My twitter feed has lead me to read two articles on the subject of MOOCs and a couple of interesting points have been made. I am currently sitting through a couple of MOOCs online one at Future Learn and another at edX just to get a real feel.
According to Norris and Soloway (2014) 'Personalized instruction, flipped classrooms, video watching, etc., etc. are the last gasps of the old, "education as acquiring stuff" model; they are attempts at putting a patina of new on an old, outmoded, broken and ultimately ineffective educational model'. Implying that HE have got it all wrong. The drive towards flipped classrooms and the utilization of videos etc have been added to the model that supports "education as acquiring stuff". Yes our learners learn differently these days we all know that but they still have to learn 'stuff'. An engineer that reverts to the wonders of the web to solve problems is all very good but there comes a time when fundamental knowledge must be readily available from acquired knowledge built on foundations by solving problems during their education. Therefore if as Norris and Soloway, (2014) state,'Social learning, inquiry learning, just-in-time learning, and yes, learning-by-doing, will become the dominant pedagogies' , where do our learners learn the fundamentals? I see scope in 'Learning by doing' I am all for that problem based learning is a strength in engineering, but there has to be some knowledge base. An effective way of acquiring this is by way of the good old fashioned lecture.
The second article that leapt out at me from the reading over breakfast was Falkner(2014) as he states, What about the current Higher Ed context – let’s look at “The Avalanche Report“. Basically, the education business is doomed!!! DOOOMED, I tell you! He goes on to give a good account of a MOOC and the benefits it can bring. It's a detailed article that goes on a bit but well worth a read if you want a good reflection on the introduction of this learning method. Interestingly he shares his thoughts on the role of the lecture, it could well be the end 'especially as we can use the MOOC for content and flip to use the face-to-face for much more valuable things'.
I agree but we assume our learners are actually reading and doing in order to 'learn stuff', whereas many want that easy ride do as little as possible its a fine balance. This leads me onto another point nicely covered in a video. ‘Teaching Teaching and Understanding Understanding’. This 20 minute film is available in three parts at: http://www.daimi.au.dk/~brabrand/short-film/
Points to ponder over
- What is the balance of Susans / Roberts in your classes?
- What implications does the balance have on how we should teach and assess?
- Note the way ILOs are used to define teaching and assessment in part 3. How might this help focus students?
References
Falkner,N (2014)'CSEDU, Day 2, Invited Talk, “How are MOOCs Disrupting the Educational Landscape?”, (#CSEDU14 #AdelEd)', Learning and Teaching in ICT at The University of Adelaide and across Australia, April 2014 [Blog]. Available at http://nickfalkner.wordpress.com/2014/04/02/csedu-day-2-invited-talk-how-are-moocs-disrupting-the-educational-landscape-csedu14-adeled/ (Accessed 5 April 2014).
Norris,C.and Soloway,E.(2014) the Journal, 'Personalized Learning, Flipped Classrooms, Video Watching: Last Gasps of the Old Education'[Online]Available at http://thejournal.com/Articles/2014/03/31/Broken-Educational-Model.aspx?Page=1#LovTyJAPGmOsMzYE.99 (Accessed 5 April 2014).
