Open Thread Wednesday: Have You Taken a MOOC?
ProfHacker 2013-03-16
Regardless of what you think of “massive open online courses” (MOOCs), they are currently getting a great deal of attention in the media.
Perhaps most prominently, syndicated columnist Thomas Friedman wrote not one, but two recent columns that sing the praises of MOOCs. This morning the New York Times reports that a legislation is in the works in California to “force colleges to honor online classes” for credit, including those offered by private vendors. If passed, this legislation seems likely to create a gold rush (sorry) to California by commercial educational technology companies.
There have been a number of persuasive critiques of the rush to MOOCs (see, for instance, Mark S. Byrnes’ “MOOCs and Books” and “MOOCs and Books, continued.”), but today we’re interested in hearing from ProfHacker readers who have actually been in one of these online courses.
Have you participated in a MOOC as a student? Did you finish? What was your experience? Please share in this week’s open thread!