![]() Ian Bogost calls this “openwashing”: the practice of invoking a totemic word imbued with strong juju to appease apparently angry Internet gods.įor that matter, it’s not completely clear what the “C” – for “Course” – means in MOOCs. As InsideHigherEd recently reported, all of the major MOOCs currently have restrictive terms of service compared to other “open” educational resources such as Wikipedia. In fact, to the extent that “adult” education has come to mean something distinct from a “traditional” education, it usually refers to massive, online enrollment due primarily to the life constraints of the people who need it.īut what of the first “O” in MOOC? Isn’t one of the defining differences between, say, edX and University of Phoenix the fact that the first is open and the latter propriety? Well, it depends on what your definition of the word “open” is. The University of Phoenix enrolls over 400,000 students – more than the entire Big Ten – primarily through its online program. But online courses, available at massive scale, aren’t anything new. Much of the buzz about MOOCs celebrates their Massive and Online aspects. What, if anything, is new and different about MOOCs? What are their promises and perils for adult education? To hear them, talk, you would think MOOCs a surge rising up the seawall of some college citadel which it threatens to engulf and overwhelm.īut this dark vision of Massive Open Online Courses is a night terror, and, like all dreams, it follows the fantasy by eliding the facts. Those involved with education speak of them in tones hushed by dread (if they work for traditional institutions) or delight (if they wish to disrupt them). ![]() This article, an attempt to make sense of MOOCs, was originally posted to their site and crossposted with permission. ![]() He asked me to write two pieces for a special publication on the Internet and adult education. A few weeks ago I was contacted by the managing editor at The EvoLLLution.
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