My learning reflection

Is it time to let go, on MOOC? I am now more like a philosopher (I consider myself a thinker, hopefully a philosopher) of MOOCs. I think I am a post-MOOCer, just like the Post-modernist, where I no longer go inside the box to search for the truths or knowledge. MOOC becomes the past of me, as new and emergent wave comes along where I just surf through, and to be a “being” to explore the Future of education. I found interest in Creative Classroom & Creatagogy (my latest post). Any thoughts?

Thanks Mary Rearick for adding a delightful insight, and yes, the reciprocity and empathic understanding for others deepens our learning connectively and collectively. I have often immersed in MOOCs and so have experienced c and x MOOCs in various degrees. Often, I found myself so ingrained with all the learning that I realize it is quite a challenge to shift the frame of reference, when looking into education from a different set of angles. As I shared in various posts, I had learnt and experienced Mastery Learning (in teacher training back in 80s) and had been adopting that for decades, and so now xMOOCs are using it as the main pedagogy. I wonder if most professors living with the xMOOCers are looking for going beyond that, as they are expected to “live” by and comply with such pedagogy, as it is also one of the expectations of the MOOCs providers. Obviously, there are more advantages than disadvantages when it comes to mastery learning, as it is also part of the apprenticeship models (from worker trainees to PhDs).

The theory behind MOOCs is a simple one: Wouldn’t it be great if every student had access to the best college professors and college courses? And what if those ideas were accessible 24×7, from anywhere in the world?

MOOC would change education forever, as the author of the post believes.

In many ways, these developments have the potential to invigorate higher education by compelling traditional colleges and universities to become more accessible, committed to graduates’ success and more distinctive and diverse.

Isn’t it interesting if the xMOOCs are focused mainly on the part of:

every student had access to the best college professors and college courses? And what if those ideas were accessible 24×7, from anywhere in the world

How about the students accessing to knowledgeable others, OERs, social and learning networks, accreditation and qualifications of institutions for (free or fees)?

The cMOOCs however, is based on a different model, though you could still make use of some of the concepts of Mastery Learning. cMOOCs do not rely solely on the “linear” learning approach of Mastery Learning, though it is assumed that one must have certain pre-requisites (knowledge and skills) in order to learn effectively. Instead of merely relying on a behavioral/cognitivist/instructivist model of education in traditional closed walls or open walls MOOCs, it could be beneficial to place the educators and learners in a co-evolving environment like fully open MOOCs to experience the networked learning model of learning (not just education). That is surely challenging the traditional notion of teacher giving out didactic instructions, where learners follow and repeat the action. See my post Creative Classroom on what I mean by such shift in the learning paradigm.

Learning in MOOC (both c and x MOOC) could happen in various spaces, and with the mediation of tools, it could include more diverse clusters (or even population) of educators and learners. It is no longer just about super professors teaching the course (or xMOOCs). It should go beyond that didactic teaching based on short videos lectures. It is more about deep learning based on conversation, dialogues, collective inquiry, collaboration and cooperation in networks, through various joint projects – wikis, Google doc, blog posts, tweets in various platforms etc.. I just don’t see these sorts of pedagogy much appreciated as yet by the participants of xMOOCs, as though I may not have seen enough blog posts reflecting on such learning.

In summary, I am letting go of MOOC, and be a post-MOOCer so as to look “back” into what works, and what doesn’t. Have I used it at work? Definitely. I don’t think it is that easy for any MOOC to change once the paradigm is set. You may wonder if you are trying to convince an elephant (xMOOC?) to change its direction, when it is already trotting the area for decades. May be you have to understand why it keeps on moving in that direction so you could follow. Is it overly philosophical. I think it’s time to put these into a post.

Thanks again

 

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