Winter \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Seed Catalog Moon<\/p>\n
Started another MOOC today. \u00a0I won’t be taking a certificate in this one, just as I didn’t take one in the Modern\/Post Modern class. \u00a0This class focuses on Walt Whitman, ModPo piqued my interest in him and his work.<\/p>\n
EdX is another of the MOOC providers, this one tends toward the more high brow: M.I.T., Harvard. \u00a0The Whitman class is taught by a Harvard professor and I can’t tell you how many times she mentioned Harvard, Harvard’s resources and the number of poets who attended Harvard. \u00a0That put me off. \u00a0On the other hand she seems to have an interesting pedagogy in play, one congruent with Whitman which involves taking poetry to the streets and to other cities.<\/p>\n
I plan to read the poetry, listen to the lectures and let the rest of it wash over me. \u00a0In the climate change MOOC I’m going for the certificate which means all the quizes, two exams, required activities. \u00a0I haven’t taken a mid-term or a final exam in over twenty years. \u00a0Should be fun.<\/p>\n
There seem to be more critiques than praises right now popping up about MOOC’s. Expensive to set up and difficult to maintain. \u00a0Not as good as professor-student interaction. \u00a0Confusing to students and employers about who is certifying a student’s capabilities. \u00a0This is the anti-thesis of the revolutionary heavy breathing that began when they came out.<\/p>\n
There is a synthesis down the line that will find MOOC’s do a great job of teaching disciplined students, especially such students geographically dispersed. \u00a0There will be proctored exams and course series that function like college majors. \u00a0A degree may no longer have only one institution behind it, but a coterie, an alliance, an association.<\/p>\n
Will MOOC’s replace current colleges and universities? \u00a0Probably not. \u00a0Almost certainly not. \u00a0Will some of them get replaced? \u00a0Almost certainly. \u00a0Bricks and mortar is not the only way to learn and the more options students have the better for them. \u00a0This may not be best for the current geocentric system, but for whom was it built in the first place? \u00a0The student. \u00a0The issue is the education, its quality, availability and affordability. \u00a0If a few campuses have to become housing complexes, that’s no great loss.<\/p>\n
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Winter \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Seed Catalog Moon Started another MOOC today. \u00a0I won’t be taking a certificate in this one, just as I didn’t take one in the … Continue reading Whitman<\/span>