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...
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…
