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Scoop.it!
As xMOOCs become more successful and begin to experiment with pedagogies that go beyond the didactic video lecture approach, I have been trying to understand the essential differences between the original connectivist MOOCs such as CCK08 and the current xMOOCs such as those offered by Coursera. 
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Scoop.it!
The acronym "MOOC" has been in vogue recently, with lots of discussion about organisations like udacity, coursera and edX. The acronym stands for "Massive Open Online Course." These organisations p...
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Scoop.it!
Stephen's Web, the home page of Stephen Downes, with news and information on e-learning, new media, instructional technology, educational design, and related subjects
Scoop.it!
MOOC mania taps into powerful narratives—both true and false—about the relevancy of the curriculum, the cost of college, and the adaptability of education institutions. Many institutions are joining MOOCs, hoping that the mania pans out and that these free online classes will, if nothing else, keep their brands up-to-date. But the questions about who exactly they’re serving with these classes will have to be answered sooner or later as having tens of thousands of students sign up for a class is hardly the right metric upon which to build the future of education. Via Peter B. Sloep
suifaijohnmak's comment,
April 20, 2013 11:42 PM
Great insights Peter. I will respond to this. People are "buying" in with the xMOOCs for reasons as simple as: branding and easier to learn (as all information are already curated for them), and that a strong belief still with the instructivist approach reigns best, at least, that is what institutions want to see - a complete control under an institutional framework of education. Is that xMOOC sustainable? From a historical perspective, this fate would be like cMOOCs being "decimated" and "replaced" by xMOOCs (to some extent". But then this trend would appear in the K-12 sector soon, when automation of education and gamification, mobile learning takes their foothold in changing the education arena into "commercial minefield". Mobile technology could and would help in improving digital literacy, though it might not be reflected easily in improving the basic literacy on Science, Maths, Reading and Writing in the K-12. As I have shared, we are now in the Lord of the Ring game, where those who win takes all. Education is now a game, not as much as the once enlightenment or passion sort of education vision, but a pragmatic sort of education of whether one could get a job after taking a course of study, or getting famous through "educating" others in MOOCs. It is the media that would likely determine who is the winner, not the test anymore, as no one could objectively test or examine what is really "competent" or "capable" under those framework, mainly because they are producer driven, not user driven. John
Peter B. Sloep's comment,
April 21, 2013 2:46 AM
Thanks for this, John. Future gazing is hard. I would hope you're wrong, but the US seems to be falling into the trap you describe without even realising it. I am of course referring to the initiative in California to set up a credit award system for xMOOCs.
suifaijohnmak's comment,
April 21, 2013 10:19 AM
Thanks Peter. As you said, I do hope that wouldn't happen, though when institutions are seeing a few millions students registering with the MOOCs, wouldn't they think that is what the future lies? Here is my consolidated post http://suifaijohnmak.wordpress.com/2013/04/21/why-c-and-x-moocs-are-attracting-different-number-of-participants/ As you said, the initiative in California is just the start of the game. More will come along, when the k-12 MOOCs start to take its turn. I don't have the crystal ball, but I reckon this would attract more Venture Capitalists to invest in that area, as it is a multi-billion education business that no one wants to miss. Privatization and monetization based on a MOOC model has already started and would snowball with more institutions joining in.
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