MOOCs

Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) is a difficult subject because it is so relatively new. Clearly, if we are to heve any real productivity improvements in education, they will need to come from some type of automation. However, there are still those who disparage this on-line learning movement toward automating higher education primarily because it eliminates the classroom experience. For one such cynical argument, see: Dartblog Reader Response to President Phil Hanlon. If you actually want to see what Dartmouth's Prexy Hanlon said to elicit this response go to  Phil's Own Words: Education.

I myself have previously dealt with this MOOC subject in a previous blog post ... see: A Pedagogical Prediction. Having used some current software with students in on-line Internet courses during my recent gigs as a high school tutor, I can testify to its disappointingly poor quality ... thus I can understand the reader response referenced above. But believe me, when this technology of MOOC catches up to its potential, it will make what we are using today seem like a Model-T Ford relative to a BMW i8. In 5 or 10 years, the eventual MOOCs will meld the best of a 3-D classroom reconstruction with personal interaction with the artificial intelligence of a virtual professor.

Then, if student loans have not already sunk our economy, the next generations of our children will have it a lot easier (and cheaper) time of higher learning.