Since the beginning of the trend, one of the most controversial issues is the question of whether free online courses by the Ivy league universities will cause the decline of "other" universities and how will this affect students' choice and higher education in the next years.
This for sure giving us some indications about where higher education is going and how should universities respond to this change. Perhaps, new accreditation systems, different degree forms. As a country with a very big number of young population, we better act on it fast, instead of being the observers of these trends around us.
I wish we could add our contents in ocw@metu.edu.tr to their database.
For education, the website has only 3 courses.
I signed up for the course "Fundamentals of Online Education: Planning and Application" and "E-learning and Digital Cultures" which will be held on Jan 28th 2013 :). I will write here what I have learned from the courses. I think it will be an interesting experience to reach knowledge about "online education" via online education :)
Massive Open Online Courses might seem like best way to use the Internet to open up education, but you're thinking too small. Technology can turn our entire lives into learning experiences.
Dincer, interesting! While I am in favor of open education and massive open online courses, I recently started thinking about the cultural and social impact of such initiatives. For instance, the Moocs are recently being offered from the west because we assume or accept that they have the high quality content and courses. One might say that this could cause a kind of cultural imperialism, countries importing ideas from the west that may not necessarily fit to their context.
Dinçer, thanks for sharing. I support the idea that traditional schools should be supported by technology. However, in my opinion, technology should not be used as a total substitute of traditional campus-based education. By stating that, I do not support idea that technology can not offer the effectiveness of content transfer to students. Rather, it offers a wide range of opportunities to enhance learning. However, in my opinion, we should not separate people from each other anywhere in the world. The long term effects of technology and mass city life is not clear yet. At least, we know about depressions and diseases because of long term stress crises. Thus, today's schools should also reteach people to be together. To put it differently, we should use technology for "better learning together".
Updated (7/19/2013, 12:13 a.m.) with additional material on the trial courses and analysis of the news.] After two semesters of experimentation, San Jose State University has decided to take a "breather" in a project aimed at determining whether Udacity, a Silicon Valley-based company that specializes in massive open online courses, can help the university deliver credit-bearing online courses.
**ALSO read the comments section.**
I've been trying to find a timeline tool. This is what I was looking for. So can I create my own timelines? Are they free?
Abdullah, I heard that you started at Uludag University. Congrats on your new position and all the best with your new academic life at Uludag.
As I know you can create timeline online, creating a free account.
Yes I started this month. It was a bit difficult leaving students, especially colleagues and METU but here is also a good environment.
Thanks for the wishes:)
As we mentioned about the foundations of theories, I have read an article about behaviorism and I want to share with you. This article is especially for Bilge.:)
Dear Canan, I uploaded pdf format on moddle under the title of reading reflection part of Behaviorism week. You can dowload from there. Have a good reading.. :)