The 3 M's -- MOOC's, Money, & Media

Another great read from the Chronicle of Education by Sara Grossman: http://chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/moodys-says-moocs-could-boost-a-universitys-credit-rating/44519

The author describes the role of MOOC's as a mechanism to lift a University's credit rating on wall street by raising profit margins and social marketing media campaigns targeted at incoming students. Additionally, MOOC's offer students a chance to take courses for credit at other campuses while still earning hours for a major degree. Yet, there are drawbacks to this kind of content delivery system and one of the potential downfalls may hurt smaller liberal arts colleges that cannot sustain any kind of enrollment decrease. These colleges lack the kind of infrastructure and resources needed to establish a distance education program, let alone adapt instruction to meet the needs of online students. Also, concerns about the quality of MOOC's and how the courses compare to face to face classes or blended courses in terms of assessment, transfer of learning, and feedback remain unpredictable. The article stresses the financial impact of MOOC's and university profit margins as an economic plan for the future and suggests the volatile nature of MOOC's longevity could see massive changes in the university operations and rankings.

The Future of Online Courses

A great read from Steve Kolowich at The Chronicle of Higher Ed: http://chronicle.com.proxy.lib.fsu.edu/article/Universities-in-Consortium/139919/


The author examines the future of MOOC's and online infrastructure at research universities by citing a paper from a Consortium [https://s3.amazonaws.com/s3.documentcloud.org/documents/716121/cic-online-learning-collaboration-a-vision-and.pdf] comprised of Provosts from BIG TEN schools that warn of certain dangers associated with the rapid growth of business vendors like Blackboard and Coursera dictating educational instruction delivery systems. The author reports on the pitfalls of non-researched technologies listed by the Consortium, in which hype of new technologies like Coursera and MOOC's "allows the inmates to run the asylum" and create problems over intellectual property rights as well as access to information sharing.

While technologies like MOOC's provide greater access to content for students all over the world, the question of logistics for teachers to manage classes of thousands of students creates problems with feedback and personalized assessment for growth. Still, the battle over technology use in academia appears to have an arduous journey as schools decide how to balance a growing demand for online educational courses and institutional control. The advancement of technology use in education represents change to the system, and with this change, resistance will be inevitable. However, greater control over intellectual property by universities and sharing resources among schools in conferences helps students in these networks, but as educators we must consider all potential students. The importance of open access courses with education in some capacity, must be a part of future academic programs.

Education Merging with Mainstream Culture

While searching the web for useful educational technology resource sites about web 2.0 tools, I stumbled upon Discovery Education:http://web2012.discoveryeducation.com/web20tools.cfm

Apparently, the Discovery Channel offers tutorials, video guides and instructions for students, administrators, parents interested in learning with Web 2.0 tools. Moreover, the website provides useful information about internet safety, media literacy and a blog that examines innovative assessment measures teachers may use with web 2.0 tools.

The most interesting aspect of finding these tools available to educators and students from a mainstream culture TV Channel/Web presence like Discovery stems from the fact the companies are beginning to understand the potential profit of providing tools and resources to educators looking to engage students with immersive and collaborative technologies. Today, it seems apparent that education, mainstream media, technology, cable, broadband are beginning to merge into a giant global sized mass, with various apps and tools designed to meet specific demands. We have tools for communication, organization, professional development, teaching, learning, video productions, social networking, literacy and assessment. This is merely a representation of the larger whole, with other disciplines outside of education, harnessing the same web 2.0 technologies to facilitate instruction and streamline data input (scanning medical records online in the cloud storage, testimonies and wills, as well as taxes, all filed electronically). Almost every major discipline has a demand for web 2.0 technologies and now even Mainstream Media companies appears to be merging with professional domains. The inevitability of culture, technology, entertainment and education merging together appears to be happening sooner rather than later.

Games, Social Media, and Education 2.0

While earning my Masters Degree at the University of Florida, my coursework afforded me the opportunity to explore in depth some important technology tools needed for teaching online and blended courses as well as conditioning myself to stay current with the latest technologies used in mainstream culture. My prior experiences with web 2.0 technologies includes creating blogs, wikis, podcasts and videos with some green screen production involved as well.

This blog started as a Master's course journal and developed into a work space to explore video production, hobbies and commentary about the future of technology in education. I would classify my role in the realm of web 2.0 technologies as an educator that participates in mainstream technology tools/devices/games to understand the experience of today's adolescent culture and how interacting with the latest technologies shapes our view of the world seen through a gaming/technology enthusiast perspective. With the continued growth of the gaming industry and the need to engage students with interactive technologies, the role of games, mobile devices, and web 2.0 tools will become more important as society shifts away from the digital divide (digital immigrants vs. digital natives) to the global digital community (every person born into the world of web 2.0 and beyond).

As educators in the 21st century, we need to provide students with technology tools that are engaging, fun and collaborative while grounding our pedagogy with theory and research. My goals for this class include developing a greater web presence for professional development and general fun with participating in online communities in addition to reflecting on my peers' work as well. My experience with many web 2.0 tools allows me to have fun with the class and continue to generate ideas for future dissertation work. The course also provides me a chance to reflect on teaching my students with web 2.0 technologies and why these technologies are so important for both personal and professional growth.

Web 2.0

As a doctoral student at FSU in the Instructional Systems program, my research interests focus on games, education and pedagogy. This summer my work with Web 2.0 tools will help me expand my social circle for professional development. Moreover, developing a Digital Vita may become a necessary tool for future education jobs. Its good to be back!