MOOCs, by Drew Beyer

4 Responses to "MOOCs, by Drew Beyer"

Noah Steinberg says:

May 10, 2014 at 3:04 pm

I thought this slidecast very well integrated cultural contexts in regards to MOOCS. For example, as much as we see online courses based completely off the internet, there was a similar system that involved learning over the radio. In addition, Drew brought up how these courses are non-discriminatory in all factors, but must be careful with language and references used, for the global group of students might take things differently if they have different backgrounds.

For countries as large as India, China and Brazil to have an online course that can be recorded once and reach an unlimited amount of students is both time and cost efficient. His information about the aristocratic way of learning, this very intimate 1v1 teacher and student learning environment, is lost with MOOCS. The ability for students to ask questions in language that a computer might not understand as well as a human is crucial for the learning in young students. This crucial social part of learning might be a reason for the low completion rate, eliminating the drive that students around provide. On the other side of the social conversation, the teacher must, as mentioned in the final minute of the slidecast, not be biased towards information, and perhaps the combination of MOOCS from many professors can eliminate such a factor.

I really, really enjoyed the political and social values that Drew focused on in this slidecast and I believe he did a great job providing pros and cons. I think there were a few too many periods without any narration and I believe they could have been used in a way to advance the strong points in this slidecast.

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Anthony Vecchio says:

May 11, 2014 at 2:37 pm

The narration was clear but I thought that there could have been more narration on the first slide (or you should have made the first slide shorter than 20 seconds). Sometimes you stumbled on words or spoke to fast or had long periods of no narration on a given slide. Some of the timing of the slides was off. I thought it was interesting that distance learning courses began as early as 1922, but failed because of low completion rates, low tuition payments, and skepticism regarding academic honesty. I learned that correspondence courses on civil service exams were sold door-to-door at the end of the 19th century. Historical and cultural contexts were well-explained. For example, you pointed out that the radio gave universities hope that distance learning could be possible. I thought it was good that you also mentioned the part about how Aristotle and his teaching style are both different and similar to MOOCs. I liked that you explained how MOOCs fit into a society that has become so interconnected and conducive to the spread of information.

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Jesse Greenfield says:

May 11, 2014 at 4:18 pm

Overall I thought you did a very good job on your project. I knew nothing about this topic and now I feel as if I understand the basics of MOOCs and their background. I thought your narration was clear and slow enough that I could understand what you were saying. I really liked the history slides of MOOCs because to me it just seems like such a recent development but in reality its beginnings go all the way back to the 20’s. I thought for your intro slide you could have maybe given a little introduction into MOOCs and why people are excited about them today. I also feel like you should have focused on the possible negatives of MOOCs. For example, is the quality of their education really the same as people who attend classes in person and the issues with accreditation. I thought you could have used some higher resolution images as some seem pixelated in the video as well. Despite those minor criticisms I really enjoyed your presentation.

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Brandon Smith says:

May 12, 2014 at 10:51 am

I liked that you talked about the cultural implications of MOOCs. I also was surprised by how long correspondence courses have been around; I thought they had started in the 1940s. You did a good job explaining the history of MOOCs and why early courses often didn’t work out. Your narration was pretty good, but I think your timing could have been improved a little; some words felt rushed, and it sometimes sounded like you paused mid-sentence. Overall, those were pretty minor, and didn’t really detract from my enjoyment of the slidecast. I liked that you mentioned virtual reality in education, too. The pros and cons were clearly explained and concise; they were a good way to touch on Kranzberg’s First Law. On the whole, I’d say that this was a very high quality and well done slidecast.

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