Journal 9 NETS-T (I-V)

Journal 9 NETS-T (I-V) Massive and Open: MOOCs Are the Next Big Thing in Online Learning.

Fasimpaur, K. (n.d.). Massive and open. (2013). Learning and Leading with Technology, 40(6), 12-17. Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/learn/publications/learning-leading/digitaledition/digital-edition-march-april-2013

Karen Fasimpaur introduces us to MOOCs in her article “Massive and Open: MOOCs Are the Next Big Thing in Online Learning. MOOCs or massive open online courses present us with a new and innovative way of learning. MOOCs are online course open to everyone and most of them are offered free of charge. You want to learn about circuits and electronics from MIT but can’t afford to go there? No problem now you can have an MIT online course experience for free through their MOOC space called MITx.

The article describes a few different types of MOOCs. There is cMOOCs which places heavy importance on participatory learning and group work. Another type is xMOOCs like Udacity and Cousera which are massive in scale catering to thousands of participants. xMOOCs are used more for independent study than group work and participation. The last type that was mentioned in this article is MOOCs for teachers. I found this section to be particularly interesting because it involved promoting and facilitating life long learning. Peer 2 Peer University or P2PU offers 25 courses for teachers on everything from differentiating instruction to e-portfolios.

Would you use MOOCs?

Yes I would use MOOCs. I would use teacher MOOCs to help me continue my goal of life long learning and to help me build my e-portfolio. I can also see how some MOOCs could be incorporated into the classroom to give students on online area of practice.

Are you afraid that online courses are the future and that soon teachers will no longer be needed?

I admit that yes this is a fear of mine but I don’t think that teachers will ever be completely obsolete. I think that as the decades pass we will see a rise in online courses but they still need teachers to run those courses. I just hope that face to face classes don’t completely disappear in the future because I think in order to build good and long lasting teacher-student relations you need that face to face interaction.