Presentation for the Online Learning Consortium's 2014 Annual Conference. This presentation looks at the results of a Delphi study about the political, theoretical, historical and economic implications of the Massive Open Online Course phenomenon. Through viewing the MOOC as a phenomenon rather than a model, participants were asked to address how the MOOC and subsequent discourse affected not only the practice of education, but attitudes toward education.

1. The MOOC is a Phenomenon!
Expert Thoughts on the Future of Higher
Education in MOOC Terms
OLC 2014 International Conference
October 29, 2014 2:15PM – Asia 3
Rolin Moe, Ed.D. (Pepperdine University)
Twitter: @RMoeJo
http://rolinmoe.org

2. What is a MOOC?

3. Life of MOOC
• George Siemens sees education
in digital age as a sphere of
networks
• Develops theory of connectivism,
involving human and automated
networks
• Offers test-drive class on theory in
manner of the theory (open to
anyone). Nearly 2.5K enrollees.
Students dub it a MOOC
• Somewhat similar classes
emerge; similar results
• Most enrolled have a Bachelor’s
and some graduate coursework
• Excitement within EdTech
community about potential for
model
• Growth continues despite co-option
of term MOOC
• Sal Khan produces tutorial videos
for niece; leads to Khan
Academy (and TED)
• Sebastian Thrun (Google,
Stanford) sees TED talk, inspired.
• Offers his “Intro to AI” course free
online; other Stanford profs do
same
• 160K enrollees; bedlam
• Start-ups crated (Coursera,
Udacity, edX), courses offered,
rhetoric spilled, governments
listen, administrators hired & fired.
Media dubs it a MOOC.
• Most enrolled have a Bachelor’s
and some graduate coursework
• 741 (and counting) presentations
like this entitled “MOOCs: What
do we know?”

4. 7 8 Things You Should Know
About MOOCs (per Educause)
• Learning Model
• Connected Age
• Lifelong Learning
• Game-changer
• Scalability
• Learning Analytics
• Disruptive
• Delivering Education to Consumers

5. MOOC as a Disruptive Technology
(per Christensen & Horn)
• Low-cost (& low-quality?) option
• Servicing new population
• Adoption by existing population
• Existing provider too slow
(or unable) to adapt
• A change in the marketplace and
the culture

6. Why Disruptive Technology Argument (&
MOOC = Model) is Troublesome
• Education is not a commodity in same manner as a
photocopier, a .mp3, or even trade journalism.
Many argue it is not a commodity at all.
• The MOOC model has been orchestrated by
existing high-end providers.
• Education is a social structure (Weber) and a
foundational aspect of the public sphere
(Habermas); would someone argue a disruptive
innovation in religion?

7. Shifting the MOOC Lens
MOOC as Model
(Educause)
MOOC as Phenomenon
(Veletsianos & Moe, 2015)
• Connected Age
• Lifelong Learning
• Game-changer
• Scalability
• Learning Analytics
• Disruptive
• Delivering Education to
Consumers
• Cost of Higher Education
• Higher Ed shifting to Job
Skills
• Quantitative Research
• Free Enterprise
• Technological Solutionism
(Morozov)
• Educational Research
Lacks Impact
• Cognitive Theory

8. The Evolution & Impact
of MOOCs
• George Siemens
• Anya Kamanetz
• Clay Shirky
• Audrey Watters
• Kevin Werbach
• Cathy Sandeen
• Peter Norvig
• Fatimah Wirth
• Todd Edebohls
And more
Methodology: Delphi
Study
Research Questions
1) Where do experts
agree on the impact
of MOOCs on Higher
Education?
2) Where do experts
agree on the impact
of MOOCs on
policy/culture/society?

9. The Prompts
Discussion was built around 12 quotations, pulled from
existing MOOC literature and paraphrased. Each
quotation tackled a different aspect/criticism of the
MOOC, viewing it from either a model-based lens or a
sociocultural phenomenological lens. Discussion
lasted up to three rounds, depending on whether a
prompt had reached a consensus majority of
agreement or disagreement.
#videolecture, #personalization, #data, #autodidact,
#publicgood, #democratization, #expertise,
#professors, #disruptive, #imperialism, #tierbased,
#labor

10. Quantitative Results
Four of 12 prompts reached
consensus.
1) Learning analytics will
help solve education’s
struggles (agree)
2) MOOCs are a tool to
democratize education
(disagree)
3) There are no experts in
online education
(disagree)
4) MOOCs provide an
avenue for tier-based
education services
(agree)

11. Qualitative Results
Evident themes included:
• The rise (rebirth?) of
cognitive learning theory
• A discord in the
application of
educational terms and
vocabulary
• MOOC = Online Learning
(in the mainstream)
• Economics are at
forefront of MOOC
debate
Blah blah blah tenured
humanities professor
sanctimony. Explain to me how
you occupy the moral high
ground when your students
graduate $30000 in debt and
have no marketable skills.
MOOCs reflect changes in
education. In themselves, they
are not "disruptive' (what a
terrible word - it needs to be
taken out back and shot and
never used again by
educators).

12. What Does This Mean?
• Higher Ed solutions to have
economic implications at
forefront.
• Growing discord between
MOOC developers, education
scholars, and practitioners in
regards to theory and pedagogy
(cognitive style vs modern
theory).
• Continued debate of the
purpose of higher education;
increased focus on skills and
competencies due to lack of
voices advocating for the
system.
• Many “Future of Education”
debates driven by non-edu
voices, where terms and
vocabulary are not negotiable
(business, computer science).

13. Discussion