Moocs Discussed Massive Open Online Curses (Moocs)

MOOCs Discussed Massive Open Online Curses (MOOCS) The contemporary society has seen an increase in the use of technology with a significant increase in the information technology advancement more than any other sectors of technology. Over the last decade the conveying of messages and communication has seen a great revolution where both data and voice messaging has been greatly improved.

With these improvements, there have emerged more interactive means of communication in real time hence the emergence of use of online interactivity not just for daily communication but for education as well. The growth of MOOCs has been unprecedented within a short time as compared to the pace that the traditional education in a class took to spread to the extent it has currently.

With this expansion come different perspectives on the same from scholars and other critics, some defending while some on the offensive of the whole idea of MOOCs. Thomas Friedman's view From the onset, Friedman supports the MOOCs as a very viable way of ensuring the largest number of people possible get quality education and consequently pulling them out of poverty by allowing them, once they have been equipped with the education, to look for better jobs or improve the productivity in the job they have.

Friedman also sees the MOOCs as a gateway to having many people, some of whom cannot afford he conventional college cost getting the chance to access the college education and consequently acquiring the necessary skills to handle complex tasks that otherwise they would not manage. In his defense of this system of education, he gives practical examples of colleges that have successfully acquired the expansion in numbers over the last one year or so in such exponential measure that was not foreseen.

Friedman posits that with the ever expanding information technology, the information is deposited in the public domain and the challenge will not be what one knows but what they can do with that which they know. This is when the MOOCs come in handy to give the teachers the platform to use what they know in large scale to influence the large number of students who are available online and the conventional education system that is confined to the class restricts the access and connectivity to these students (EdWriter, 2013).

The other central argument in support of the MOOCs is that students are not forced into taking courses that they feel are not relevant to the skills they need to acquire. They will only enroll in the course that are in line with the skills that they are looking for and in effect saving them a lot of valuable time.

Friedman also supports the MOOCs on the grounds that one is not tied or limited to the University of Choice since a student can choose to take all his courses from one university or decide to split up the courses among universities of choice and hence acquire relevant skills in each area from different universities as he may deem suitable (Friedman T., 2013).

Karen Head perspective on MOOCs (Karen Head, 2013:B24) Karen seem to recognize that the MOOCs are in effect within the contemporary society and the current education system and in a way inevitable hence she has to delve in the debate about it. She however feels that there is too much of a burden to be handled in the pursuit for MOOCs.

She summarizes that the lessons she learnt about MOOCs is that "The time demands, logistics, and politics of developing a MOOC will burry you…" incase one decides to get involved in MOOCs. This presents her as pessimistic about the program as opposed to Friedman. Karen also presents doubt over the evaluation process and how less rigorous than the conventional approach this can be, she also questions on what basis the credits will be given.

The distance between the lecturer or the teacher and the student who may be located miles away from each other and the only contact they have is the virtual contact makes it hard for the lecturer to verify that the exams and the assignments given are actually done by the individual and that there is development and progress on the side of the student. The other point of contention that Karen presents is that the safety and privacy issues that may be associated with teaching of these MOOCs.

This is in light of the fact that the lecturer will have an open and public email from where he will be communicating with students and there is bound to be a lot of communication coming in from students, there is possibility of these numerous emails from allover the world distracting his normal work schedule and even being abused by some students hence compromising the privacy of the lecturer.

Technically once one agrees to teach MOOCs, then he agrees to be a public figure with the consequences that come with such a status. Karen also indicates that even though one may be teaching large classes, if he chooses to switch to the MOOCs, then there are several adjustments that need to be made for instance extending the timeline as well as significantly adjusting the curriculum. She indicates that there are on average eight more hours that are needed in preparation for MOOCs as compared to the traditional class lectures.

Karen also decries the lack of.