The MOOC Racket

[n2doc]

By Jonathan Rees|Posted Thursday, July 25, 2013, at 8:51 AM
The word mooc sounds a bit like slang from Goodfellas or the affectionate shortening of the already-affectionate name of a former outfielder for the New York Mets. In fact, a MOOC is a new kind of college-like experience that seems to possess the magical power to turn some of the smartest people in academia into followers of a faith-based cult because they want to become its idols.

MOOC stands for “massive open online course.” The term was coined by a group of Canadian academics in 2008 to represent a recently invented type of online class that depends upon small group interactions for most of the instruction. More recently, three instructors in the Stanford University computer science department appropriated that term to start two separate private education companies, Udacity and Coursera. Despite being free of charge, the MOOCs that these firms offer bear a more-than-passing resemblance to ordinary college classes—except they are delivered over the Internet to tens of thousands of people at once.

How do you teach tens of thousands of people anything at once? You don't. What you can do over the Internet this way is deliver information, but that's not education. Education, as any real teacher will tell you, involves more than just transmitting facts. It means teaching students what to do with those facts, as well as the skills they need to go out and learn new information themselves.

But the most common way to assess learning in the MOOCs offered by the largest providers is a single multiple-choice question after approximately five-minute chunks of pre-taped lectures. If I had told my tenure committee that I taught history this way, I'd be in another line of work right now. Anyone who has the slightest interest or expertise in education would never teach this way, even if they were paid to do so.

more
http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/future_tense/2013/07/moocs_could_be_disastrous_for_students_and_professors.html

[Warpy]

1. I think it's just another tier in post secondary education

and will qualify people who own MOOC degrees to work in jobs that used to go to high school grads like file clerking or mail room. A bricks and mortar education will still be required to enter the exalted ranks of lower management.

[dove2]

2. Coursers courses

I've completed 3 coursera courses and am taking another 3 now. I have enjoyed them and learned a lot. I already have an advanced degree so I'm not taking them for anything other than enjoying learning new subjects. So I don't agree at all that they are a racket.

[Mass]

3. I have taken some of these classes.

They are fine if you want to learn on your own and do not have the time or money to spend for your education. personally, I do not have $700 to spend on ONE community college class so they fit my needs.

This said, they have a lot of issues too and frankly, testing is the worse. I do not have too many issues with MC (I hate them but many colleges use them as well to assess students). Peer reviewing, on the other hand, is a real issue particularly when no triage is done when enrolling students.

Also, many online classes done by colleges are no better, in my experience. It should be clear that, if you want a human contact, go to a brick and mortar school and hope the teacher cares (not always the case, sadly).

As long as they do not deliver credits, I' m fine with them.