As has been apparent for the past several months,
MOOCs (Massive Online Open Courseware) have
emerged as a powerful contender for the next new
education technology. Yet the landscape of education
technology is littered with the remains of previous
technological breakthroughs that have failed to live up
to their initial promise, or at least their initial rhetoric.
We strongly believe the answer is yes—this time really
is different. Several MOOCs have been run during 2012
that have taught many thousands of students in a
variety of topics.
This panel will be a chance to review and discuss the
short but engaging history of MOOCs, reviewing data
from several MOOC instances, critically assessing
what’s happening and why things are different. Are
MOOCs really a qualitative change in the way education
can be delivered, or is it merely another new wrapper
for old content. We believe the human experience of
online education is about to change; we should
understand the issues behind the phenomena