Much Ado about MOOCs
Main Argument: Massive open online courses [MOOCs] are all the rage these days, at least in the press. Is all the hype justified? MOOCs are work in progress and may well turn out to be the educational game changer they are predicted to be, before that they have to resolve the ‘Fraud factor’.
Sub-argument:
- A year ago, Stanford, Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of technology, followed quickly by other top-tier institutions, began to offer MOOCs. The goal was and is laudable: to offer free, world- class education to anyone and everyone with internet access.
- The MOOC represents the ultimate democratization of education, at least in theory. But what quickly followed was the usual capitalist scramble to figure out how to make a buck from a great idea.
- Once incident happened at Harvard institute, verifying that the student who has signed up for a MOOC is the same person who has completed the work and taken the exam is, at the moment a daunting obstacle.
Limitations:
- The author has done the research only in United States of America, he has to do the research throughout the countries who are pursuing the MOOC courses. Then the author will get a better idea.
Conclusion: The author says that will online education replaces the face to face education. If it replaces will it provides the proper structure for business course and philosophy subjects. He asks the faculty members of the MOOC to answer the above questions instead of how to make a buck by offering the course.
Author: Martin D. Synder
Source: Academe, Vol. 98, No.6, Professing Service in the Humanities (Nov-Dec 2012), P.55.
Published: American Association of University Professors.
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