DIY…Education? !

In the 1970s and 80s, the punk rock movement’s do-it-yourself ethos inspired young people to share unique

perspectives with wider audiences through music. !

As a result, punk democratized rock music, and laid the groundwork for dozens of offshoots and genres.

!Is online education poised to have its punk rock moment?

Who Do MOOCs Help? !

Although massive open online courses emerged in 2008, they weren’t well-known for another three years, at which point Stanford University

launched three wildly successful MOOCs. !

The instructors who taught them would go on to found Udacity and Coursera, through which they teamed with other institutions to create and proliferate more MOOCs. Courses were offered to degree and non-degree seeking students, regardless of whether they were enrolled in a university.

!Indeed, MOOCs were giving more students access to education, but they

changed little about how educators actually teach online.

Power to the Educator !

We’ve never seen so many potential educators in the course of human history. It has caused newer online educators to think entrepreneurially, creating ways to promote themselves and

transmit their course content to a growing number of students.

Still, these educators struggle with the technology required to set up online courses and schools, and thus have a hard time

reaching students. In order to truly democratize online education, we need to empower the educator.

!It’s starting to sound more punk as we go.

There’s a Paradigm Brewing !

Punk rock adherents were united by outlook and attitude. With the advent of APIs and open developer platforms, software engineering has become a more

collaborative process, often united by a vision.

By mirroring this process, open platforms can encourage other innovators to build upon an existing framework.

!Can platforms empower today’s online educators?

How can we empower our online educators?

!

Vote for us and find out at SXSWedu 2015.

!#edupunk