Based on his experien ce teaching a MOOC this business writer identifies "five trends that stand out to possibly exert a genuinely transformative impact on higher education in the times to come" (quoted):
- online learning platforms will democratise higher education;
- benchmarks for classroom teaching are becoming higher because of this democratisation of higher education;
- industry and academia could come closer with industry folks getting to learn as and when they choose to, on topics relevant for their workplace;
- platforms like Coursera can disaggregate course content and make teaching assets available to any faculty to use; and
- enhance our understanding of student motivation, instructional design and the personalisation of learning pathways.
It is, frankly, a narrow vision, and one not always supported by the evidence. The "democratisation" of education cited several times runs counter to learning as a form of workplace training. And Coursera is making it harder, not easier, to make assets available for any teacher to use. Online learning isn't just about making stuff available for teachers to use in classrooms. Funny how it's so hard to convince anyone otherwise, though.
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