July 29, 2013
Truths about MOOCs, Rees v Chait, and a bunch of other MOOC article links
Steve Krause,
stevendkrause.com,
July 29, 2013
In a longish and comprehensive piece covering most of the recent (ie., last week's) coverage of MOOCs Steve Krause tries to set the record with 'two truths' about MOOCs:
- Truth #1: MOOCs and Online Education are NOT the same thing.
- Truth #2: Broadly speaking, there are MOOCs and then there are MOOCs.
While I appreciate the effort, I have to say from my experience with media that there's probably no repairing the dostortions and exaggerations (and outright fabrications) that we're going to see about MOOCs in the commercial press.
Edward Snowden's not the story. The fate of the internet is
John Naughton,
Tne Guardian,
July 29, 2013
Sadly, I agree with this article. Anyone working in a position of any degree os sensitivity will need to stop using cloud services provided by U.S. service providers (and it is causing this loss of income, not the security breach, that is Snowdon's realcrime). The long term consequences are even worse. "The days of the internet as a truly global network are numbered." The article also has some unkind words about the press coverage, and again, I can't help but agree.
What MOOCs Will Really Kill Is The Research University
Tim Worstall,
Forbes,
July 28, 2013
This article is mostly tripe from a partisan source, but the headline tells an important story. Research is big business and I have no doubt there are private agencies - including less reputable places like the Adam Smith Institute in London - who would be eager to divert research money away from universities and into their own coffers. And right now a lot of it is subsidized by tuition fees and other revenues raises ostensibly to teach undergraduates. Not surprisingly, I am a supporter of publicly funded research, and would consider the privatization of the function a very bad thing, not simply because I do agree we need to continue funding monographs on Jane Austin, but because privatized research would be profoundly unreliable.
This newsletter is sent only at the request of subscribers. If you would like to unsubscribe, Click here.
Know a friend who might enjoy this newsletter? Feel free to forward OLDaily to your colleagues. If you received this issue from a friend and would like a free subscription of your own, you can join our mailing list. Click here to subscribe.