Moocology: What's MOOCology?

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

What's MOOCology?

MOOCology is a subclass of lifelong learning. You sign up for and participate in Massively Open Online Courses not so much to study the subject, as to study the genre. Along the way you get to meet a superabundance of interesting people (players in some ethereal game), and you get to learn (or discard) a lot of fascinating stuff. But the real value (for me) is the way the genre seems to transcend, bypass, nullify, disarm and maybe eventually destroy the institution. Are we seeing a paradigm shift, or simply another technology-driven fad?

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MOOCology

MOOCology is the study of MOOCs, and its main method is participant observation. You sign up for and participate in Massive Open Online Courses not so much to study the subject, as to study the method. Along the way you get to meet a superabundance of interesting people and you get to learn a lot of fascinating stuff. But the real value for me is in observing the way the new metier seems to question, transcend, bypass, nullify, disarm and maybe eventually even destroy the institution. Are we seeing a paradigm shift, or simply another technology-driven fad? Interesting - I wrote this in 2012. Now in 2020 I'd say paradigm shift, but it's a very slow burn.