Althouse: All you people who showed up in person for this lecture...

March 13, 2014

All you people who showed up in person for this lecture...

... shut up so I get a good recording for the people who are not here.

Welcome to the MOOC, chumps.

15 comments:

Bob Ellison said...: That's hilarious!

Isn't it the way most professors prefer it in mostly-non-critical-thinking studies like English?; 3/13/14, 6:23 AM
Bob R said...: No big deal. An hour of filming followed by a half hour class discussion (not filmed.) But it does emphasize that most of the MOOCs are no different in content or presentation from the "Great Courses" series (and other competitors) that have been available since VHS format.

If the students in the class are being evaluated - written tests, graded papers - they are getting a very different experience from the MOOC. (Whether it is worth the money is a very different question.) When people talk about MOOCs and other online education without discussing testing and evaluation (cf., e.g., Instapundit) they should be taken with a grain of salt.; 3/13/14, 6:36 AM
Menahem Globus said...: The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.; 3/13/14, 7:16 AM
rehajm said...: Experimentation is good, though MOOCs are turning out to be fine infomercials for high profile profs and the schools where they reside.

Not much learning happening, though.; 3/13/14, 7:38 AM
paminwi said...: Funny, Jack Welch was just talking about this issue on Squawk Box this morning.

If you are an employed person using this type class to further your education it was mentioned that many employers do not look at this type of learning as something that brings anything new to the workplace.

So.. the question is who is this really good for? The student or the university who is making $ from all the registrants who may or may not complete the work?; 3/13/14, 7:53 AM
KCFleming said...: Lazy.
They could be filming on a separate occasion.

Harvard
Total One Academic Year Cost:
$54,596

Shut up, they extorted.; 3/13/14, 8:05 AM
southcentralpa said...: Wow, can't believe I'm the first one to mention the scene in "Real Genius", where all the students but one have a tape recorder at their seat and the professor left an enormous reel-to-reel machine with a tape of his lecture....; 3/13/14, 8:24 AM
SGT Ted said...: many employers do not look at this type of learning as something that brings anything new to the workplace.

Guess what? Neither does a Grievance Studies Degree.

And the employers know this because they're in the education business, right?; 3/13/14, 9:03 AM
dbp said...: In the future, I think most classes will be MOOC. The students in attendance will be paid to attend and the selectivity will be very high. The students will be there for the questions they ask.

The best lecture is improved by very smart questions. Or derailed by dumb questions.; 3/13/14, 9:05 AM
MadisonMan said...: They should have Lloyd Biggle teach the class. Madly.; 3/13/14, 9:36 AM
Wince said...: "Hey, shut-up you assholes!"; 3/13/14, 10:10 AM
Wince said...: But on reflection he decided it was fairly innocuous. “There are lots of lecture courses in which students do not ask questions anyway,” Mr. Lewis wrote on his blog. “This professor was making a point of having a much livelier conversation with the undergraduates for half an hour after the recorded portion of the lecture, which is a lot more than I or many of my colleagues do.”; 3/13/14, 10:13 AM
mccullough said...: A student with integrity would have just walked out and said I'll see you in an hour.; 3/13/14, 10:29 AM
harrogate said...: MOOCs represent another weapon in the Battle to Privatize It All. Education-related criteria are pretty low in the pecking order in the design/implementation of (and advocacies for) MOOCs.; 3/13/14, 2:12 PM
Bob Ellison said...: I like dbp's idea. It could be watered down a bit. Some tiny percentage of students actually finish MOOCs, and they pay very little. Finishing a MOOC online seems like a watered-down version of really doing the course the old-fashioned way.

So grade the MOOC pass/fail and give only half credit. And cut the tuition for live students to zero, if possible (for some colleges, that'd be easy-- I'm looking at you, Harvard).; 3/13/14, 3:23 PM