If there is an idea inside the expert's head of how something works, programming or probability say, then there are graphics, usually animated graphics, that can present the core of the idea better than simply talking about it ever could. The problem is that it can be difficult to get right and this makes it expensive.
You can transfer the abstract understandings inside an experts head much more effectively using interactive simulations of the fundamental mechanisms than by using only words. Once transferred, the words that surround it help make the whole thing clear and asking a few questions that are difficult if you don't understand and easy if you do provides the diagnostic.
Randolph Hollingsworth on 19 Sep 12Open field notes for a book to be written for Johns Hopkins Univ Press on trends in education, inc. MOOCs. One post is entitled: "the real disruption isn't online courses, it's their business model" George Siemens, Bonnie Stewart, and Dave Cormier have been contracted to write for Johns Hopkins University Press, and they expect the book to be published in mid-2013. They started the first Massive Open Online Course (MOOCs), together with Stephen Downes, in 2008.
