Harvard Professors Call for Greater Oversight of MOOCs - Wired Campus - The Chronicle of Higher Education
These professors have it wrong this time. I have nothing again professors, but cheaply educating the masses is of more benefit to society than the preservation of professors jobs
I think a lot are threatened by this form of learning. I was caught between two Professors here the other day who had been discussing the shortfall in student interaction in distance learning. They asked me how I was doing my degree and I told them online. One of them stated that she thought that the online students did not get the "rich" class discussion which she enjoyed so much. I told her that they probably made up for by not having to drive from their work, find a carpark, then the lecture room, and after that their way home or back to work with the attendant costs associated with that exercise. I also said that they probably liked the extra time with their families as well as most of my category of students were well past the first blush of youth. She countered that she thought they missed out in the network of discussion with other students. I replied that I thought that they had their own networks which were probably at practitioner level (because of their maturity), and well beyond the student level of discussion. The conversation stopped there, however, after analyzing the discussion, I formed the opinion that they were worried about presenting on camera and having their statements formally recorded more than anything else. I am sure that they always were informally recorded which they probably did not know. The online scenario pressurized them because each statement was so available for audit, not only by students but other faculty and professionals. They are operating in a professional goldfish bowl. I think this potential "overscrutiny" is something that needs to be guarded against, otherwise, it may lead to a very stilted online lecture that may diminish the online learning environment. We may be wanting something in the lecture environment that human beings cannot provide i.e.perfection. The ability to destroy or ridicule the lecturer is heightened by this mode of learning. The question is should we guard against this? How do we do this, if we should? If we can, then I think that this may make a lot of the professorial objections disappear.
The headline is a little misleading. They're not calling for government to set up the MOOC Police. This is Harvard professors calling for greater oversight by Harvard professors of MOOCs offered under the Harvard name. If MOOCs really are courses, then that's not an unreasonable position for them to take.
