Terry -
That was a good summary from your perspective. I'm sharing it with the
mail list where the discussion arose.
I found two of your points very poignant. The first being about the
value/importance of developed rapport between student-mentor (or
student-teacher or even student-institution). The second is the
paradoxical problem of as we make things more of a commodity, we reduce
the perception of their value.
Thanks!
-Steve
Steve,
I definitely can see MOOC as the standard delivery system for the
next few decades. What comes to mind for me are cubicles filled with
former teachers acting as skype/facetime resources for students.
I guess I think it could potentially be a better content delivery
method than the current one, but even more important than real-time,
face-to-face interactions are the relationships formed betweens
learner and mentor. I see greater gains from my students once they
know me better. When I ask them to do more problems outside of our
sessions, they often do just because of the level of trust that's
been built between us.
Ultimately, teaching and learning are strongest when it's 1-to-1, and
when the relationship is allowed to develop. Of course, then you have
to deal with the fact that the mentor may not have a strong grasp of
all of the content or that their method(s) for explaining don't work
for many or most students. This is based on my own experiences where
I've picked up many of my students after they've had a few prior
tutors just not work for them.
I think the MOOC approach will be standard for several decades. I
also think it will reveal the necessity to return to an apprenticeship
system or something similar.
As we serve greater numbers for lower costs, we cheapen the value of
the learning and knowledge.
Of course, these days it seems like the most important course to be
teaching may be computer science and I think MOOC is perfect for that.
Not sure if I answered you question.
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