Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) represent a disruption to traditional higher education. MOOCs take advantage of the abundance of knowledge available online by being open, networked, and distributed. They reflect the complex, emergent nature of online learning rather than following a linear structure. While early MOOCs emphasized open participation and connection, recent MOOCs led by companies follow a more traditional model focused on measuring learning outcomes. This divergence could favor traditional educational institutions over open, networked models of sharing knowledge online.

1. Beyond the Walls of the Academy:
Massive Open Online Courses
& the New Game of Higher Education
Bonnie Stewart, UPEI

2. Massive Open Online Courses
(MOOCs)
=
Not your average online courses

3. MOOCs = The Great Disruption?

4. The New Game of Higher
Education
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ranil_amarasuriya/2770495948/
The linear, structured world of
knowledge scarcity http://www.flickr.com/photos/steveweaver/3937785267
The complex networked world of
knowledge abundance

5. Cynefin Framework
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/45/Cynefin_framework_Feb_2011.jpeg/486px-Cynefin_framework_Feb_2011.jpeg

6. Three Facets of 'Open'
Access
Resources
http://www.flickr.com/photos/smichael/4563914649/
Knowledge Creation

8. Narrative Inquiry
What does it mean to be in a MOOC?

9. Emergent Themes
MOOCs embody
digital practices
Harness knowledge
abundance
Are participatory
Are networked
Are distributed
Share the processes of
knowledge work, not
just the products http://www.flickr.com/photos/rofi/2647699204
/

10. Emergent Themes
MOOCs reflect the
broader culture: when
change is continual &
expected, people
engage in learning
opportunities in order
to increase personal
capital and remain
http://www.flickr.com/photos/heycoach/1197947341 marketable

11. Knowledge in MOOCs =
Negotiated, Public, Indeterminate
“Today, whatever can be easily duplicated cannot serve
as the foundation for economic value. Instead of
producing entities with known and approved
knowledge, the digital economic model harnesses the
capacity of its citizens to connect, innovate, and
reconfigure the known into new knowledge.”
p. 43

12. Fast Forward: 2011-2012
#change11
“The Mother of All
MOOCS”
36 weeks, 36 facilitators

13. ...Along come the Really Massive
MOOCS
http://www.flickr.com/photos/godutchbaby/3945653742/

14. - The X Model -
Stanford AI – Sept 2011
MITx – Dec 2011
Udacity – Jan 2012
Coursera – April 2012
EdX – May 2012
...?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisinplymouth/3552059342

15. Two Roads Diverged in a Yellow
Wood...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/paro_for_peace/2715460542/

16. Connectivist MOOCs & X MOOCS
- Commonalities -
Open Access
Open Resource
Online
Global interest & registration
Post-registration filtering

17. Connectivist MOOCs & X MOOCS
- Differences -
Who are the registrants?
How do they connect with/learn from each other?
How do they connect with/learn from facilitators?
What counts as learning?
What is the business model?
Where is the disruption?

18. The X Model: Triumph of the
Traditional?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/wiccked/133164205/
In a global educational economy,
network power laws favour wealth & status

19. - EdX Press Release
May 2, 2012

20. X MOOCs' Business Model...
= Data?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kaptainkobold/5066287053

21. Measuring known/knowable
will not help us understand complexity,
networks, or knowledge abundance
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/45/Cynefin_framework_Feb_2011.jpeg/486px-

22. http://www.flickr.com/photos/cogdog/2551375149/
What Will Be Our Move?

23. Keeping Complexity in the Game:
the FHE12 Open Online Course

24. Be part of the conversation.
http://edfuture.net/
THANK YOU!
@bonstewart
bstewart@upei.ca
Created with the support of the Social Sciences &
Humanities Research Council