Blog Archive

I started a blog called Reluctant Technologist in 2008. There was a time I used to blog quite regularly both here and before that, in long forgotten places and this LSE blog. But no longer. Just keeping this here for my own occasional visit.

MOOCs & the Real Challenge

Report from the Westminster HE Forum: MOOCs and technology‐enhanced learning: next steps and challenges (PDF) on Tuesday 21st October.

Towards the end of this event the conversation moved off MOOCs and onto online learning more generally which was most welcome. But let’s deal with MOOCs briefly before moving on to some challenges ahead.

Despite the passage of time (18-months), which includes the launch of Future Learn, this morning it didn’t feel like the conversation around MOOCs had changed much since I blogged my report (7 things about MOOCs & UK HE) from a UUK May 2013 event. OK, that’s a bit unfair, the hype has certainly died down.

Photo of Glaziers Hall
Event held at Glaziers Hall – Credit: View from London Bridge by Clive A Brown (CC BY-NC)

The last session of today’s event was where the real challenges ahead were aired. This was the best session with the panelists, in particular @bobharrisonset & @HelenBarefoot, as well as @MarkRussell from the floor, making important points which might be paraphrased as:

  • Online is central in the future of education
  • MOOCs may be one small part of that but they shouldn’t be the focus of our discussion or actions now.
  • We need to focus on both capacity- and capability-building to ensure our institutions are in a position to deliver online education (whatever off-campus / on-campus blend that may be).
  • Three key area to address are staff digital and online teaching skills, student digital and online learning skills and our institutional processes (which are generally set-up for campus-based, single entry, fixed period courses rather than online provision).
  • This will require strong governance and leadership.
  • It is a big cultural not technological challenge.

And Finally

A couple more things from today:

  1. Amara‘s Law – highlighted by @urbangenie “We tend to overestimate the effect of a technology in the short run and underestimate the effect in the long run”
  2. HEA’s Flexible Pedagogies reports highlighted by @AlisonLeCornu

Coursera under fire in MOOCs licensing row (Republished)

The following post was originally published at The Conversation under a Creative Commons Attribution/No derivatives licence. See their Republishing Guidelines for further information.

It’s a bit fiddly to republish at present as you must manually insert their logo and link to them. The HTML of the article is supplied and it would be great if logo & licence details could be automatically included 🙂

Read the original article.

Coursera under fire in MOOCs licensing row

By Megan Clement, The Conversation

A prominent member of the open education movement, former Open University Vice-Chancellor Sir John Daniel, has criticised online education provider Coursera for not making its materials available under creative commons licensing.

Coursera is one of the largest providers of MOOCs – Massive Open Online Courses – which allow students to take university courses for free online from anywhere in the world.

MOOCs have been credited with democratising higher education, making it available for those who cannot afford to attend prestigious universities. But providers like Coursera have come under fire in recent months for undermining academic jobs, not providing adequate accreditation, and, in this latest controversy, not adhering closely enough to the “open” part of the MOOC acronym. Continue reading “Coursera under fire in MOOCs licensing row (Republished)”

Recording Presentations

My second video blog post is over on my work blog.

It’s a follow-up to a seminar we ran for staff earlier in the week but it should(!) be of wider interest both in terms of the format and the content – it’s about recording presentations.

Photo of Matt at his desk
My second video blog post was recorded at my desk

My First Video Blog Post

I have decided to experiment with video blog posts.  This is the first.

Summary

  1. The Plan  – Reasons Why
  2. Inspired by Carl Gombrich
  3. 8+ years between my first blog post & my first video blog post
  4. Once a week, one take
  5. Experimenting with format & methods

 

Mentioned in this Video

(Update – links open in new window: Good suggestion @CareersAndrea)

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