Educational analysts (Bates; Watters) demonstrate that MOOCs development is both a promising movement towards democratizing education and a critically unsustainable technological fad played by the ivy league universities. Having a unified platform for MOOCs makes very different courses look the same to the detriment of learning experience.

1. What do you think about the perspectives of MOOC?

I believe that the notion of the MOOC being a “disruptive innovation” is interesting, as I believe any innovation to any field (education or otherwise) has the potential to be disruptive. Changing the trajectory of an idea by conjuring up an improvement inevitably disrupts its original path, but that is the nature of any innovation, for better or worse. Clayton Christensen (2010) has argued [that MOOCs] will change the world of education. Others have said that it is merely another idea or way of broadcasting education to a far-reaching audience, but that the fundamentals are still required, therefore it is not so much a game-changer as it is just another way to deliver content (much like television or radio).

I am not sure as to how employers will regard these free, open-concept courses available to anyone, anytime and anywhere. If someone finishes their MBA fully online and through a MOOC platform, for example, how is a potential employer to react during a job interview? The applicant may possess all of the knowledge of a recent reputable university graduate, however, the way in which the content was delivered was not in a “traditional” sense. How is the employer checking transcripts? Fact-checking? Who are the professors? What do you get upon completion of a MOOC (digital badge, certificate, etc)? And does that hold water with the employer? There is a lot to think about, and systemically, “things have been done a certain way”, and perhaps the credentials extended by MOOC’s is not necessarily what old school employers want, or more importantly, understand. What are we looking for? Is it the knowledge, and do we simply want the chance to prove ourselves in a work setting that we did, indeed, learn the fundamentals needed to perform the job? Or, are people by and large more comfortable seeing a familiar university’s name on a transcript or resume, and even if they don’t possess the knowledge required to perform, the employer may feel more at ease in order to provide training to fill in the gaps? And even if the MOOC being offered is through a university (such as UBC!), if there are no prerequisites other than a computer and decent broadband access, is that “exclusive” enough, or perceived as being exclusive enough, for an employer to look at in the same way as a paid course/degree where there were prerequisites? How do we as a society perceive knowledge, or the acquisition of knowledge? To me, I believe that if you can demonstrate your retention of knowledge (and given the chance to), regardless of the platform/institution it was being delivered from, that knowledge is as important as the next person’s knowledge.

2. Could this globally targeted format of learning be used locally, with some better results?

I believe the saying “Think globally, act locally” applies here. This is what educators do every day; they take ideas and lessons and modify them to suit their students’ situational context and learning needs. If a MOOC was to be developed locally, with ideas, thoughts and guests from the local vicinity of a school in a small town in northern Ontario, for example, the perspective will most likely be very different from that of a school in a city in southern Ontario, even. If the course was in cMOOC format, the transmission of knowledge would flow between the participants of the course. So, if the learning was initially developed locally, and then later flowed to other areas through whatever social media platforms, perhaps the understanding of different perspectives would increase as two worlds collide. If it is an xMOOC, the transmission of knowledge would be from expert(s) to participants. As an example, educators in these two places might develop a lesson or unit independent from each other about the Spring bear hunt in Ontario. They may gather perspectives and information from local hunters, animal rights activists, First Nations groups and political parties from each of these geographical locations. Once the lessons/units are developed, and even if the same type of framework is used in their development, these two courses may look very different. Differences could include (but are not limited to) the actual design of the course, the spirit of the content, and the perspectives brought forth by all players. If participants only enrol in their local xMOOC course, they may not see the other perspectives brought forward, unless the “northern Ontario” perspective is brought forward within the southern Ontario course, or vice versa.

• Connectivism
• Ed Tech
• LMS
• MOOC
• open source