Serendipity35

During the final week of the "Academia and the MOOC" course that I facilitated, I offered a wiki page for participanys to post a "MOOC aphorism." An aphorism is defined as a short observation that contains a general truth - a one-liner not meant to be funny. These "MOOC aphorisms" were short observations based on the case studies and student experiences about Massive Open Online Courses that people felt contained a general truth.

I can't say that I agree 100% with all these aphorisms, but I would say that any single post had more than one person's support.

We even had one image comment that addresses an entire discussion in the course - defining and redefining a MOOC.

1. Not all MOOCs are “massive.” They may contain hundreds to more than a hundred thousand participants.


2. “Open” can mean different things, including: open for enrollment, free of cost, using open source products, with content free to reuse.


3. Some MOOC courses are not courses in the traditional sense (grades, assignments, testing, credits).


4. Providing education for the masses is almost always a good thing, but that doesn't necessarily mean a MOOC should be part of an academic degree


5. The disruption of the stable traditional economical model of education has begun. Hybrid inclusion of courses from across the  world into students portfolios will increase.   


6. "The trick is to not feel obligated to answer 400 questions, or even to read them all"  - Stephen Downes (May 8, 2013 in a course chat)  This is an important MOOC literacy skill for students and faculty.


7. Colleges view no-credit as no dollars and will question the dollar value of providing a free educational experience. Business models will, unfortunately, be an important factor in the expansion of MOOCs.


8. MOOCs are about learning in a networked world.


9. This type of lifelong learning, while structured much like a course, is more of an event around a topic and possibly not connected to a school.


10. As of now, MOOCs are self-defined with no real parameters and no evaluation metrics.


11. Many of the issues with MOOCs (assessment, integrity, student contact, completion rates, acceptance by schools etc.) have been issues in traditional online courses for at least three decades.


12. Much of the language of MOOCs is one of elitist entitlement - "students everywhere deserve my course" - without any validity of quality other than brand name institutions .  


13. Better to consider some participants as "auditors" rather than "lurkers."


14. Students come to MOOCs with different expectations. For example, some seek a portion of the content as resource to use (like a website or enhanced textbook) with some peer support (discussions) but have no intention to use all the content or "complete" the course.


15. Unexpected benefits will come from connecting all of these "local" environments with a "global" conversation.  That will be some of the payoffs from MOOCs, including the mobile health class just starting with Venture Labs and even the new Buffett-funded Philanthropy MOOCs.  


16. "Only you can tell in the end if you have been successful - just like in real life."    Dave Cormier 


17. It may turn out that MOOCs are best for lifelong learning, professional development, basic skills/developmental/remedial learning and NOT credit and degree programs.


18. The effects of MOOCs are more likely to remain in 20 years than actual MOOCs.