I have been browsing the EDUCAUSE website and perusing articles when I came across one entitled, "Why MOOCs are like Farmville" by Timothy M. Chester and I was intrigued at the thought of such a comparison but also because I never played Farmville and I have taken a couple MOOCs. Has anyone else read it?
I realize the context of these was towards MOOCs but I see them as relevant to higher ed also.
Nonetheless, here are a few takeaways:
Changes to the class lecture:
Old-school: Teacher = content creator and Students = content subscribers
New-school: Teacher + Students = creators and subscribers
"In this new world, learning becomes less about the dissemination of knowledge and more about the process by which knowledge and innovation are created".
Instructors are no longer the "gatekeepers" but instead are stewards and facilitators of learning
How can technology be harnessed to deepen learning? How to redefine rigor and achievement? How to make learning affordable?
At the end of the post, Chester states the way to solve the key questions mentioned in the post by "...rolling up our sleeves and thinking and acting quite a bit differently. That is going to require administrators like myself to do things that we would rather avoid - taking cost out of the system - by setting priorities, separating the must have from the wants and nice to haves, and creating a culture where we advance our careers not by building new things and consuming more resources, but by being very good stewards of what we have. If we can figure how to do all of those things -- we will truly change higher education for the better".
It is spectacular to be in a program where I am a creator, investigator, etc... and I definitely think this program serves as a facilitator to learning.
What do you think? Leave a comment below if you'd like.
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