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I find myself looking more and more at the impact of MOOCs on education, and in particular, on the notion of personalized learning. Reading the blog “Hack Education” and following this movement in Edutopia have spurred interest. In his article from Edutopia, Matt Levinson, argues that:
Unfortunately, for many learners, MOOCs lack the possibility of mentorship and close guidance that comes through the building of a meaningful relationship between student and teacher.
I think that as the CIS members begin to hitch their carts to this movement of personalization, we, as teachers within these schools need to be cautious about confusing MOOCs with the be-all and end-all of personalization. The MOOC movement is moving very quickly; however, like the Fast Food revolution sparked the Slow Food movement, I believe that students need to move slowly and with guidance through their education.
Slow Food strives to perserve the culture and heritage of countries, and to ground ones’ self in the ecosystem of the food cycle. I think that this is a great analogy to learning – we can’t “outsource” our education to venues like coursera or Udacity, but rather cultivate the relationship and incidental teachings that take place around values of our schools’ unique community and traditions.
Anyone thinking of flipping the classroom, or incorporating MOOCs into their own teaching, should read Matt Levinson’s article, because while MOOCs are getting a lot of press and encouragement: “MOOCs are not yet able to cultivate the sense of belonging in “another person’s presence. Not to mention that the completion rate of MOOCs is quite low.”