Here come the "Micromasters!"

What is a "MicroMaster's" qualification? It is a new approach to 'credentialling' for the digital age; a "re-imagination of the admissions process" being introduced by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), as that institution launches a new 'blended/online' one-year Masters  in Supply Chain Management (SCM).  

One of the founding institutions (along with Harvard) involved in the EdX Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) platform, MIT has taken a bold leap into the for-credit online degree world with this pilot programme.  MIT News announced this week that the program will allow learners worldwide to take "a semester’s worth of courses in its top-ranked [SCM] master’s program, completely online, then complete [the] MIT master’s degree by spending a single semester on campus."  Worthy of note, there will be no admissions requirements, the online coursework will be available for free, and "will be open to anyone".  Students who do exceptionally well in the courses and in a comprehensive examination upon the successful completion of the online courses, and who opt to pay "a modest fee" for verified certificates, will be awarded the new "MicroMaster's" qualification which puts them in line to progress to the full masters.  

“Inverted admission has the potential to disrupt traditional modes of access to higher education,” Professor Sanjay Sarma, MIT’s dean of digital learning and Professor in Mechanical Engineering is quoted as saying, adding “We’re democratizing access to a master’s program for learners worldwide.”

Here at Cave Hill, in a presentation to the Faculty of Social Science's Postgraduate Studies Retreat held earlier this year, I quoted the former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Southern Queensland who suggested that universities in the 21st Century have to be "fast, flexible and fluid" in their efforts to meet the changing needs of learners and be competitive in this digital age.  This move by MIT is a small step with big implications.  MIT Professor and CEO of EdX, Anant Agarwal described the new MicroMaster’s  as "an important modular credential for the digital age, [which] promises to serve as academic currency in a continuous, lifelong-learning world.”  He suggested that "It also affords an evolutionary path for universities in the face of mounting costs, and a way to leverage technology to blend online and on-campus learning pathways.”

You can read the full article from MIT News HERE.

From Content Expert to Content Curator

Source: Creating a Learning Culture Blog

The problem of content overload in courses continues to be a issue with which both faculty and students struggle. In this insightful article ( More Content Doesn't Equal More Learning), Nicki Monahan, faculty advisor in staff and organizational development at George Brown College, Toronto, Canada questions whether the perception of faculty as "content experts"is not part of the problem.  She makes a case instead for the notion of "content curators" "who judiciously select the best 'artifacts' for learning, much like the museum curator analyzes and documents all of the materials available before selecting the best representations for any given collection." Monahan calls for a greater focus on the development of the skills "necessary to review and evaluate various sources of information to determine "what’s relevant, accurate, and reliable, and why". "If we teach research and critical thinking skills, our learners will develop the capacity to cope with information overload, a problem that is unlikely to disappear in the near future," Monahan posits.

"What would you like to have that student remember from the course? Rather than being able to cite specific facts or information, I think we’d all much rather prefer that our former students remember key concepts, ones that transformed their thinking. Often referred to as “threshold concepts,” these critical ideas can become the cornerstones on which we organize our curriculum. "

As a firm believer in the value of the "backward" approach to curriculum and instructional design with its focus on teaching for understanding and long-term transfer of knowledge, I find Monahan's article a timely reminder for faculty who struggle with the challenge of helping students develop the knowledge AND skills they need for success in the digital/information age. A focus on identifying and helping students to grasp disciplinary threshold concepts as the core of course content can guide faculty towards carefully selecting essential content and create space for teaching and learning strategies that help students to develop the skills of their discipline or their profession, rather than a consuming focus on “covering” content, much of which most students would have forgotten a few weeks after the final exam. Read the full article here.  Share your thoughts in the comments.