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Stephen Downes was asked (along with Dave Cormier and George Siemens): "How might it be possible to show that cMOOCs are effective for learning, in the sense of providing evidence that institutions might accept so as to support opening up more courses to outside participants (a la ds106, Alec Couros' EC&I 831, etc.)? Or, more generally, providing evidence that participation in and facilitating cMOOCs is worthy of support by institutions... What I'm looking for are criteria one might use to say that a cMOOC is successful. What should participants be getting out of cMOOCs?"

"Technology constantly brings new tools and channels for communication to a state in which designers can use them to support effective, engaging dialogue. Use an appropriate mix of these to clearly express the expectation of critical, creative thought and to provide opportunities for it.

Each type of MOOC has all three elements (networks, tasks and content), but each has a goal that is dominant.

The academic conversation on MOOCs is starting to polarise in exactly the talking-past-one-another way that so many complex conversations evolve: with very smart points on either side, but not a lot of recognition that the validity of certain key points on one side does not undermine the validity of certain key points on the other. I regret this flattening of online learning into a simple binary of 'politically and financially motivated greed' on the one hand and 'an opportunity to find out more about learning' on the other. Some of both in different situations can be true.

"Having started a half dozen MOOC's in the recent months, I have found most of them tend to share a common trait. Many MOOC's currently represent a sort of parody of higher education's worst practices, its most spectacular delusions about itself. "

...scholars of international education have always warned against "a one-way transfer of educational materials from the rich north to the poor south will amount to a wave of 'intellectual neo-colonialism.'" But, again, because the MOOC movement is dominated by providers eyeing the world "market" for education, whatever they proclaim to be their motive, their attempts to make MOOCs "accessible" to international learners goes to show that they are either ignorant or unwilling to acknowledge geopolitical dynamics that shape learning experience on a global scale.

The Taming of the MOOC--With ePortfolio Evidence

I find it interesting how they only talk about ePortfolios as you having to "sign up" for them. Students in my course will have options to use Wordpress, Google Sites, etc. because these need to be public, but Evernote works as well. You don't have to use an expensive product to have an ePortfolio.

Great visualization of #etmooc