MOOC U. explains
why you should sign up for massive open online course (MOOC) and how
you can get the greatest benefit from the courses. It does so by telling
a story--the story of a single MOOC: University of Virginia Professor Ed Hess's
"Grow to Greatness."
Higher education
expert and award-wining author Jeffrey J. Selingo captures in four perspectives--the
student's, the professor's, the university's, and the online course
provider's--why today's average MOOC student can benefit tremendously from
MOOCs, if they only know a bit about how to navigate the MOOC universe. MOOC U. provides a path to success for
the six million and rising students who have signed up for a free online
course.
A few years ago, Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) were
heralded as higher education's savior. They would provide free, high quality
education to remote villages around the world and those shut out of world-class
universities. That remains a compelling vision, but one that is at odds with
the hopes and plans of the majority of people who have signed up for a MOOC since
2011. Most of them are college graduates using MOOCs as a supplement to formal
classroom learning and a tool for professional development. For these students,
learning to use MOOCs as an instrument for learning, more like a textbook,
rather than a replacement for college provides rich opportunities and immediate
rewards.
The problem is that there are no guidebooks for prospective
MOOC students like the hundreds that exist for the bricks-and-mortar world of
college. MOOC U. is meant to be that
guidebook: an explanation of the confusing web of MOOC players, the far-flung
classmates, the professors, and most of all, how to determine quality in this
new ecosystem. By following one MOOC course, the book lays out the issues and
challenges of MOOCs through the personal stories of the people in the action.
why you should sign up for massive open online course (MOOC) and how
you can get the greatest benefit from the courses. It does so by telling
a story--the story of a single MOOC: University of Virginia Professor Ed Hess's
"Grow to Greatness."
Higher education
expert and award-wining author Jeffrey J. Selingo captures in four perspectives--the
student's, the professor's, the university's, and the online course
provider's--why today's average MOOC student can benefit tremendously from
MOOCs, if they only know a bit about how to navigate the MOOC universe. MOOC U. provides a path to success for
the six million and rising students who have signed up for a free online
course.
A few years ago, Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) were
heralded as higher education's savior. They would provide free, high quality
education to remote villages around the world and those shut out of world-class
universities. That remains a compelling vision, but one that is at odds with
the hopes and plans of the majority of people who have signed up for a MOOC since
2011. Most of them are college graduates using MOOCs as a supplement to formal
classroom learning and a tool for professional development. For these students,
learning to use MOOCs as an instrument for learning, more like a textbook,
rather than a replacement for college provides rich opportunities and immediate
rewards.
The problem is that there are no guidebooks for prospective
MOOC students like the hundreds that exist for the bricks-and-mortar world of
college. MOOC U. is meant to be that
guidebook: an explanation of the confusing web of MOOC players, the far-flung
classmates, the professors, and most of all, how to determine quality in this
new ecosystem. By following one MOOC course, the book lays out the issues and
challenges of MOOCs through the personal stories of the people in the action.
