The Online Education Revolution Drifts Off Course
1–10 of 47 posts
Re: The Online Education Revolution Drifts Off Course
#2I sure wish everyone would stop claiming (or at least strongly implying) that "MOOC" and "online education" are synonymous. They aren't.
Re: The Online Education Revolution Drifts Off Course
#3Also, there is no "revolution" here. That's just hype, both from the media and the companies.
MOOCs would have existed decades ago, but the cost of distribution of the content was high. With the arrival of YouTube and cheap content delivery networks including Amazon's, MOOCs suddenly eliminated the distribution problem.
But it turns out that wasn't enough. When 90% of your "students" fail to complete the courses, you have an epic failure on your hands. MOOCs are not working.
Re: The Online Education Revolution Drifts Off Course
#4From the perspective of someone in the education space (the physical kind of education involving classrooms and face-to-face conversations), human contact is essential in education. My favorite classes from college were taught by interesting people whose personality and real-world insight gave me a far greater appreciation of the subject than what I could glean from an online video. However, this face-to-face interaction with an experienced individual is not possible in most parts of the world, which is really where MOOCs make a huge difference.
Re: The Online Education Revolution Drifts Off Course
#5Also, there is no "revolution" here. That's just hype, both from the media and the companies. MOOCs would have existed decades ago, but the cost of distribution of the content was high. With the arrival of YouTube and cheap content delivery networks including Amazon's, MOOCs suddenly eliminated the distribution problem. But it turns out that wasn't enough. When 90% of your "students" fail to complete the courses, you…
The thing about MOOCs is that a lot of the classes are hard, really hard. This is not remedial algebra so lots of people are not going to be able to learn the material and that's fine. Why is it a failure if 90% of the students fail to complete the course? Likely 100x more students are taking and passing the class then would have otherwise done so at a traditional institution.
For example, with regards to the MITX 6002x course:
"MIT reports that 155,000 people registered for MITx 6.002x and of those, approximately 23,000 tried the first problem set, 9,000 passed the midterm, and 7,157 passed the course as a whole. According to MITx: "… if the number is looked at in absolute terms, it had as many students as might take the course in 40 years at MIT.”"
http://www.nebhe.org/thejournal/disruptive-innovation-changi...
Re: The Online Education Revolution Drifts Off Course
#6Also, there is no "revolution" here. That's just hype, both from the media and the companies. MOOCs would have existed decades ago, but the cost of distribution of the content was high. With the arrival of YouTube and cheap content delivery networks including Amazon's, MOOCs suddenly eliminated the distribution problem. But it turns out that wasn't enough. When 90% of your "students" fail to complete the courses, you…
How I see it, even if only a small percentage of students complete a course, that's still a relatively large number. I personally know a few people who have benefited greatly from them. I believe MOOCs are here to stay.
Re: The Online Education Revolution Drifts Off Course
#7Also, there is no "revolution" here. That's just hype, both from the media and the companies. MOOCs would have existed decades ago, but the cost of distribution of the content was high. With the arrival of YouTube and cheap content delivery networks including Amazon's, MOOCs suddenly eliminated the distribution problem. But it turns out that wasn't enough. When 90% of your "students" fail to complete the courses, you…
From a particular perspective, MOOCs aren't working, but I don't know if "percent completing" is the best metric to use when it comes to MOOCs. I've completed about a dozen MOOCs, but I've started and abandoned a fair number too. I think just having the exposure to a wide variety of areas of knowledge, and being able to easily jump into education with a structured format, but not necessarily feel financially compelled to stick with it, has been helpful to me.
From a "job credentials" / "factory-based education" approach, MOOCs may not fit the bill, but I think they provide something really useful just by making knowledge of different concepts available to more people.
Re: The Online Education Revolution Drifts Off Course
#8I sure wish everyone would stop claiming (or at least strongly implying) that "MOOC" and "online education" are synonymous. They aren't.
Hear, hear! I got my graduate degree in an online program that was a dozen years old with a starting cohort of 120 people, synchronous lectures, and campus visits once a semester. it was online but it was not a MOOC.
Re: The Online Education Revolution Drifts Off Course
#9Also, there is no "revolution" here. That's just hype, both from the media and the companies. MOOCs would have existed decades ago, but the cost of distribution of the content was high. With the arrival of YouTube and cheap content delivery networks including Amazon's, MOOCs suddenly eliminated the distribution problem. But it turns out that wasn't enough. When 90% of your "students" fail to complete the courses, you…
From a particular perspective, MOOCs aren't working, but I don't know if "percent completing" is the best metric to use when it comes to MOOCs. I've completed about a dozen MOOCs, but I've started and abandoned a fair number too. I think just having the exposure to a wide variety of areas of knowledge, and being able to easily jump into education with a structured format, but not necessarily feel financially compelle…
I think you have highlighted an important distinction. Online learning opens the door to a large number of students, with an even larger number of reasons for taking/missing the courses. (Subject awareness, knowledge, credentialing, mastery, etc.) With traditional course structures, you could expect students to complete/cheat the course for credit, but now they can learn parts of a subject and change their minds. It has exposed the vast differences between student motivations. (A disinterested student no longer has to cheat their way out of the course.)
Previously, to change your goal in the course was considered a personal fault. But, now the lectures are recorded and the tests mostly graded by computer. The deadlines are almost artificial constraints. (This assumes the goal of the course is to master the material, and not credentialing.)
I have failed to complete numerous Coursera courses and other MOOCs, not out of missing motivation, but out of scheduling, life, and complexity. I normally end up downloading the lectures, after the fact, to gain exposure to the subject matter, because my goal had to change from mastery to just understanding the subject matter. I no longer consider that failure.
Re: The Online Education Revolution Drifts Off Course
#10Also, there is no "revolution" here. That's just hype, both from the media and the companies. MOOCs would have existed decades ago, but the cost of distribution of the content was high. With the arrival of YouTube and cheap content delivery networks including Amazon's, MOOCs suddenly eliminated the distribution problem. But it turns out that wasn't enough. When 90% of your "students" fail to complete the courses, you…
"Also, there is no "revolution" here"
I tend to agree. Actually, I don't see much improvement over a book. I rather have a well-written book in my hand rather than having to go through so many videos.
For me, the main advantage is easy and free access. Also, they make it easier to pace oneself, which is one of the hard part with self-teaching.
"When 90% of your "students" fail to complete the courses, you have an epic failure on your hands. "
What is the percentage of dedicated students, that have the right background to understand the material, complete the course?
"MOOCs are not working."
If working is defined in term of completion rate, they are not. But it's not the right metric.