So here's my attempt at the 'bedraggled' daisy exercise. Went old school with the notebook sketch.
I've tried my hand at a number of MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses), the smaller scale (often paid but really affordable) crash courses (like the iOS, Android development ones on Udemy) and read widely about the explosion of these across the globe. They could definitely game-changing and a potential disruptive force to the conventional educational model that we have come to take for granted.
What I've been fascinated by, for sometime now, is what kind of course (definitely didn't intend that pun haha) these kinds of platforms will take, what obstacles and impeding forces they would have to overcome and finally, if our world would necessarily be transformed for the better, the more mainstream these become.
Getting through these courses/programs on one's own is difficult without the lack of a peer group to study and interact with physically. This engagement/motivation issue is one that might need to be addressed. And for online education to gain further traction, some degree of legitimacy needs to be established in terms of the actually learning and skills obtained and if these are transferable to real work scenarios (from the point of view of employers and hiring practices).
It's also interesting to analyze why people take such courses in the first place. Is it just passive, casual education similar to reading a book or watching a documentary OR to obtain tangible skills to develop a competitive advantage at work OR even just to find work in the first place.
And finally what the large scale adoption of online education means for the future. Will it foster a culture of curiosity, awareness, learning and sharing? Will it empower those who do not have the means and access (financially or otherwise) to what is now a privilege but really should be a right? Or will it ultimately fizzle out without having the kind of impact that it could?
All questions I'd like think about and maybe incorporate into some kind of research study :)
I've tried my hand at a number of MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses), the smaller scale (often paid but really affordable) crash courses (like the iOS, Android development ones on Udemy) and read widely about the explosion of these across the globe. They could definitely game-changing and a potential disruptive force to the conventional educational model that we have come to take for granted.
What I've been fascinated by, for sometime now, is what kind of course (definitely didn't intend that pun haha) these kinds of platforms will take, what obstacles and impeding forces they would have to overcome and finally, if our world would necessarily be transformed for the better, the more mainstream these become.
Getting through these courses/programs on one's own is difficult without the lack of a peer group to study and interact with physically. This engagement/motivation issue is one that might need to be addressed. And for online education to gain further traction, some degree of legitimacy needs to be established in terms of the actually learning and skills obtained and if these are transferable to real work scenarios (from the point of view of employers and hiring practices).
It's also interesting to analyze why people take such courses in the first place. Is it just passive, casual education similar to reading a book or watching a documentary OR to obtain tangible skills to develop a competitive advantage at work OR even just to find work in the first place.
And finally what the large scale adoption of online education means for the future. Will it foster a culture of curiosity, awareness, learning and sharing? Will it empower those who do not have the means and access (financially or otherwise) to what is now a privilege but really should be a right? Or will it ultimately fizzle out without having the kind of impact that it could?
All questions I'd like think about and maybe incorporate into some kind of research study :)
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