word - can find something valuable here. Highly recommended! (@pbsloep)
Delete the scoop?
Are you sure you want to delete this scoop?
Yes
 Your new post is loading...
Scoop.it!
While the atmosphere around the open courses in the United States resembles the early stages of an oil boom, the reaction in Europe seems distinctly cautious. … Originally, the ideal [of MOOCs] was about widening access to elite courses, [but] can it still be about widening access when it’s increasingly about finding new business models and competitive advantage? … for other European universities, even well-established ones, the temptation to jump on the open-course bandwagon has been irresistible. … for some Europeans, the big online courses [i.e. MOOCs] represent a step back from the idealism of open courseware to the values of the marketplace.
Peter B. Sloep's insight:
The above is a sample of quotes from a report by the NYT reporter on a conference that was held at the University of London (UK) earlier this month. The conference was about online learning, MOOCs featured large. The article is interesting in that it shows that the European attitude towards MOOCs is a mix of fear to be left behind and resistance to tamper with the quality of higher education. This leads to either an attitude of monitoring what goes on without actively participating (Veronica Campbell of Trinity College Dublin: “there is a fear of being left behind, so we are considering what to do.”) or careful attempts to set up a MOOC, either via the existing commercial platforms or via home-built ones.
If we may believe the NYT, the strong and sweeping statements that so much characterise the US attitude towards MOOCs (Nathan Harden: "In fifty years, if not much sooner, half of the roughly 4,500 colleges and universities now operating in the United States will have ceased to exist") are entirely missing. Whether this reflects the differences in organisation and financial health of European versus US higher education or a more or less cautious attitude towards (disruptive) innovations, the article does not discuss. But I guess it would be a safe bet to say it is a bit of both. (@pbsloep)
For the Nathan Harden quote, see http://tiny.cc/ocx2sw Delete the scoop?
Are you sure you want to delete this scoop?
Yes
Scoop.it!
"Teaching Introduction to Sociology is almost second nature to Mitchell Duneier, a professor at Princeton: he has taught it 30 times, and a textbook he co-wrote is in its eighth edition. But last summer, as he transformed the class into a free online course, he had to grapple with some brand-new questions: Where should he focus his gaze while a camera recorded the lectures? How could the 40,000 students who enrolled online share their ideas? And how would he know what they were learning?"
Peter B. Sloep's insight:
This is not only 'yet another story of a professor dipping his feet into MOOCing a course'. Although there is that aspect, this story is different in two respects. First, the course is in the humanities. This is significant as some have argued that MOOCs do not lend themselves to courses in the humanities, only to those in science and technology. Second, the results of the tests have been scored by the MOOCs own students, with the help of a detailed set of instructions. This in itself is not really unique, but what is, is that Dunemeier went through the trouble of comparing the student scores with those that he himself and a team of assistants put together: "So far, he has found an impressive correlation of 0.88. The average peer score was 16.94 of 24 possible points, compared with an average teaching-staff score of 15.64." Interestingly, "Peer graders give more accurate scores on good exams than bad ones, they found, and the lower the score, the more variance among graders." So the students seem to be well able to pick out what is good, but are less consistent in deciding in what is bad. So, another criticism of MOOCs - they can't be graded because of their massiveness - seems not to be necessarily true. (@pbsloep) Delete the scoop?
Are you sure you want to delete this scoop?
Yes
|
Scoop.it!
Online college courses draw students and interest, but questions swirl over the economic model that might eventually emerge to finance them. Via verstelle
Peter B. Sloep's insight:
Interesting to see that MOOCs have made to the Davos summit. NYT story highlights the successes (as the story of the 12 year old from India), but there is more at stake than finding the next Einstein (who might hide in Africa, as Coursera's Daphne Koller surmises). The emphasis on the top end of university education obscures the possibly devastating effects MOOCs have one higher education at large, in the US and other developed countries, but also in developing countries. In the former, MOOCs might result in the privitisation of higher eduction, in the latter MOOCs might lead to off-shoring higher education. These are the possible social dimensions of what now might seem like an innocuous technological innovation. (@pbsloep) 
verstelle's curator insight,
January 29, 4:25 AM
MOOCs receive lots of attention at Davos. Nice example of 12 year old girl participating. Delete the scoop?
Are you sure you want to delete this scoop?
Yes
|
comprehensive indeed - author has participated in a lot of moocs. Very readable intro for those who have never heard of moocs
Interesting and detailed personal insight into cMOOCs and xMOOCs from a participant. I sincerely hope more learners take the time to reflect and share the experiences they have with this kind of learning context. I find as an educator that the student voice is important and assuming that the developers of MOOCs are prepared to listen to critique, both postive and negative, then this is a valuable factor which can lead to improvements which hopefully will have a positive effect on the learner experience and quality of learning.
MOOCs are not going away!