W hen over 160,000 people signed up for a course in artificial intelligence offered by two academics at Stanford, in the Fall of 2011, this sealed the eruption of MOOCS as “the hottest topic of discussion in higher education in the U.S”. Things in the MOOC realm have been moving “fast and furious” ever since.
I have the wonderful pleasure of being the facilitator for the course Advancing Teaching and Learning with Technology in the Certificate in University Teaching and Learning (CUTL) programme at the UWI Cave Hill Campus. This course provides for stimulating interactions with faculty as we engage in online discussions of various issues impacting on teaching and learning in higher education today.
One of the issues discussed with the current cohort is the rapidly developing phenomenon of MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) that is sweeping across the Higher Ed landscape, primarily in North America. Interestingly, no one on the course had heard the term before, but all were immediately intrigued by it.
A MOOC is a type of online course aimed at large-scale participation and
open access via the Internet. The term is only about five years old, and
really only came to prominence within the last year, as the involvement of some
of the USA’s leading universities, including Harvard, MIT, Stanford and Berkeley, triggered a media frenzy about the potential of MOOCs to revolutionize
higher education on a global scale.
MOOCs sprung out of the
open educational resources (OER) movement with its lofty goals of alleviating the digital divide “between the global
North and the global South”, and contributing to the development of
less advanced economies. Much of the attention behind MOOCs currently focuses on making e-learning more
scalable and sustainable. While there is no commonly accepted
definition of a MOOC, two key features are:
- Open access. MOOC participants do not need to be a registered student in a school to "take" a MOOC, and are not required to pay a fee.
- Scalability. Many traditional courses depend upon a small ratio of students to teacher, but the "massive" in MOOC suggests that the course is designed to support an indefinite number of participants. (Wikipedia)
When over 160,000 people signed up for a course in artificial intelligence offered
by two academics at Stanford, in the Fall of 2011, this sealed the eruption of
MOOCS as “the hottest topic of discussion in higher education in the U.S”. Things in the MOOC realm have been moving “fast
and furious” ever since - Colleges are entering into deals to offer credits for MOOCs http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2012/11/13/moocs-college-credit/1699671/.
The American Council on Education, ‘a
non-profit organization that represents most of the nation’s college and
university presidents', is working on a process by which MOOCs can be
assessed for academic rigour leading to approval for academic credit, although
the decision as to whether to accept approved courses for credit transfer will remain
up to the individual institutions. MOOCs are
rapidly gaining popularity in rural communities and developing countries where access
to traditional schools is limited.
So the big questions emerging are these, "Will MOOCs destroy academia?" http://cacm.acm.org/magazines/2012/11/156587-will-moocs-destroy-academia/fulltext;
or will history prove them to be the cataclysmic “game-changer” in higher education in
the 21st century; the "big experiment” that if successful, “will
give people all around the world access to high-quality, online classes without
having to pay a dime”, allowing people to educate themselves based on what they
want to learn…. allowing stay-at-home parents to take real classes in their spare time
to stay current, business people to improve their resumes, and high school students to
"get a head start on college when they’re bored?" http://distancelearn.about.com/od/isitforyou/a/How-Moocs-Are-Changing-The-Way-People-Learn.htm.
More
importantly, what threats and opportunties might this avalanche bring
for institutions like UWI?
I welcome
your thoughts…
I think this would be a good opportunity for many people around the world that may have difficulties in accessing higher educational institutions due to cost, distance, time constraints, etc. I do not think that this will destroy academia, on the contrary I believe it will enhance it. It allows the students using the MOOC offerings to improve their knowledge and to reinforce their abilities for free before physically entering the academic institution. This will go a long to way in improving the quality of students and decreasing the fail rates often seen in freshmen and first year programs.
ReplyDeleteS M
I am not sure that the OER movement is financially sustainable. There is no way institutions can charge fees (or the fees now being charged) for something that is free of cost. This actually means that my salary is in jeopardy. BTW - I don't take that lightly.
ReplyDeleteThere are institutions that have signed on and students can pay US$150.00 to receive credits from the participating institution (no tutoring, no classes, just the OERs). The only way the institution can profit or benefit financially is through economies of scale - and... how massive does this have to be?
Have a look at MIT - they are offering what they call MITz - note common 'z' - for their OER courses - separating them from the real deal - no credits. What they are doing is cashing in on the money for research. That I think UWI needs to get into quickly before it dries up.
Stephanie