Moocology: July 2012

Saturday, July 21, 2012

This stuff sticks...

This is an interesting post from Steve Kraus via Kiwi Belma. I cringe whenever the Coursera model is described as a MOOC... it's because I read the Open in MOOC to have several non-optional meanings: open entry, open curriculum, and open source... see what I mean? Anyway --- anything that asks questions around what Coursera are doing, how and why has got to be interesting (talk about disruptive technology, this is about as disruptive as it gets). Oh, and it's about their business model.

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.