[grc] First MOOC of its Kind Teaches Students to Use Journalism for Social Change

[Brian Shiratsuki]

On Sat, Feb 28, 2015 at 1:25 PM, Elizabeth Robinson
<elizabeth.robinson at kcsb.org> wrote:
> Brian, this is the note I sent to our news department:
>
> 'By all means, check this out.  But generally speaking, I advise you to be
> very suspicious of MOOCs which are attempts to steer people away from
> personal interactions with scholars

maybe, but MOOCs also offer the opportunity to explore a topic at low
to no marginal cost, on a flexible schedule and at convenient
locations. the lowest cost ``personal interaction'' variety of
education around here costs $20 + $46 / unit and require rendezvous at
several fixed weekly times, a mile from home. the middle range runs
about $650 / unit.

the economics and time flexibility make a compelling case for many
learners that overwhelm any concern over a possible agenda to isolate
scholars and to limit individual student inquiry to on-line forum
postings. practically, the decision may be between watching a sitcom
repeat, and watching the MOOC video - not between watching the MOOC
video, or commuting to and attending a $200 - $2,600 class.

> and the creators of MOOCs  presume that
> if you have 'the best' professor for a subject, you don't need any others...

that level of ego isn't apparent from the MOOCs i've tried. most had
more than one instructor, though from the same department. none tried
to discourage other avenues for education.

brian s