I just finished the MOOC “The Ancient Greek Hero” taught by professors from Harvard in the edX web site https://www.edx.org/course/harvard-university/cb22x/ancient-greek-hero/563

 The faculty was excellent. The main teacher was Professor Gregory Nagy. He is the Francis Jones Professor of Classical Greek Literature and Professor of Comparative Literature at Harvard University, You could tell he really loved his subject area and wanted students to succeed. 

The course began on March 13, 2013 and was supposed to finish in July but all work was not available until the beginning of August. The final deadline was extended to August 26.

Although the site said there were students from over 150 countries most students seemed to be from English speaking countries and from Greece. There were videos but the edX staff had trouble getting the Closed Captioned text up quickly, which was a problem for the hearing impaired and the non-native-English speakers. Toward the end of the class the students started putting up the text for their classmates.

It seemed to me that most of those who finished the course were older, with degrees, and taking it for personal enrichment.  I would guess about 10% of those who signed up successfully completed and got the certificate.

It was a lot of work. Every week there were readings from primary sources, videos and a textbook. Grading was all multiple choice questions. Among the questions usually there were two answers that were correct but one was more correct than the other. That meant you had to guess what the teacher wanted. I got better in this as I went along.

Higher Education in the United States in the Era of the MOOC's:

Utopia or Distopia?

Transcript of Presentation for Final Project of MOOC

E-Learning and the Digital Culture

Since I teach graduate courses in teacher training at USA Higher Education Institutions, I wanted to take this opportunity, in the final project, to reflect on the effect that MOOC’s could have on our present system. Will the MOOC’s usher in an era of Utopia, where students can take MOOC’s and convert them into credits, thereby saving money and time? Or will the result be Distopia, where all education is controlled by computer? This short presentation will explore those two options.

First, we must admit that for the middle class Higher Education in the USA is broken. The rich can afford four or more years away from home, and pay the tuition and fees. The poor get financial aid. It is those who are neither rich nor poor who must leave home, go to campus and take out loans to get an education. The education is highly structured, with required courses. Completion of courses leads to credit and appropriate credits lead to degrees. This is a hardship for many.

With a MOOC the situation is different. Instead of the student going to the college, the education comes to the student. The classes, though large, are free. The professors are observers and helpers only. The students grade each other.  There are no credits, no degrees, but badges.

 

What will this mean in the future? Will there be the Utopian scenario where students convert badges into  credits, thereby decreasing the time and expense of college? Or, if society recognizes badges as worthwhile and employers see them as appropriate for hiring, will the computer take over education, eliminating many higher education institutions, and doing away with the need for professors?

So Utopian or Distopian? Will Higher Education in the USA as we know it disappear in the future?

One thing is sure. This course has convinced me that Higher Education in the USA cannot afford to ignore the MOOC. The future will be interesting!

  

Interesting reference:

Online Educational Delivery Models

http://www.educause.edu/ero/article/online-educational-delivery-models-descriptive-view

Excellent infographics