The following are several specific examples of what the open standards and services must enable to make this new architecture for learning a reality: Digital content and applications must be easily, quickly (ideally, within a few minutes versus months), and seamlessly integrated into any platform that supports a set of vendor-neutral open standards and, importantly, are not trapped inside a single platform. User, course, and context information must be synchronized among selected applications so that neither the manual transfer of information nor multiple logins to different applications are required—thus making set-up and use of new software much easier for all concerned. Data that describes usage, activities, and outcomes must flow from learning content apps to the enterprise system of record, learning platforms, and analytics platforms. Systems, services, and tools must be virtualized and must increasingly move toward the elastic computing model that enables sharing scenarios across systems or other federations of users.Imagine what would happen if CIOs could safely add services and applications in a matter of days instead of months, if instructors could seamlessly combine these tools into their courses with one click, and if analytics data would begin to flow immediately thereafter. This new IT architecture would revolutionize the support for academic technology in the same way that the app movement has revolutionized what is available on mobile devices. A key difference with the new IT architecture, however, is that these educational apps are built using standards adopted and managed by the educational community and would be connected into the educational enterprise IT infrastructure.
The xMOOC approach - which is the label for Coursera and most of the "AI" driven MOOCs - is taken a very automated approach. The idea that algorithms and automation can help. Personally, I think this is an incomplete foundation for learning. For me networked learning is better based on the idea of using technologies to help/augment people, rather than remove them from the process. The cMOOC approach is more along those lines, but has only started to scratch the surface.
I wonder whether different kinds of MOOCs are more suited to different contexts or to different disciplines, or even to different learning styles or aptitudes? For me, the more ad hoc nature of a cMOOC approach seems somewhat incomplete also. There are times when I'd rather put myself in the hands of a trusted, experienced guide, and if this guide has recognised the common pitfalls on the trail - through algorithms and automation - all the better. I wonder if there's room for a blended approach. Aren't you using algorithms and automation to grade our work for this course, David?
