The primary educational value of MOOCs
| Published | October 2016 |
| Book title | The Evolution and Evaluation of Massive Open Online Courses: MOOCs in Motion Chapter 4, Pages 59-82 |
| Series | The Cultural and Social Foundations of Education |
| Publisher | Palgrave Macmillan US |
| Country | United States, North America |
ABSTRACT
The New York Times declared 2012 'The Year of the MOOC'; 2013 was the year of the rebound – when criticisms mounted and the MOOC hype balloon burst. Critics claimed that MOOCs were worthless both in narrowly educational terms and as credentials for the job market. This chapter examines four educational criticisms of MOOCs: that (1) MOOCs have low completion rates, (2) MOOCs cannot replace essential teaching functions, (3) MOOCs are isolating while good learning situations are social and (4) at their best, MOOCs merely reproduce the widely rejected top-down methods of conventional college courses. Selected examples of cutting-edge MOOCs are then examined to show how, and why, these early critiques can no longer in general be sustained.| Keywords | completion rates · MOOC critiques · MOOC hype · pedagogy · teaching |
| Published at | New York |
| ISBN | 978-1-349-85204-8 |
| Refereed | Does not apply |
| Rights | © The Author(s) 2016 |
| DOI | 10.1057/978-1-349-85204-8_4 |
| URL | https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-85204-8_4 |
| Export options | BibTex · EndNote · Tagged XML · Google Scholar |
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