Massive open online courses (MOOCs) have been hailed as a revolutionary tool that will transform learning and provide top-notch education for all—even those that face extreme poverty. While the blended learning techniques that MOOCs help facilitate have been proven to increase test scores, the completion rate of MOOCs is still drastically low. Thousands of people sign-up for MOOCs everyday but only a small fraction of them end up finishing. Many postulate that this is due to low barriers of entry making is seem less valuable and others still tote that online education does not aid in fostering accountability.
I have decided to get down to the bottom of this so for the next month I will be test-driving a MOOC called ‘Leaders of Learning’ taught by Richard Elmore, the Gregory R. Anrig Professor of Educational Leadership at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. In addition to learning first hand why MOOCs have such low participation rates, I’m also going to write about the features of MOOCs that I notice to be either positive or negative to my learning experience. Since the topic is very applicable to our fellow online learning partners I will be sure to share the knowledge I gain about the various theories of learning and how they fit into the shifting landscape of education.
If you would like to participate in this MOOC journey with me you can sign-up here. Below are the course details.
Start Date: July 8, 2014
End Date: August 19, 2014
Course Goals
By completing Leaders of Learning you will be able to:
- Articulate your own personal theory of learning, based on (but not limited by) your understanding of Professor Elmore’s Modes of Learning framework
- Understand what leadership beliefs and styles work best with your theory of learning
- Identify the types of organizations and organizational structures that help support your theory of learning
- Recognize opportunities for innovation in different learning environments
- Connect your personal learning theory with the physical design that best expresses and supports it
Looking forward to sharing my first experiences with everyone later this week!
