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:
