Comments on: Divide and conquer.

By: Bubbles, bubbles everywhere. « More or Less Bunk

Bubbles, bubbles everywhere. « More or Less Bunk — Fri, 30 Nov 2012 14:01:20 +0000

[...] which would then take a cut of those payments itself, strikes me as a bubble of a different kind. They have to make money somewhere, so they’ll do [...]

By: Barbara Sullivan

Barbara Sullivan — Wed, 31 Oct 2012 00:59:34 +0000

Re: Antioch’s “near-death experience”–I think you mean Antioch College, which severed itself completely from Antioch University and reopened last year with thirty-five students and six faculty. The corporate model has propelled Antioch University from the 70s, so this MOOC move doesn’t surprise me; Antioch College alumni bought back the College–its campus, history and values–from the University because of that difference. Or it’s possible that I’m uninformed and the University was/is also in trouble–but I think they were just going to jettison Antioch College’s campus in Ohio, which dates back to Horace Mann, because it didn’t feed the bottom line like the “university without walls” model. In fact, after they closed the College, and before alumni bought it back, the University neglected the campus to the point that buildings were ruined because no one turned the water off in the winter, and they flooded. That they are moving toward a “university without teachers” model seems consistent with the mindset.

By: Anne

Anne — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 16:21:52 +0000

Actually I think the universities of today are the problem. Already only the rich can afford a college education (or at least the upper middle class). That is why MOOC’s appear so tempting. They provide a way to educate the other 70% that don’t go to college now. I suspect even more people are giving higher education a pass these days as they don’t want to be in hock for the rest of their lives.

Anyway, no one has yet found a way to stop technology once it gets started and I suspect all education will be computer-based soon enough. If you’ve read any science fiction you will know what is coming. We are going through a period of intense change and that always causes problems for those living through it.

By: Contingent Cassandra

Contingent Cassandra — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 15:03:02 +0000

There’s still the very real question of how (and whether) students will develop the skills traditionally taught in and through humanities courses: writing, critical reading/thinking, etc. Those require practice, and someone skilled to closely guide and evaluate (not just grade) the practice, whether it takes place through formal or informal writing, written or oral discussion, or some other means. The “massive” part of MOOCs seems to preclude that, unless and until someone hires enough skilled labor to provide the guidance/feedback, at which point we’re back where we started, with the recorded lectures (with or without pauses for comprehension-check questions) playing much the same role as a good textbook does in a traditional class.