The attack on higher ed - and why we should welcome it | ideas.ted.com - 0 views
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Yet our original vision continues to shape our research and teaching practices: networking individual learners to foster knowledge creation. It remains my firm belief that the complex challenges that society faces can only be met through a learning architecture that emphasizes knowledge generation over knowledge duplication.
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As 2013 drew to a conclusion, the 18-month intoxicating hype machine produced the inevitable headache.
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They discovered, on the backs, or within the wallets, of their VC partners, that knowledge building is a complex integrated system with multiple facets. The linear nature of MOOC solutions to the perceived problems of higher education (better instructional software and greater numbers of learners) failed to account for knowledge building as an integrated social, economic and cultural activity of society
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Universities have not kept pace with learner needs and MOOCs have caused a much needed stir — a period of reflection and self-assessment. To date, higher education has largely failed to learn the lessons of participatory culture, distributed and fragmented value systems and networked learning. MOOCs have forced a serious assessment of the idea of a university and how education should be related to and supportive of the society in which it exists.
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MOOCs will begin to include ideas around personalizing and adapting the learning experience. Several projects, such as CMU’s Open Learning Initiative, suggest the role of adaptive learning in MOOCs. Instead of one course for 100,000 learners, each learner gets her own course, reflective of her knowledge profile. Many of the current shortcomings of MOOCs, such as poor completion rates, stem from companies trying to build scale before tackling personalization.
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For MOOCs or their successors to survive and thrive, the question of offering recognition that is itself widely recognized becomes a critical indicator of success.
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The discussion they have generated reflects a university system struggling with its transition to a digital world.