I'm still collecting my thoughts on what's going on in higher education. What I can see is that EC entrepreneurs, many of them VC-backed, are pouring into this space. Sure, it's MOOCs, but there are many other interesting ventures out there as well. Just as the business models of so many other industries (think retailing, banking, investments, travel, music, movies, etc. etc.) have been transformed by the creative and inovative use of communications and information technologies, it's now higher education's turn. (The other hot space is health care which, like higher ed, is long overdue).
So, hold on to your hats, sit back, and watch in wide-eyed amazemant as waves of innovation unfold, launched by traditional institutions and by eager newcomers from the outside. This is going to be a classic example of the phrase EC entrepreneurs have been using to describe slow moving incumbents (e.g. Blockbuster) for some time now: "If you snooze you lose".
As for my own experience with MOOCs, described back in August, I think they're wonderful, but I have been too busy to devote the necessary time to complete any I signed up for. And because I'll be busy for awhile going forward, I will probably only be posting intermittently from now on. It's been fun. Get in touch sometime if you want to chat.
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