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Quincy Larson
MOOCs have initially proven more useful for some purposes than others, but that they are indeed providing value to millions of people.
First, allow me point out that it's unsurprising to hear critics dismiss MOOCs - they are currently in the "trough of disillusionment" part of the hype cycle that most new technologies follow. Whenever a technology is at the bottom of the hype cycle - be it touch screens (in the 90s), Wikipedia (in the early 2000's), or electric cars (in the late 2000's) - critics will come out of the woodwork to dec said emerging technology a "bust".
That said, there are two criticisms of MOOCs that critics have clung to from the beginning:
1) Unlike university courses where you have classmates and one or more instructors with whom you can interact face-to-face, MOOCs are a solitary experience, and thus a poor substitute for the college experience.
2) About 70% of university students who enroll in an undergraduate course will ultimately complete it. Fewer than 5% of learners who click "sign me up" for a MOOC will ultimately complete it.
The first of these is a legitimate criticism. It is difficult to reproduce many aspects of the college experience online.
But consider that, though most MOOCs were produced by US universities, 2/3rd of the people taking MOOCs are overseas. Also consider that, while the US audience for college is still mainly traditional students (18-25 year olds), the average MOOC learner is about 35 years old, and already has an undergraduate degree.
MOOCs may eventually supplement - or even substitute - aspects of the traditional US higher education system. But even as the American public debates the merits of MOOCs, millions of working professionals around the world are using them to learn advanced skills applicable to their careers, and, increasingly, as a means of developing new skills that can be used to change one's career altogether.
This is the impetus behind the big three MOOC platforms - EdX, Udacity and Coursera - and their recent push for "nano-degrees" and other curricula with terminal certificates.
Regarding the second criticism - that MOOCs have a much higher attrition rate that college courses - I ask you to first compare the process of signing up for a MOOC with the process of enrolling in a university course.
To sign up for a MOOC, you need only an internet connection and an email address. You can create an account within minutes (or seconds if you sign in with Facebook). Once you've selected a course you want to take, you can become "enrolled" with a few taps of your touch screen.
Contrast this with the process of signing up for a university course. First, you would need to complete all the paperwork necessary to gain admission to the university. Then you'd have to physically travel to the admissions office, submit your official transcripts and show them the accepted forms of identification. Then you would have to navigate the university's enrollment software, find the course you want to take and enroll in it (assuming it's not full). In some cases, you might even need to meet with an academic advisor to gain approval for enrolling in the course. Finally, you would need to pay fees at the bursar's office (assuming you didn't need to apply for financial aid first).
Given the huge difference in investment of time, energy and money, it's no surprise that completion rates of in-person university courses are many times higher than completion rates of MOOCs.
I think it's fair to ask: is it not a profoundly good thing that anyone who hears about a MOOC can register for that MOOC within a few minutes, at any time of day, from literally anywhere? Is it not a testament to the accessibility of MOOCs that thousands - sometimes hundreds of thousands - of learners register for each of these courses?
Sure, many of these learners will sign up and never return to actually take the course. Sure, many of the learners who do return will only view a lecture or two before they lose interest, or life gets in the way. But consider the fact that, of the people who do make it past those first few lectures and start completing exercises, a majority will go on to finish the course.
And it's also helpful to keep in mind that, even with a 95% attrition rate, thousands of people are completing courses they would not have otherwise been able to complete. In fact, many MOOC professors have exclaimed that they were able to reach more learners with one MOOC than they would reach in an entire career of teaching in lecture halls.
So are MOOCs a bust? Ask the thousands of unemployed or underemployed college graduates using MOOCs to learn data science and software development, so that they can move out of their parents' house. Ask the millions of working professionals in Europe, Asia and Africa - many of whom are developing skills their countries' universities don't even teach - in their homes, after they've put the kids to bed for the night.
I'm pretty sure those people would answer, "No, MOOCs are not a bust."
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MOOCs have initially proven more useful for some purposes than others, but that they are indeed providing value to millions of people.
First, allow me point out that it's unsurprising to hear critics dismiss MOOCs - they are currently in the "trough of disillusionment" part of the hype cycle that most new technologies follow. Whenever a technology is at the bottom of the hype cycle - be it touch screens (in the 90s), Wikipedia (in the early 2000's), or electric cars (in the late 2000's) - critics will come out of the woodwork to dec said emerging technology a "bust".
That said, there are two criticisms of MOOCs that critics have clung to from the beginning:
1) Unlike university courses where you have classmates and one or more instructors with whom you can interact face-to-face, MOOCs are a solitary experience, and thus a poor substitute for the college experience.
2) About 70% of university students who enroll in an undergraduate course will ultimately complete it. Fewer than 5% of learners who click "sign me up" for a MOOC will ultimately complete it.
The first of these is a legitimate criticism. It is difficult to reproduce many aspects of the college experience online.
But consider that, though most MOOCs were produced by US universities, 2/3rd of the people taking MOOCs are overseas. Also consider that, while the US audience for college is still mainly traditional students (18-25 year olds), the average MOOC learner is about 35 years old, and already has an undergraduate degree.
MOOCs may eventually supplement - or even substitute - aspects of the traditional US higher education system. But even as the American public debates the merits of MOOCs, millions of working professionals around the world are using them to learn advanced skills applicable to their careers, and, increasingly, as a means of developing new skills that can be used to change one's career altogether.
This is the impetus behind the big three MOOC platforms - EdX, Udacity and Coursera - and their recent push for "nano-degrees" and other curricula with terminal certificates.
Regarding the second criticism - that MOOCs have a much higher attrition rate that college courses - I ask you to first compare the process of signing up for a MOOC with the process of enrolling in a university course.
To sign up for a MOOC, you need only an internet connection and an email address. You can create an account within minutes (or seconds if you sign in with Facebook). Once you've selected a course you want to take, you can become "enrolled" with a few taps of your touch screen.
Contrast this with the process of signing up for a university course. First, you would need to complete all the paperwork necessary to gain admission to the university. Then you'd have to physically travel to the admissions office, submit your official transcripts and show them the accepted forms of identification. Then you would have to navigate the university's enrollment software, find the course you want to take and enroll in it (assuming it's not full). In some cases, you might even need to meet with an academic advisor to gain approval for enrolling in the course. Finally, you would need to pay fees at the bursar's office (assuming you didn't need to apply for financial aid first).
Given the huge difference in investment of time, energy and money, it's no surprise that completion rates of in-person university courses are many times higher than completion rates of MOOCs.
I think it's fair to ask: is it not a profoundly good thing that anyone who hears about a MOOC can register for that MOOC within a few minutes, at any time of day, from literally anywhere? Is it not a testament to the accessibility of MOOCs that thousands - sometimes hundreds of thousands - of learners register for each of these courses?
Sure, many of these learners will sign up and never return to actually take the course. Sure, many of the learners who do return will only view a lecture or two before they lose interest, or life gets in the way. But consider the fact that, of the people who do make it past those first few lectures and start completing exercises, a majority will go on to finish the course.
And it's also helpful to keep in mind that, even with a 95% attrition rate, thousands of people are completing courses they would not have otherwise been able to complete. In fact, many MOOC professors have exclaimed that they were able to reach more learners with one MOOC than they would reach in an entire career of teaching in lecture halls.
So are MOOCs a bust? Ask the thousands of unemployed or underemployed college graduates using MOOCs to learn data science and software development, so that they can move out of their parents' house. Ask the millions of working professionals in Europe, Asia and Africa - many of whom are developing skills their countries' universities don't even teach - in their homes, after they've put the kids to bed for the night.
I'm pretty sure those people would answer, "No, MOOCs are not a bust."
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Continue reading...
