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On 11/02/2012 09:45 AM, Miles Fidelman wrote: > >> On Fri, 2 Nov 2012, Barry Peddycord III wrote: >> >>> The perceived problem they are solving is one I've been fussing >>> about for a long time: while EdX and Coursera are making a >>> really big splash, they are relying on the brand-recognition of >>> the Ivy League and Research Universities they partner with, > > I think it's worth pointing out how inaccurate this statement is. > I can't talk about Coursera, but EdX (and open courseware in > general) started at MIT, with the goal of making available courses > more widely available, for free - starting with MIT's "Open > Courseware" initiative and growing into EdX. A few other > universities then jumped on board (notably Harvard). > > It's a non-profit initiative, motivated by making existing courses > more widely available. Not, as implied by the above, by some > outside entity capitalizing on the "brand recognition" of carefully > selected partners. That's a fair point, and thanks - it's rather easy to get carried away making broad claims like these. I'm not trying to imply that the organizations are using the name recognition to capitalize, but rather, that it produces this perception (at least for me) that only professors at some institutions are "worthy" to participate. True or not, it irks me. The openness that I'm referring to is open participation in the *development* of the course - not just the courseware. Not that it isn't valuable in its own right, what differentiates a MOOC from Open Courseware (in my mind) is that a MOOC is the package deal: syllabus, content, delivery, community, and assessment. What I find interesting about "democratized" platforms (and un-platforms, as Steve brought up) is that it makes it possible to create courses on very niche subjects by teachers and researchers working together to develop them. Thanks for all the great feedback, everyone! I'm enjoying hearing everyone's thoughts! ~ Barry -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.11 (GNU/Linux) iQEcBAEBAgAGBQJQk9amAAoJEHuunagdgjYNlFUH/3j4xhpyD/xBKLUoUhDVaR05 btXGzwIY37WKB5lsTbfxPpUs601Yq2c22JZFxw0i+K6PEeJX6nfrWRmBUnjQbhyh 1N/nfr3vSPth92P+wuf75koN+o8gGzrY3Tt72lEJCDBSdDNZH9wERbyXUdUdtIyL vg5G0go5n/8ivEI0IWG6XJk1LohUkI/qgxCXHGGTNErN6mVxPc5LHablWxuin9dS lo2XfCiHgy74i1gp6ePvcKUumJI8VZ14/TQsvoghDeYXUO1l7s2j250NzZ2PDGtv DgDamYuxTTp/PrlTkSNLOJXeNbBp6HWYtK7g48IplCSgVbNheMVpmUmY1+tiFMI= =9pH9 -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- _______________________________________________ Sign-up for our weekly newsletter: http://opensource.com/email-newsletter Osdc-list mailing list [email protected] https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/osdc-list
