I'm back. It was a busy spring and I've slowly geared down and am now gearing back up.
I've been following MOOCs (Massively Open Online Courses) and as someone who has been following electronic commerce for almost twenty years I think I know a disruptive technology when I see one.
The following article from FastCompany explains MOOCs pretty well, but basically they are free courses offered on line to massive audiences, often over 100,000 students at a time. They have not only taken OER (Open Educational Resources) to new heights, they will change the way teaching is done in conventional classrooms. The side benefit of MOOCs, as explained in the article, is that they support the concept of the "flipped classroom". Traditional university classrooms, particularly for introductory courses, have lectures in class with the students doing homework assignments outside of class. The flipped classroom has them watching and listening to lectures outside of class and applying what they have learned and clearing up their understanding in the classroom, often in small groups, under the guidance of their professor. The advantages are obvious and the article points them out so I won't repeat them. Take a look:
There's some other stuff you should read and I'll share it in the coming days and weeks ahead.
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