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Don't jump on the MOOC bandwagon just yet!

Its best not to see lecture and educational technology as either/or, bad/good. If educational technology does not improve lectures and teaching/learning in general in ways that nothing else can, then it should not be used. There is, however, lots of good brain and teaching methods research on which to base effective ways of using educational technology to improve student learning. I've got lots of it here in TLS, and part of our committee work could be to create a repository of this research and details of the associated educational technology methods that have been proven to work. Faced with research-based evidence, most instructors are willing to incorporate new methods.

I'm looking forward to starting my MOOC on Disruptive Technology through Coursera. Sure, a good lecture is great, but I like the prospect of watching a great lecture at home by the fire. Plus, I like the idea of getting content delivered to me by some of the most highly rated teachers/researchers in the world... for free at that!

YouTube launched after Facebook and was considered more of a curiosity than a disruptive technology back in 2005.

How will disruptive technology change education?

Slate magazine. The title may sound negative, but the article is a positive endorsement of flipping the classroom.

Interesting--37% have smart phones and 23% have tablets. Something to consider when Top Hat Monocle clickers work best with laptops and smart phones and tablets (on cell phones, students cannot see the questions on their phones and can only text the answer). No info from the survey about % of teens owning their own laptop.

Just found a figure for percentage of students who bring laptops to class: 65%. Between 37% having smart phones, 23% with tablets and 65% who bring laptops, looks like Top Hat Monocle clickers are on to something. :)

Its a significant positive development that tenured professors who don't use technology that much like MOOCs and expect their widespread adoption and that this will drive down the cost of university education.

No only is the rate of technological change increasing, so is the rate of sober second thought. :) A key sentence in this article is "The possibilities are myriad, but the success of MOOCs will depend on the degree to which faculty members are involved in the entire process, from development to testing and credentialing." This also applies to our own committee work in disruptive technologies, so that we don't fall into the typical trap of being support staff telling faculty members what to do, one of the reasons we are so unable to effect significant change in instructional practice at UNB (F at least).

Thanks Ray. Interesting article.

Interesting predictions!  Most involve technology of course.

I like the fact that they limited their predictions to 2013--a reasonable window. Anything beyond that gets pretty fuzzy. Re. online education: given that the PC still reigns as the 'de facto' device, it makes one wonder if much effort needs to be put in development for smaller devices. Perh. it's enough to develop apps that act as 'flags', and incite users to use their PC for more details. (That's the way I use the technology, by the way.)

M-learning & app development -- downloadable pdfs

"Ebooks are a sustaining technology that are being mismanaged into devaluing an entire industry (that mismanagement is a subject worthy of a series blog posts) while the true disruptors get to work in peace. (In the long run, Google is the real winner here.)"

"The relationship between cost, access and quality is tight and significant within the mission and the goals of institutions and governments worldwide, and is frequently referred to as the 'iron triangle'; … innovations need to revise not only the learning processes, but also the underlying business models, in order to break the iron triangle."

A balanced search for a sustainable MOOC business model: "The reality is that online solutions are still underused by higher education, but we are left to wait for genuine innovation that is capable to provide alternatives in line with academic rigour, quality assurance and student needs in higher education. Students cannot be engaged by simple conversions of boring lectures into online videos that are even more boring, affected by clunky and poorly designed technological solutions and rigid platforms for discussions and 'forums'."