A personal view of MOOCs

MOOCs (Massive, Open, Online Courses). The greatest thing since sliced bread or the beginning of the end for higher education?  If you keep up with news from the world of education, MOOCs appear in the title of at least one article on a daily basis.  Some articles are pro-MOOC, some are anti-MOOC; all are still long on opinion and short on data.  It's too early for the verdict.  The jury is still out.  

In the many discussions about MOOCs, there are concerns about the quality of instruction, how or if to grant credit for the courses, the financial implications, and possible resulting changes in the current higher education model. Proponents of MOOCs point out the large numbers of students who can be served, reductions in education costs, and the availability of outstanding instructors to more students. 

Here is a link to a recent article in Time, All Hail MOOCs! Just Don't Ask if They Actually Work in case you would like to jump into the fray.

Not being able to solve the large questions about MOOCs,  I started thinking about the importance of MOOCs in my life.  And this is admittedly a personal view.  I am in love with the idea of life-long education.  I always want to be involved in learning something new. I've said many times that if I could find someone to support me "in the manner to which I have become accustomed," I would be a perennial student, hanging around  university corridors carrying an old backpack.

Several years ago I attended a language conference and found myself at the communal breakfast table at a B&B with a gentleman well known in the language field.  What impressed me is that he had brought a Japanese grammar book to the table.  When other guests began arriving, he of course put the book to one side and began a lively conversation.  But I'll bet he would rather have been studying his book. A man after my own heart.

The availability of MOOCs has allowed me to continue to be a student from the comfort of my own home, or hopefully from a hotel room or lobby in an elegant vacation spot. 

Well, maybe not quite this elegant.

My world broadens and becomes more flexible as long as I have an internet connection.  I can go to http://www.openculture.com  and find "Free online courses," "Free certificate courses," or "Free language lessons"  (free being a key term here), among many other seductive offerings.  And I don't have to worry about transportation, scheduling conflicts, grades, homework. or buying an expensive textbook.

But Miss Pollyanna, you may be thinking, what is the downside to studying by means of a MOOC? Wouldn't you really rather be studying a new language in a classroom led by a dynamic instructor?  Well, certainly.  MOOCs takes self-discipline, making my own opportunities for personal communication, and giving up the thrill of chasing an A for the course. 

Whatever the future for MOOCs, I'm grateful that they are still around to help me stretch my mind and imagination, stay entertained, and most of all to keep me out of that rocking chair on the porch (George Jones , the country-western singer, sang about it) for a few more years.