Alright, the title may be a bit misleading and perhaps sounds too ‘romantic’. To be honest, it was created to draw your attention. So it that sense, it was highly effective. But funny enough, as technology changes the landscape of the way information is distributed, so do MOOCs question the need to be psychically present during lectures. In fact, with MOOCs, students have no direct need to be at or around any university for the rest of their lives. And yes, in theory that means that you can study from your bed. Or every other bed around the world. All-day. Everyday. Not too bad right?
MOOCs, an abbreviation of Massive Open Online Courses, offer web-driven, mostly free, platform alternatives to traditional universities. Aimed at unlimited participation and open access, they are increasing in diversified supply and popularity (Allen & Seaman, 2013). To scatter some facts and figures: more than 35 million people have enrolled in MOOCs in the last four years, and 2015 enrollments doubled from 2014. There are currently 4200 different online courses, a number that is expected to grow exponentially in the coming years (Bates, 2013).
The growth of MOOCs is not only technological driven, mostly because of increased bandwidth speed globally; it is also thanks to a wide variety of advantages they offer compared to traditional universities. First of all, they are available to everyone, everywhere around the globe. Their reach is literarily skyrocketing, which is great news for people whose main constraint to studying is distance. MOOCs also provide a cost-effective alternative to traditional ways of studying, both for the student as for the concerned university, since fixed costs are relatively low and, like with most other information goods, cost of distribution is close to none (Laseter, 2012). Lastly, in line with the increase of personalizing almost every we want, do and obtain, having the ability to pick your own courses and create your own study could provide a ton of opportunities.
Although this may sound promising and probably is, there are a couple of serious downsides to MOOCs that cannot be overseen. First of all, and a pretty obvious one, most MOOCs lack real social interaction, an aspect that is considered highly important in all forms of education. A few companies do offer virtual alternatives to dwindle this problem, but talking to a 3D avatar of your teammate does not fully seal the deal, right? Moreover, offering courses for free drastically downgrades the level of student engagement. Student retention is high with only 2-10% of the students initially enrolled for the course actually earned the certificate for it. Lastly, current universities have built up centuries of recognition and reputation. This process takes time for a reason. MOOCs clearly have a large, perhaps not feasible, gap to close regarding this (Arbaugh, 2005).
In my opinion, MOOCs definitely provide numerous possibilities to alter the educational environment. And yes, I do think that universities operate (too) traditionally and, unquestionably, need to respond to changing times and technological advances. However, social interaction and teaching presence are incredibly important. MOOCs should therefore be approached as compliment, certainly not as substitute. Sorry, but it is time to get out of bed now.
I’m curious what you think of the growth of MOOCs in our educational system. Feel free to leave a comment!
References
Allen, I. E., & Seaman, J. (2013). Changing Course: Ten Years of Tracking Online Education in the United States. Sloan Consortium. PO Box 1238, Newburyport, MA 01950.
Bates, T. (2014). The strengths and weaknesses of MOOCs: Part I. www.tonybates.ca
Laseter, T. (2012). GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE-The University’s Dilemma-In the face of disruptive change, higher education needs a new, more innovative business model. Strategy and Business, (69), 24
Arbaugh, J. B. (2005). Is there an optimal design for on-line MBA courses?.Academy of Management Learning & Education, 4(2), 135-149.
Interesting topic! In one of my bachelor courses, they used MOOCs to teach us. Every week they dicussed an other topic. I really liked this way of teaching, because you can watch it whenever you want and you can also skip ‘unimportant’ parts if you arleady know the content. You can watch the MOOCs several times, which makes it possible to repeat the theory. Moreover, during lectures it is often difficult to write down everything. This does not apply to MOOCs, because you can pause the video.
However, I also see some downsides. There basically is no social contac and getting into depth with your question is hard when there is no face-to-face contact.
During my course, I also had some lectures for questioning. I therefore agree with you that MOOCs should be seen as a compliment of traditional lectures and not as a substitute.
Interesting article! I agree with you that MOOCs should be a compliment and not a substitute. Sometimes in lecture the professor goes to fast and you can’t keep up or you’d like to repeat some learnings, in these cases the MOOCs can be very helpful.
Of course there is a chance the MOOCs will reduce the psychical present during lecture. But there are still workshops and group assignments where students have to be present. The workshops and group assignments also help with the lack of social interaction with the MOOCs. Student who want more social interaction can also join student associations.