Myth of the MOOC

Welcome

In chat, please …

• Introduce yourself with your name and institution.

• Indicate if you are participating as a group.

• Share what you want to get out of today’s seminar.

Myth of the MOOC

Participating in Today’s SeminarThis seminar is being recorded.

Click to Open Panels for Participants & Chat

Myth of the MOOC

Discussion Guide

http://bit.ly/MythMOOC

Myth of the MOOC

Sean Andrews, ACSL Public Fellow and Director, NITLE

Shared Libraries

Myth of the MOOC

Myth

Myth of the MOOC

Shirky’s description of context

“The value of that degree remains high in relative terms, but only because people with bachelor's degrees have seen their incomes shrink less over the last few years than people who don't have them. ‘Give us tens of thousands of dollars and years of your life so you can suffer less than your peers’ isn't much of a proposition. More like a ransom note.”

Myth of the MOOC

Drag picture to placeholder or click icon to add

http://www.businessinsider.com/growth-in-college-tuition-vs-growth-in-earnings-for-college-graduates-2012-11

Myth of the MOOC

This is why MOOCs matter. Not because distance learning is some big new thing or because online lectures are a solution to all our problems, but because they’ve come along at a time when students and parents are willing to ask themselves, "Isn’t there some other way to do this?"

Myth of the MOOC

Myth of technological sublime

“Today’s world of new media is not the first to be christened with magical powers to transcend the present and institute a new order. But they also demonstrate that transcendence is not easy to sustain. [The] sublime eventually fades into the banality of everyday life.”

- Mosco, Digital Sublime

Myth of the MOOC

“The lid of the classroom has been blown off, and the walls have been set on the circumference of the globe.”

[Thanks to radio,]

“every home has the potentiality of becoming an extension of Carnegie Hall or Harvard University”

- Radio Broadcast Magazine

Myth of the MOOC

"Children in the public schools will be taught practically everything by moving pictures. Certainly they will never be obliged to read history again.”

- D. W. Griffith, quoted by Tim Wu in The Master Switch

Myth of the MOOC

"I believe that 50 years from now, education will be as short and sweet as Twitter is today. It will be like an evening talk. And that will be a fantastic moment.”

- Sebastian Thurn, Udacity founderhttps://www.edsurge.com/n/2013-04-02-udacity-s-sebastian-thrun-on-the-future-of-education

Myth of the MOOC

George Siemans

“The problem of education does not concern me as much as the solutions to the problem of education are starting to concern me.”

- in response to

something Jeff Jarvis said…at a TED talk.

Myth of the MOOC

“Solutionism”

• “An unhealthy preoccupation with sexy, monumental, and narrow-minded solutions [. . .] to problems that are extremely complex, fluid, and contentious.”

• “How problems are composed matters every bit as how they are solved.”

Myth of the MOOC

MOOCs as Solutionism

“The quick fixes it peddles do not exist in a political vacuum. In promising almost immediate and much cheaper results, they can easily undermine support for more ambitious, more intellectually stimulating, but also more demanding reform projects.”

Myth of the MOOC

MOOCs as “Disruption”

• Dismisses any political or social answer to the problem.–MARKET, CONSUMERS, and TECH

primary

• Overlooks the political, social, and cultural elements to their vision coming to pass.– True even of Clayton Christensen’s

examples, e.g. disk drives. • Cf:

Myth of the MOOC

True disruptive innovation

• For profits – mining public dollars efficiently by exploiting underserved students who qualify for higher Pell grants– not technological – political economic– Spend< 25% of funds on education–More on marketing, recruiting, debt

peonage– 10% of ed market, 25% of federal aid– In some cases 85% of income from tax $

$– http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CPRT-112SPRT74931/pdf/CPRT-112SPRT74931.pdf

Myth of the MOOC

Drag picture to placeholder or click icon to add

http://www.businessinsider.com/growth-in-college-tuition-vs-growth-in-earnings-for-college-graduates-2012-11

Myth of the MOOC

A tale of two “COULDS”• President Emeritus of The

Andrew W. Mellon Foundation where he served as President from 1988 to 2006.

• He was the president of Princeton University from 1972 to 1988

• Co-author with Baumol of 1970s research on “Cost-Disease.”

http://www.ithaka.org/sites/default/files/files/ITHAKA-TheCostDiseaseinHigherEducation.pdf

Myth of the MOOC

Could #2

• “I too am convinced that online learning could be truly transformative. What needs to be done in order to translate “could” into “will”?” – Lack of evidence about learning

outcomes and cost savings– Need for customizable toolkits/platforms– “new mindsets, fresh thinking”• p. 26

Myth of the MOOC

Drag picture to placeholder or click icon to add

http://www.businessinsider.com/growth-in-college-tuition-vs-growth-in-earnings-for-college-graduates-2012-11

Myth of the MOOC

Things I will bracket

• Learning outcomes in online learning• cMOOCs are exciting for possibilities– Bowen says we need customizable

MOOC toolkit• edX and Stanford say they will deliver

• Tenure, Shared governance– Economic analysis: 3:1 ratio tenured

faculty to admin/staff most efficient; currently = 1:2.

• A bunch of other stuff…

Myth of the MOOC

Could #1

• ‘In a new book, William J. Baumol explains clearly that the same economy-wide increases in productivity that are at the root of the cost disease raise overall wealth and generate additional resources that COULD be used to pay the rising relative costs of activities in labor-intensive sectors such as education IF we were to choose to spend them in this way. As Baumol notes in his introduction, this proposition about “possibilities” was first explained to him by the renowned Cambridge economist Joan Robinson many decades ago—but even Baumol did not immediately recognize its full implications. Future prospects come down to a matter of priorities. “Could” is not the same as “will.” The key question, then, is whether we will choose, collectively, to invest the fruits of overall productivity gains on “goods” such as quality education. My verdict: ‘Not likely.’”

Myth of the MOOC

We should care about this Could

• Impacts our ability to continue as institutions and academics

• Impacts the future of our current students to continue as intellectual laborer

• Impacts the future of the US economy

• This is the real problem MOOCs are supposed to solve

Myth of the MOOC

Myth of the MOOC

Myth of the MOOC

Drag picture to placeholder or click icon to add

http://www.businessinsider.com/growth-in-college-tuition-vs-growth-in-earnings-for-college-graduates-2012-11

Myth of the MOOC

COST SIDE OF SCISSOR

Myth of the MOOC

Tuition rises because of falling public financing

Myth of the MOOChttp://thinkprogress.org/economy/2012/12/10/1308981/chart-corporate-profits-skyrocket-while-corporate-taxes-plummet/?mobile=nc

Myth of the MOOC

Myth of the MOOC

Global Plutocracy

“The rich of today are also different from the rich of yesterday. Our light-speed, globally connected economy has led to the rise of a new super-elite that consists, to a notable degree, of first- and second-generation wealth. Its members are hardworking, highly educated, jet-setting meritocrats who feel they are the deserving winners of a tough, worldwide economic competition—and, as a result, have an ambivalent attitude toward those of us who haven’t succeeded quite so spectacularly. They tend to believe in the institutions that permit social mobility, but are less enthusiastic about the economic redistribution—i.e., taxes—it takes to pay for those institutions.” 

http://breakingculture.tumblr.com/post/41790069710/reflective-writing-and-expropriation

Myth of the MOOC

All “perfectly legal”

• “Texas gives out $19 billion per year in corporate subsidies.”

• “To help balance its budget last year, Texas cut public education spending by $5.4 billion — a significant decrease considering that it already ranked 11th from the bottom among all states in per-pupil financing, according to recent data from the Census Bureau”– http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/03/us/winners-and-losers-in-texas.html?smid=fb-share&_r=2&#h[]

Myth of the MOOC

Tech companies as tax dodgers

• “Apple deferred taxes on over $35.4 billion in offshore income between 2009 and 2011.”– http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/04/business/an-inquiry-into-tech-giants-tax-strategies-nears-an-end.html?_r=0

• “Google Inc. avoided about $2 billion in worldwide income taxes in 2011 by shifting $9.8 billion in revenues into a Bermuda shell company, almost double the total from three years before, filings show.”– http://breakingculture.tumblr.com/post/37718667423/google-is-a-u-s-tax-deadbeat

Myth of the MOOC

Myth of the MOOC

This would almost be okay if it was doing what it was supposed to, i.e. creating jobs, wages, growth, etc.

but…

Myth of the MOOC

WAGE SIDE OF SCISSOR

Myth of the MOOC

Bowen

• “Economic conditions have indeed taken a toll, and

those who complain that college costs are rising

faster than incomes should recognize that

stagnation of median family incomes is definitely

one blade of this scissors.” – p. 12

Myth of the MOOC

Myth of the MOOC

Myth of the MOOC

Myth of the MOOC

Myth of the MOOC

Myth of the MOOChttp://www.epi.org/publication/11-telling-charts-about-2011-economy/

Myth of the MOOC

Less income leads to people taking on more debt to pay for housing, medical, and education…

Myth of the MOOC

Myth of the MOOC

Myth of the MOOC

CURRENT PROSPECTS FOR GRADUATES

Myth of the MOOC

“For full-time, full-year workers, the hourly wage declines from 2000 to 2012 represent a roughly $3,200 decline.”http://www.epi.org/publication/snapshot-wages-young-college-graduates-failed-grow/

Myth of the MOOC

Workers don’t lack skills, they lack workhttp://www.epi.org/publication/workers-dont-lack-skills-lack-work/

Myth of the MOOC

No jobs because no investment

http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/02/liberal-arts-majors-didnt-kill-the-economy/272940/?fb_action_ids=10151520078370485&fb_action_types=og.recommends&fb_source=aggregation&fb_aggregation_id=288381481237582

Myth of the MOOC

Bruce Bartlett, in NYT

“many corporations are holding vast amounts of cash and other liquid assets, using them neither for investment nor to benefit shareholders. These assets are largely earned and held overseas, and not subject to American taxes until the money is brought home.”

“As of the third quarter of 2012 nonfinancial corporations in the United States held $1.7 trillion of liquid assets”

Myth of the MOOC

Savings, not investment

Myth of the MOOC

Drag picture to placeholder or click icon to add

http://www.businessinsider.com/growth-in-college-tuition-vs-growth-in-earnings-for-college-graduates-2012-11

Myth of the MOOC

Broader Context

• Tuition rises because of falling public financing

• Debt increases because of stagnant wages

• Wage premium for BA shrinks – but all income levels are hurting

• Stagnant wages – across the bottom 90%

• Sequestration vs. raising taxes

Myth of the MOOC

My Verdict

• We must do both– Improve use of ed tech– Combat plutocratic abandonment of

education, decent jobs and wages, and – Ensure the future of the U.S.

meritocracy

• …Maybe we should do a MOOC on this

Myth of the MOOC

Upcoming Events

• Digital Pedagogy Keywords, Wednesday, April 10, 3 - 4 pm EDT

• Robert Kieft on College Libraries, Resource Provision, and a Collective Collection, Thursday, April 11, 2 - 3 pm EDT

• History Harvest, Friday, April 12, 3 - 4 pm EDT

• Digital Reading Practices for the Liberal Arts Classroom, Thursday, April 18, 3 - 4 pm EDT

Connect with Us

Myth of the MOOC

Thank You

Please evaluate this event: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/MythMOOC

nitle.org