MOOCs, Hype, and the Precarious State of Higher Ed: Futurist Bryan Alexander

Does it continue to make sense to go to college when the sticker price of a college education is soaring, the amount of debt college students are taking on – even for the non-elite universities and what were formerly affordable public universities – is severely constraining their choices post-graduation, and job prospects for new graduates are dismal?

Howard Rheingold's recent video interview and blog post at: http://dmlcentral.net/blog/howard-rheingold/moocs-hype-and-precarious-state-higher-ed-futurist-bryan-alexander

The MOOC Moment

"The MOOC Moment" is a collection of Inside Higher Ed articles -- in print-on-demand format -- about massive open online courses, or MOOCs. The articles aren't today's breaking news, but reflect long-term trends and some of the forward-looking thinking of experts on how MOOCs may change higher education. The goal is to provide these materials (both news articles and opinion essays) in one easy-to-read place. Download the booklet here.
This is the first in a series of such compilations that Inside Higher Ed will be releasing in the months ahead, on a range of topics.

Read more: http://www.insidehighered.com/content/editorial-booklets ;
Inside Higher Ed

MOOCs and Beyond

In August, 2012, four months after opening, Coursera—one of several Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) providers quickly gaining traction on the Internet—registered one million students, from nearly 200 countries. This is only one of the many staggering statistics that could be shared about the sudden popularity of MOOCs, the total of which speak to the worldwide interest in accessing university courses online.
This issue of eLearning Papers aims to shed light on the way MOOCs affect education institutions and learners. Which teaching and learning strategies can be used to improve the MOOC learning experience? How do MOOCs fit into today's pedagogical landscape; and could they provide a viable model for developing countries?

Read more at: http://www.elearningpapers.eu/en/paper/moocs-and-beyond

Emerging Issues: Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs)

On this week's one-year anniversary of Coursera bursting onto the MOOCs scene, COL is starting an online discussion on the emerging issue of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs).
COL advocates increased access to education at all levels.
We are conscious of the existence of the “iron triangle” relationship between access, quality and costs. Technology has been considered a key factor in adjusting the iron triangle in favour of the learner and society at large. Can MOOCs, primarily a technology-based development in education, contribute to improved access to education with higher quality?

Read more at: http://www.col.org/resources/Pages/EmergingIssues.aspx

Half an Hour: The Great Rebranding

Stephen Downes:

"Seriously, what else can be said about a statement like this: " it will be offered locally with teachers at a scale of between 1 to 20 and 1 to 50. Because teachers matter.” It's like saying "we must at all costs limit education to small groups of people led by a teacher." The "distributed flip", advanced as this Great New Thing, is the connectivist model of MOOCs, but with small-group in-person attached.

The arguments in which the four elements of MOOCs - 'massive', 'open', 'online', and 'course' - are one by one putated to be 'optional' or 'unnecessary' seems to me to be a desparate attempt to cleanse MOOCs of any disruptive impact they may have on the traditional action of in-person teaching to a teacher to a small group of people."

See it on Scoop.it, via ICT for Education and Development

3 Ways MOOCs Unleash the Power of Massive International Attendance

So far the immediate effect caused by MOOCs on those of us growing up far from prominent universities is the opportunity to access quality education to complement “traditional” education one might be receiving locally. If you have participated in any MOOC, you might agree or not about the delivery or evaluation method or question its effectiveness, but you cannot deny the quality of most of them.
But from my point of view it is the massive attendance to the course the most relevant and interesting characteristic for analysis.

Read more at: https://edutechdebate.org/massive-open-online-courses/3-ways-moocs-unleash-the-power-of-massive-international-attendance/

Embracing OER & MOOCs to TRANSFORM EDUCATION...?

Presentation slides for the OER and MOOC workshop facilitated at Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM) on the 25th March, 2013.

See it on Scoop.it, via ICT for Education and Development

How MOOCs Could Meet the Challenge of Providing a Global Education | MIT Technology Review

Students in countries like India and Brazil have been signing up in droves for these massive open online courses, or MOOCs, offered for free from top-tier universities, such as Stanford, MIT, and Harvard.
But putting free U.S. college courses online is only the first step to filling higher education needs around the world.

Read more at: http://www.technologyreview.com/news/512256/in-the-developing-world-moocs-start-to-get-real/  ;

Coursera: Game changer in the MOOC phenomenon (now in Spanish too)

"Have computer, will learn," is the simple rally cry behind massive open online courses (MOOC) platform Coursera. What's so unique about this company?

See it on Scoop.it, via ICT for Education and Development

Free online courses will change universities

See on Scoop.it - Studying Teaching and Learning

The internet revolution has moved to education as top universities worldwide rush to put free courses online, setting up so-called massive open online courses or MOOCs. Higher education’s traditional business model is under threat as learning from the world’s most prestigious academic experts is available to anybody with a computer and broadband access.

Two top Australian universities, Melbourne and Queensland, have joined in. The University of Melbourne announced last Wednesday its partnership with Coursera, a leading US-based provider of free online university courses. The University of Queensland will shortly announce a partnership with Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s (MIT) office of educational innovation and technology to use MOOC courses to both offer free courses to the public online and simultaneously its educational offering to on-campus students.

See on afr.com

via Tumblr Free online courses will change universities

Mobile Learning MOOC: Online Course

See on Scoop.it - Studying Teaching and Learning

“Make your own podcasts, powerful presentation graphics, and screencasts. Make the best use of your Learning Management System. Engage students and peers with collaborative applications on the cloud. Write documents of e-Publication. You’ll learn all this and more.”

See on wiziq.com

via Tumblr Mobile Learning MOOC: Online Course