open education 2013
DESCRIPTION
Presented to 10th Annual Open Education Conference Park City, UtahTRANSCRIPT
MOOCs: How did we get here? George Siemens
Nov 6, 2013
1.Bit of history2.Bit about current
state3.Bit of angst4.Bit of hope
1.Bit of history2.Bit about current
state3.Bit of angst4.Bit of hope
The core components of the current design (used for my Fall 2007 Intro to Open Ed course) include:
• Running everything in the open
Openness and transparency created a space of innovation and ability to build on what others were
doing
An alternative to
Institutional controlled technologiesMonolithic self-contained/locked-in platformsTransmission pedagogies
Metal workers: cylinders
SteamWheelsMotion
Transportation need
Viability
Scientific progress
Entrepreneurship
“a thousand threads that lead from the locomotive to the very beginning of the modern world”
Rosen, 2010
“The process may be more like stitching together known parts
than pioneering a complete route from scratch”
W. Bryan Arthur, 2006
Simply: We need open, accessible, buildable, improvable, extendable,
remixable, content, curriculum, pedagogy, and learning systems
But it’s not all new
Distance Education
Frederick Jackson Turner: U of Wisc: correspondence late 1800
“Composition through the medium of the post” 1833 (see Simonson et al, p. 37)
Anna Eliot Ticknor:Society to Encourage Studies at Home, 1873
CTV: 1966-1983Degree-level coursesUniversity partnershipsDelivered 6:00-9:00 am
Continental Classroom
NBC: 1958-1963
1.Bit of history2.Bit about current
state3.Bit of angst4.Bit of hope
So, why MOOCs? Why now?
MOOCs:
A supply-side answer to decades of change in demand-side learning needs
McKinsey Quarterly, 2012
Increasing diversity of student profiles
The U.S. is now in a position when less than half of students could be considered fulltime students. In other words, students who can attend campus five days a week nine-to-five, are now a minority.
(Bates, 2013)
Favours women over menMore learners as % (up to 60%)Average entrance age increasingTop three countries for entering students:
China, India, USATraditional science courses waning in popularityGreater international student
OECD 2013
What is happening in MOOC research?
Phase 1 Stats266 total submissions37 countries represented
Top countries:- USA- Canada- China- UK- Spain- Australia
http://www.moocresearch.com/
Phase 2 Stats
78 total submissions15 countries represented
Top Countries:- USA- Canada- UK- China- Australia
Methodologies per field
Final selectionMOOC platforms represented:
- Coursera: 12- edX: 4- Multiple: 5- Non-Major: 6
Countries: 4 (USA, Canada, UK, Australia)Institutions: ~28
1.Bit of history2.Bit about current
state3.Bit of angst4.Bit of hope
What worries me about MOOCs (and whatever follows after)
1. Most MOOCs don’t prepare learners to create, generate, solve, innovate
We need stuff that stirs the soul.
(learning to code to optimize web clicks does not address society’s most pressing challenges)
What should MOOCs do?a. Respond to learning needs of society that universities are missing
b. Prepare learners for complex knowledge activities to address growing and urgent needs of society
Currently do a) but not b)
We are not getting the “type of learning” that we need for the types of challenges that we (society) faces
2. Openness is being lost
“Easy” will usually win over open and complex
What happened
between here
MIT OpenCourseWare makes the materials used in the teaching of almost all of MIT's subjects available on the Web, free of charge. With more than 2,000 courses available, OCW is delivering on the promise of open sharing of knowledge.
and here?
All content or other materials available on the Sites, including but not limited to code, images, text, layouts, arrangements, displays, illustrations, audio and video clips, HTML files and other content are the property of Coursera and/or its affiliates or licensors and are protected by copyright, patent and/or other proprietary intellectual property rights under the United States and foreign laws.
or here
All of our educational content can be reused according to the Creative Commons licensing that we have adopted and where this logo is seen:
and here?
The Online Content and Courses IPR is protected to the fullest extent possible by copyright laws. All such rights are reserved.
3. Lack of Innovation
Settling too soon on pedagogies and models (normalizing to edX/Coursera).
Once we have a revenue model, future innovation will serve that model. (i.e. Google adwords)
What about a revenue/business model?
Who cares.
What about high dropout rates?
Who cares.
Still trying to define the new system by the metrics and methods of the old
4. MOOC providers disconnected from existing learning sciences & related research communities
-The efficacy of online learning-The importance of retrieval and testing for learning-Mastery Learning-Peer assessments-Active learning in the classroom
1.Bit of history2.Bit about current
state3.Bit of angst4.Bit of hope
Today in education, we are witnessing an unbundling of previous network structures.
And a rebundling of new network lock-in models.
MOOCs are a keystone concept in reformulating education models and creating new ecosystems
But the landscape can still be shaped
MOOCsNow reach 7+ million learners
(side note, over 21 million distance learners)Hundreds of millions of $$ invested Hundreds/thousands of academics involvedMedia exposure in mainstream publications
Learning/education is now a prominent public conversation
MOOCs as generative, knowledge-building learning is not yet lost
Downes, 2013 (Antalya, Turkey presentation)
http://www.moocresearch.com/
ConferenceDecember 5-6, 2013University of Texas Arlington
Twitter/Gmail: gsiemens