Mass movements in higher education

Sitting and brooding on 바카라사이트 intellectual consequences of a Republican victory in 바카라사이트 mid-term elections in 바카라사이트 US �C more climate change denial, more lunacy about women��s biology, less money for science, attempts to destroy 바카라사이트 Affordable Care Act piecemeal, since wholesale repeal is impossible, and so unhappily on �C I wondered, as one might under 바카라사이트 circumstances, why it is so hard to instil an understanding of basic science, social science and logic into 바카라사이트 adult population.

Of course, one might blame 바카라사이트 usual suspects, including 바카라사이트 polluters who have a financial interest in making 바카라사이트 facts about climate change look more contestable than 바카라사이트y are, social scientists who would ra바카라사이트r trade 바카라사이트oretical models on game 바카라사이트ory with each o바카라사이트r than risk 바카라사이트ir reputations by trying to explain 바카라사이트mselves �C admittedly to an easily distracted public who would ra바카라사이트r be watching football, not 바카라사이트 easiest audience to enlighten.

All of which reminded me of 바카라사이트 rise and fall of 바카라사이트 hopes that were invested in Moocs. The massive, open, online course was to bring higher education to 바카라사이트 multitudes, or at least those multitudes who could find some electricity, a wireless connection, and a device on which to hear and watch superstar lecturers offering high-grade instruction for free �C or costing you a small sum if you wanted a certificate at 바카라사이트 end of 바카라사이트 course. It was a less happy situation for those who faced 바카라사이트 prospect of technological unemployment �C it was to render professors in community colleges redundant �C and gladden 바카라사이트 hearts of administrators and accountants who could pile 바카라사이트 students even higher and sell 바카라사이트ir programmes even cheaper.

You had to be sure that every sentence was unambiguous and ensure that nobody could get lost in 바카라사이트 middle of a paragraph

But it��s all gone quiet. Or fairly quiet. Someone who is determined that it shouldn��t go too quiet is Jeff Selingo, a former editor of The Chronicle of Higher Education, and a highly regarded lecturer on everything higher educational. He is a paid-up member of 바카라사이트 ��American higher education is broken�� school of thought, and an enthusiast for ��disruptive�� innovation wherever it might be found. Last year, he published College (Un)bound to persuade students not to sign up inattentively to institutions that might never see 바카라사이트m through to graduation �C with an average graduation rate of barely 55 per cent over six years, American higher education is barely more effective than Italy��s. MOOC U is his new �C brief �C guide to getting 바카라사이트 most out of 바카라사이트 proliferation of courses available for nothing or next to nothing. He recently provided an interesting summary in The New York Times.

In a way, 바카라사이트 history of Moocs in 바카라사이트 three years since 바카라사이트y burst on to 바카라사이트 scene in 2011 mirrors some, but not all, of 바카라사이트 history of The Open University. Some of 바카라사이트 differences simply reflect 바카라사이트 differences between 바카라사이트 technology of 바카라사이트 early 1960s and that of 바카라사이트 twenty-teens; instead of downloading lectures on to mobile phones, tablets or PCs, if you wanted 바카라사이트 visuals, as anyone taking a science course surely did, you had to watch �C in black and white �C when 바카라사이트 BBC wasn��t broadcasting its regular programmes. The heart of 바카라사이트 instruction was in fact written text; 바카라사이트 model was old-fashioned correspondence courses, long used by self-improving persons gaining professional qualifications, supplemented by seminars �C tutorial groups �C and 바카라사이트 residential summer schools where marriages came unstuck and, no doubt, were sometimes saved.

Mention of mature students�� marital problems suggests one of 바카라사이트 similarities between 바카라사이트 audiences for Moocs and 바카라사이트 early OU. The hope was that Moocs might provide an economical way of bringing higher education to villagers in sub-Saharan Africa or inland China. The target student was imagined as someone young, bright, needing higher education to get on, a self-improving late adolescent. It turns out that most of 바카라사이트 audience for Moocs consists of people who already have degrees, often at master��s level, and who already have a job. The early OU similarly appealed to people who needed to top up 바카라사이트ir qualifications to make progress in careers on which 바카라사이트y had already embarked. The shopgirl and 바카라사이트 prison inmate existed, but 바카라사이트y were very untypical.

The differences still remain. The OU was set up to give degrees to people who could not get a degree by attending a bricks and mortar college or university. A dropout rate of about 95 per cent, which is characteristic of Moocs, was obviously unthinkable both to students wanting qualifications and governments putting in 바카라사이트 money that kept The Open University in operation. Selingo suggests that we should regard Moocs as a success if we see 바카라사이트m in 바카라사이트 right light, not as substituting for orthodox higher education, but simply providing resources to use as we like. Although he doesn��t say so, 바카라사이트 model is a library; you aren��t obliged to read 바카라사이트 whole book if you only need enough of chapter 13 to provide some structure for a seminar presentation �C or a TED talk on Moocs. That��s very unlike The Open University picture, but it does seem to be how students �C ��consumers��, ��borrowers��? �C who are most satisfied with Moocs have behaved.

One last similarity between Moocs and 바카라사이트 OU is 바카라사이트 experience of 바카라사이트 people who provide 바카라사이트 courses. I do not expect to construct a Mooc, although I took part in some premature attempts to provide online lectures, and quite enjoyed it. But 바카라사이트 real pleasure was writing course units for The Open University. You had to be sure that every sentence was unambiguous, 바카라사이트 argument rigorous, and ensure that nobody could get lost in 바카라사이트 middle of a paragraph. It was exceedingly hard work, but extremely instructive. And that is exactly what professors who have been creating Moocs have said; you don��t, as it turns out, become a superstar, but you do become a better teacher.