Happy New Year all! With this project winding towards the finish line, I’d like to spend the next few days talking not about the people who made the MOOCs but those of us who take them. As I have pointed out a number of times, I began this project as a cautious optimist over what […]
The One Year BA! – The Defense
Before explaining why I think taking 32+ online courses in twelve months might be the equivalent of a four-year BA’s worth of learning, I’d first like to ask readers to take a blank sheet of paper and write down the names of every course you took while in college. Depending on your age and memory […]
Self Curation
Last month, I talked about an Existentialism class offered by Saylor.org that is built from free material (iTunes U lectures, public domain readings, etc.) organized by a guiding hand into a course that can be described as curated, rather than produced and packaged like your standard MOOC. And because of the dearth of new MOOC […]
Researching Who MOOCs Are For
I’ve been corresponding with someone who reached out via the Contact form regarding what we hope will come out of the “Big Data” being generated from millions of students enrolled in and taking MOOC classes. No doubt the “micro-behavior” of students as they progress through a class will be invaluable to those designing and teaching […]
MOOCs and the Autodidact
As I mentioned last time, someone interested and truly motivated to learn a subject has no shortage of ways to achieve that goal. Taking a course through a residential or online college is one way of obtaining expertise (presuming time and resources permit), or perhaps a nearby extension school or other adult education program will […]