Some Recent Links on MOOCs

The Mercury News published an article about my department's criticism of MOOCs.

http://www.mercurynews.com/education/ci_23320598/san-jose-state-professors-fire-back-at-online

I like the quote from a philosophy minor:

Traditional classes are just fine with Ryan Brewer, a philosophy minor at San Jose State who said the interaction with his professor and classmates is what college is about.

Online lectures feel "like a hand-me-down education," he said. "'Here, watch this video.'"

The online Mercury article nicely includes copies of our letter and Sandel's reply. 

The SF Chronicle also has an article, quoting my colleague Janet Stemwedel

http://www.sfgate.com/default/article/Harvard-for-Free-Meets-Resistance-as-Professors-4519370.php

See also, the Council of UC Faculty Association open letter to Daphne Koller of Coursera, a MOOC provider

http://cucfa.org/news/2013_may10.php

See how Udacity, another MOOC provider, plans to replace teachers with non-graduate student TAs at Georgia Tech:

http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/05/28/documents-shed-light-details-georgia-tech-udacity-deal

UC Faculty are organizing opposition to SB520 which seeks to give college credit to MOOCs

http://petitions.moveon.org/sign/uc-faculty-opposition ; and http://www.educationnews.org/online-schools/uc-faculty-weighs-in-on-californias-mooc-credit-bill/


A nice blog post on the meaning of teaching which is critical of MOOCs

http://academeblog.org/2013/05/22/the-mooc-and-the-meaning-of-teaching/

Here's a feminist critique of MOOCs

http://www.historiann.com/2013/05/15/guest-post-on-the-lords-of-mooc-creation-whos-really-for-change-and-who-in-fact-is-standing-athwart-history-yelling-stop/

Also see Joshua Kim, who, although he supports MOOCs, raises relevant skeptical concerns.

http://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/technology-and-learning/playing-role-mooc-skeptic-7-concerns

The philosophy department at SJSU is also mentioned in this one

http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/05/28/harvard-professors-demand-greater-role-oversight-edx

Lecturers may also be concerned about their courses being outsourced
 

http://chronicle.com/article/Outsourced-Lectures-Raise/139471/

This article discusses the electrical engineering class at SJSU, 

also see http://chronicle.com/article/In-Deals-With-10-Public/139533/  on Coursera's bid for a role in credit courses.