Internet Learning Volume 3, Number 2, Fall 2014 | Page 15

Enter the Anti-MOOCs: The Reinvention of Online Learning as a Form of Social Commentary
Responses such as these are explicitly
citing how what they intend to do is not
what MOOCs do — and that is the essence
of the Anti-MOOC. One of the founders of
the MOOC movement, George Seimens,
shared recently on his ELEARNSPACE
blog, with some cynicism, “If 2012 was the
year of the MOOC, 2013 will be the year of
the anti-MOOC.” Siemens feels that by and
large, faculty do not like MOOCs, and details
reasons such as elite university models,
poor pedagogy, and blindness to decades of
learning sciences research.
Whither, From Here?
Wherever one stands on MOOCs,
one thing is clear: online learning
has “come of age.” The vast
scope of articles in the recent press, and
even the focus of most research in to online
learning in the past two years has been
on the MOOC phenomenon. Authors and
researchers are no longer asking if online
learning is effective. We know it can be if
well-constructed. More and more, the design
of online learning is specifically intended
to encompass the latest research,
the most promising developments, and new
emerging business models in the online
learning environment. At many institutions,
online learning is an area newly ripe
for experimentation — some would argue it
is undergoing a sea change, with every dimension
of the process open for reconceptualization.
On campuses around the globe,
virtually every aspect of how students connect
with institutions and each other to
learn online is being reworked, rethought,
and redone — but it will be some time yet
before ideas coalesce enough to be validated
by research and implemented broadly.
In many current models, massive
open online courses present opportunities
for learners to freely experiment with a variety
of subjects and acquire new skills that
may not be associated with a degree plan
at brick-and-mortar institutions. A Neurology
major, for example, could enroll in
a Udacity course on artificial intelligence.
Learners are not stuck on a single pathway.
Related advances in both classroom
and online learning are emphasizing personalized
learning, and if massively open
online courses could both scale globally
and yet cater to individual learning styles,
it would be a very exciting combination. In
their current forms, MOOCs already allow
learners of all ages, incomes, and levels of
education to participate in a wide array of
courses without being enrolled at a physical
institution. The most effective MOOCs
make creative use of a variety of educational
strategies and frequently leverage multimedia
to demonstrate complex subjects. One
recent entrant in Spain, unX, has integrated
badges as a way to reward learners for their
participation and concept mastery.
If MOOC projects proliferate, advocates
hope that providers will invent innovative
ways for learners to demonstrate
their knowledge at scale. Peer review systems,
student gurus, badges, and other
forms of assessment are currently being
explored, but there is no real verdict yet
on what is most effective. To continue to
gain traction, MOOCs will need to strike
a fine balance between automating the assessment
process while delivering personalized,
authentic learning opportunities.
It is that last point that brought
Forbes’ Guthrie to suggest that MOOCs
are nowhere near the kind of transformative
innovation that will remake academia.
That honor, according to Guthrie, belongs
to a more disruptive and far-reaching innovation
— big data and its applications. Big
data, he feels, is very likely to revolutionize
online learning. It will be the means by
which we customize learning to match the
14