2. Welcome
In chat, please …
• Introduce yourself with your name and
institution.
• Indicate if you are participating as a group.
• Share what you want to get out of today‘s
seminar.
Myth of the MOOC
3. Participating in Today’s Seminar
This seminar is being recorded.
Click to Open
Panels for
Participants &
Chat
Myth of the MOOC
8. Shirky‘s description of context
―The value of that degree remains high in
relative terms, but only because people
with bachelor's degrees have seen their
incomes shrink less over the last few
years than people who don't have them.
‗Give us tens of thousands of dollars and
years of your life so you can suffer less
than your peers‘ isn't much of a
proposition. More like a ransom note.‖
Myth of the MOOC
10. This is why MOOCs matter. Not because
distance learning is some big new thing or
because online lectures are a solution to
all our problems, but because they‘ve
come along at a time when students and
parents are willing to ask themselves,
"Isn‘t there some other way to do this?"
Myth of the MOOC
11. Myth of technological sublime
―Today‘s world of new media is not the first
to be christened with magical powers to
transcend the present and institute a new
order. But they also demonstrate that
transcendence is not easy to sustain.
[The] sublime eventually fades into the
banality of everyday life.‖
- Mosco, Digital Sublime
Myth of the MOOC
12. ―The lid of the classroom
has been blown off, and the
walls have been set on the
circumference of the globe.‖
[Thanks to radio,]
―every home has the
potentiality of becoming an
extension of Carnegie Hall
or Harvard University‖
- Radio Broadcast Magazine
Myth of the MOOC
14. "I believe that 50 years from now, education
will be as short and sweet as Twitter is
today. It will be like an evening talk. And that
will be a fantastic moment.”
- Sebastian Thurn, Udacity founder
https://www.edsurge.com/n/2013-04-02-udacity-s-sebastian-thrun-on-the-future-of-education
Myth of the MOOC
15. George Siemans
―The problem of education does not concern
me as much as the solutions to the
problem of education are starting to
concern me.‖
- in response to
something Jeff Jarvis
said…at a TED talk.
Myth of the MOOC
16. ―Solutionism‖
• ―An unhealthy preoccupation
with sexy, monumental, and
narrow-minded solutions [. .
.] to problems that are
extremely complex, fluid, and
contentious.‖
• ―How problems are
composed matters every bit
as how they are solved.‖
Myth of the MOOC
17. MOOCs as Solutionism
―The quick fixes it peddles do not exist in a
political vacuum. In promising almost
immediate and much cheaper results, they
can easily undermine support for more
ambitious, more intellectually stimulating,
but also more demanding reform projects.‖
Myth of the MOOC
18. MOOCs as ―Disruption‖
• Dismisses any political or social answer to
the problem.
– MARKET, CONSUMERS, and TECH primary
• Overlooks the political, social, and cultural
elements to their vision coming to pass.
– True even of Clayton Christensen‘s examples,
e.g. disk drives.
• Cf:
Myth of the MOOC
19. True disruptive innovation
• For profits – mining public dollars
efficiently by exploiting underserved
students who qualify for higher Pell grants
– not technological – political economic
– Spend< 25% of funds on education
– More on marketing, recruiting, debt peonage
– 10% of ed market, 25% of federal aid
– In some cases 85% of income from tax $$
– http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CPRT-112SPRT74931/pdf/CPRT-112SPRT74931.pdf
Myth of the MOOC
21. A tale of two ―COULDS‖
• President Emeritus of The
Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
where he served as President
from 1988 to 2006.
• He was the president of
Princeton University from 1972
to 1988
• Co-author with Baumol of
1970s research on ―Cost-
Disease.‖
http://www.ithaka.org/sites/default/files/files/ITHAKA-TheCostDiseaseinHigherEducation.pdf
Myth of the MOOC
22. Could #2
• ―I too am convinced that online learning
could be truly transformative. What needs
to be done in order to translate ―could‖ into
―will‖?‖
– Lack of evidence about learning outcomes
and cost savings
– Need for customizable toolkits/platforms
– ―new mindsets, fresh thinking‖
• p. 26
Myth of the MOOC
24. Things I will bracket
• Learning outcomes in online learning
• cMOOCs are exciting for possibilities
– Bowen says we need customizable MOOC
toolkit
• edX and Stanford say they will deliver
• Tenure, Shared governance
– Economic analysis: 3:1 ratio tenured faculty to
admin/staff most efficient; currently = 1:2.
• A bunch of other stuff…
Myth of the MOOC
25. Could #1
• ‗In a new book, William J. Baumol explains clearly that the same
economy-wide increases in productivity that are at the root of the
cost disease raise overall wealth and generate additional
resources that COULD be used to pay the rising relative costs of
activities in labor-intensive sectors such as education IF we were
to choose to spend them in this way. As Baumol notes in his
introduction, this proposition about ―possibilities‖ was first
explained to him by the renowned Cambridge economist Joan
Robinson many decades ago—but even Baumol did not
immediately recognize its full implications. Future prospects
come down to a matter of priorities. ―Could‖ is not the same as
―will.‖ The key question, then, is whether we will choose,
collectively, to invest the fruits of overall productivity gains on
―goods‖ such as quality education. My verdict: ‗Not likely.‘‖
Myth of the MOOC
26. We should care about this
Could
• Impacts our ability to continue as
institutions and academics
• Impacts the future of our current students
to continue as intellectual laborer
• Impacts the future of the US economy
• This is the real problem MOOCs are
supposed to solve
Myth of the MOOC
34. Global Plutocracy
―The rich of today are also different from the rich of
yesterday. Our light-speed, globally connected economy
has led to the rise of a new super-elite that consists, to a
notable degree, of first- and second-generation wealth.
Its members are hardworking, highly educated, jet-
setting meritocrats who feel they are the deserving
winners of a tough, worldwide economic competition—
and, as a result, have an ambivalent attitude toward
those of us who haven‘t succeeded quite so
spectacularly. They tend to believe in the institutions that
permit social mobility, but are less enthusiastic about the
economic redistribution—i.e., taxes—it takes to pay for
those institutions.‖
Myth of the MOOC
http://breakingculture.tumblr.com/post/41790069710/reflective-writing-and-expropriation
35. All ―perfectly legal‖
• ―Texas gives out $19 billion per year in
corporate subsidies.‖
• ―To help balance its budget last year,
Texas cut public education spending by
$5.4 billion — a significant decrease
considering that it already ranked 11th
from the bottom among all states in per-
pupil financing, according to recent data
from the Census Bureau‖
– http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/03/us/winners-and-losers-in-texas.html?smid=fb-share&_r=2&#h[]
Myth of the MOOC
36. Tech companies as tax dodgers
• ―Apple deferred taxes on over $35.4 billion
in offshore income between 2009 and
2011.‖
– http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/04/business/an-inquiry-into-tech-giants-tax-strategies-nears-an-end.html?_r=0
• ―Google Inc. avoided about $2 billion in
worldwide income taxes in 2011 by shifting
$9.8 billion in revenues into a Bermuda
shell company, almost double the total
from three years before, filings show.‖
– http://breakingculture.tumblr.com/post/37718667423/google-is-a-u-s-tax-deadbeat
Myth of the MOOC
40. Bowen
• ―Economic conditions have indeed taken a toll, and
those who complain that college costs are rising
faster than incomes should recognize that
stagnation of median family incomes is definitely
one blade of this scissors.‖ – p. 12
Myth of the MOOC
51. “For full-time, full-year workers, the hourly wage declines
from 2000 to 2012 represent a roughly $3,200 decline.”
http://www.epi.org/publication/snapshot-wages-young-college-graduates-failed-grow/
Myth of the MOOC
52. Workers don’t lack skills, they lack work
http://www.epi.org/publication/workers-dont-lack-skills-lack-work/
Myth of the MOOC
53. No jobs because no investment
Myth of http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/02/liberal-arts-majors-didnt-kill-the-
the MOOC
economy/272940/?fb_action_ids=10151520078370485&fb_action_types=og.recommends&fb_source=aggregation&fb_aggregation
_id=288381481237582
54. Bruce Bartlett, in NYT
―many corporations are holding vast amounts of
cash and other liquid assets, using them neither
for investment nor to benefit shareholders.
These assets are largely earned and held
overseas, and not subject to American taxes
until the money is brought home.‖
―As of the third quarter of 2012 nonfinancial
corporations in the United States held $1.7
trillion of liquid assets‖
Myth of the MOOC
57. Broader Context
• Tuition rises because of falling public
financing
• Debt increases because of stagnant
wages
• Wage premium for BA shrinks – but all
income levels are hurting
• Stagnant wages – across the bottom 90%
• Sequestration vs. raising taxes
Myth of the MOOC
58. My Verdict
• We must do both
– Improve use of ed tech
– Combat plutocratic abandonment of
education, decent jobs and wages, and
– Ensure the future of the U.S. meritocracy
• …Maybe we should do a MOOC on this
Myth of the MOOC
59. Upcoming Events
• Digital Pedagogy Keywords, Wednesday, Connect with Us
April 10, 3 - 4 pm EDT
• Robert Kieft on College Libraries, Resource
Provision, and a Collective Collection,
Thursday, April 11, 2 - 3 pm EDT
• History Harvest, Friday, April 12, 3 - 4 pm
EDT
• Digital Reading Practices for the Liberal Arts
Classroom, Thursday, April 18, 3 - 4 pm EDT
Myth of the MOOC
60. Thank You
Please evaluate this event:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/MythMOOC
nitle.org
Myth of the MOOC
Editor's Notes
Welcome to this NITLE Shared AcademicsTM event.
Notes test hereMore notes
As a benefit of membership, NITLE Shared AcademicsTM offers members of The NITLE Network access to expert presenters without incurring the travel costs of bringing them to their individual campuses while additionally enabling them to be in a virtual classroom with colleagues at other institutions. This platform allows for a high level of engagement much like you would find in a classroom at one of our institutions.
Thanks for attending—you will receive a We encourage you to continue these discussions on your campus. These questions can help get the conversation started.
NITLE Shared AcademicsTM is pleased to welcome our speaker Jacque Wernimont. Women’s Studies, Gender Studies, and Digital Humanities#feminisms Speaker Biography Jacqueline Wernimont is an Assistant Professor of English at Scripps College. Prof. Wernimont writes on feminisms and digital archives (among other things) and regularly collaborates with the Brown University Women Writers Project, where she was previously the project manager and textbase editor.currently the lead on a Mellon Planning Grant to establish the Claremont Center for Digital Humanities. She is also currently co-editing a special issue of Digital Humanities Quarterly Katherine Harris on Feminisms & DH and is the organizer of THATCamp Feminisms West which will also have versions in the East and South. March 15-16 (East only on 16)can still sign up West, http://feminismswest2013.thatcamp.org/, East, http://feminismseast2013.thatcamp.org/, and South, http://feminismssouth2013.thatcamp.org/ Today’s seminar also follows-up on seminars we have held on the networked course, FemTechNet, as well as on Digital Humanities and Race.
Please join us for these upcoming events and stay connected with NITLE through Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. We continue to add Shared Academics events to our calendar.Library Seminar, Sam Demas on Organizational Development and Restructuring, Wednesday, March 6, 2 - 3:00 pm EST
Thanks for attending—you will receive an invitation to evaluate this seminar via email.
