Disruption is certainly the word du jour in the current higher education landscape and MOOCs are right in the middle of the discussion. When I think of disruptive innovation, technologies come to mind that transformed an industry, completely replacing what had been there before. While I believe there is potential for MOOCs to contribute to a change from the current higher education system we have today, I expect them to be only a small force in overall changes. When I think of true "disruption" I think more along the lines of Wikipedia and Encylopedia Britannica, which ended print production in 2012.
However, I also feel that MOOCs are so new, talk of major disruption may be valid, as it appears no one really has a handle on just what will be of the whole MOOC phenomenon yet. Stewart (2013) appears to share this sentiment in a post-year of the MOOC article detailing the evolution of the MOOC discussion and MOOCs in general during the recent past. Because no one knows exactly what MOOCs are and will be, even discussing them is difficult. I love how the saying, wherever you go, there you are, is sprinkled in several places. We are truly in the middle of a MOOC journey, and there are a lot of talking head pundit types making various preditions. Peter J. Stokes, quoted in Carlson & Blumenstyk (2012) likens what is transpiring with MOOCs to people throwing spaghetti to a wall and seeing what sticks. Will MOOCs be a game changer, or will they be along the lines of the radio broadcasts of early last century? Right now I think it is still anyone's guess!
References
Stewart, B. (2013). the MOOC is dead, long live the MOOC. Retrieved from http://theory.cribchronicles.com/2013/01/04/the-mooc-is-dead-long-live-the-mooc/
Carlson, S., & Blumenstyk, G. (2012). For whom is college being reinvented?. The Chronicle of Higher Education.
Jennifer,
ReplyDeleteI believe that you utilize the largest vocabulary of anyone in our cohort. After reading this weeks postings, I think it seems to be a consensus that MOOCs have great potential, but they are not a serious threat to the traditional higher Ed model. I really think that at some point the cost of offering MOOCs will some how trickle down to students.
Hi Jennifer,
ReplyDeleteThanks for an insightful post. I like your choice of kerfluffle, and agree that we are overusing the term disruption, almost to the point where it doesn't hold much meaning for us. Back in the day, the word of choice was "revolution," but the discussion was similar wasn't it? Will online learning lead to a revolution or is it a failed one already? Very similar themes to what we saw with radio, television, and early computers, and what are seeing with MOOCs right now. I'm not sure why we aren't asking the question about online learning more broadly considered, since 1/3 of students now take online courses and 1/3 of teachers are teaching them (meets Rogers's tipping point on diffusion of innovation). At any rate, I like your wait and see position!
Hi Jen,
ReplyDeleteWe have all commented on we still are not confident in defining what a MOOC is really showed in several readings. I believe we fear what we don't understand and why the perceived threat of MOOCs is alive and well. It could really go either way with MOOCs. I think it will depend in part on the educational community and public demands/needs. Maybe MOOCs will end up as an option under the umbrella of online education as we do see non-credit courses in the two year institutions with plenty of interest. I agree with Dr. Major of liking your let's see. Forcing a direction now seems premature, but we certainly do speculate.