The document discusses the rise of MOOCs and online education using apocalyptic metaphors and references from literature and music. It references Yeats' poem "The Second Coming" about things falling apart and anarchy being loosed. It also references the R.E.M. song "It's the End of the World" about earthquakes and planes. Throughout the document, it declares "DOOM!" and refers to MOOCs as "MOOCthulhu" threatening brick-and-mortar institutions. It also jokes that the "desert of the real" is actually a philosophy MOOC.

1. The Education
Apocalypse
Audrey Watters
Open Education, 2013
!
@audreywatters
hackeducation.com

2. Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity
And a shit-ton of venture capital
!
— William Butler Yeats, “The Second Coming”

3. That's great, it starts with an earthquake
Birds and snakes, an aeroplane,
and Stephen Downes is not afraid
!
— R.E.M., “It’s The End of the World As We Know It”

4. DOOM!

7. This is not the governor of California who wanted to legislate
MOOCs for credit

8. MOOCthulhu

9. MOOCthulhu versus brick-and-mortar institutions…

10. Actually, Neo.
“The desert of the real” is a philosophy MOOC.

11. THE END?