http://chronicle.com/article/article-content/134692/
Last weekend on This Week in Tech (at TWiT.tv) the panel talked about more universities joining in the effort to create MOOCs, and their enthusiasm was, I felt, carelessly unbounded. People who seem to have concluded that MOOCs can already substitute for a more traditional college education might not be seeing things through. For an individual looking to learn a particular topic, MOOCs can be great. As a system, however, they have a way to go. Completion rates for many MOOCs are around 10% and it's unclear to me if that completion certificate carries the same kind of weight as a course on a college transcript. It's going to take a few years to see how MOOCs evolve, and I think the dose of skepticism from faculty such as those in this article will help balance out the enthusiasm. I don't want to see the MOOC concept go away, but I certainly welcome its steady evolution.
Last weekend on This Week in Tech (at TWiT.tv) the panel talked about more universities joining in the effort to create MOOCs, and their enthusiasm was, I felt, carelessly unbounded. People who seem to have concluded that MOOCs can already substitute for a more traditional college education might not be seeing things through. For an individual looking to learn a particular topic, MOOCs can be great. As a system, however, they have a way to go. Completion rates for many MOOCs are around 10% and it's unclear to me if that completion certificate carries the same kind of weight as a course on a college transcript. It's going to take a few years to see how MOOCs evolve, and I think the dose of skepticism from faculty such as those in this article will help balance out the enthusiasm. I don't want to see the MOOC concept go away, but I certainly welcome its steady evolution.