Let us consider the following scenario.
You have enrolled in a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) offered by a world renowned university.
After four weeks of solid work you have completed your first assignment…
Red tape could be preventing online education from really flourishing in Australia.
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Regulation has always shaped Australian higher education.
Some rules have helped – like extending HELP loans to private higher education providers in 2005. While tougher rules – like the ones to define…
There is a danger that Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) may end up being more about money and less about education.
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The astonishing idealism and energy manifest in the advance of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) has taken the higher education world by storm.
Universities have been shaken to their foundations by…
Online learning offers plenty of opportunities but only if it’s done right.
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By Shanna Smith Jaggars, Community College Research Center, Teachers College, Columbia University and Thomas Bailey, Community College Research Center, Teachers College, Columbia University
Higher education, we’re told, is rapidly heading towards huge transformation and technological disruption.
Advocates of online education promise that advances in online learning technologies – by permitting…
Copyright law could make the job of creating Massive Open Online Courses more difficult.
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Another university has jumped on the Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) bandwagon this month, with the Australian National University joining up with Harvard venture edX.
In ANU’s case, it will enable…
The future of higher education doesn’t look so bright.
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Higher education, 2060: academics are out of a job. All the brand name universities have made all their courses free online, easily doing away with one side of the teaching and learning equation.
Pretty…
Can you really identify a person based on the way they type?
e y e / s e e /flickr
There are two elephants in the digital classroom. Or, to be more specific, two big questions:
Are Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) economically sustainable, a function of the interaction between market…
Will open educational resources affect all stages of education?
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By now, most of you have probably heard of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) – courses by universities like MIT and Stanford that are available for free online.
But what about Massive Open Online Kindergartens…
Time to take a MOOC – Massive Open Online Course – for a test drive.
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Anyone who has been paying attention to higher education this year will have heard of the MOOC – courses from prestigious universities offered for free online.
There’s been great interest in them from…
Free online courses from prestigious universities have caused a stir, but they won’t shut universities down.
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Last weekend, The Guardian ran an article entitled “Do online courses spell the end for the traditional university?” Had I been the one writing that article, it would have been precisely two letters long…
President Barack Obama addressing a large crowd at University of Wisconsin – could he or his competitor Mitt Romney change higher education in Australia?
EPA/Tannen Maury
US presidential elections generally have little direct impact on Australia. And broadly speaking, this campaign is shaping up to be no different.
Despite their ideological differences, Barack Obama and…
With free, quality online education from brand-name universities, will overseas students come to Australia?
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FUTURE OF HIGHER EDUCATION: We continue our series on the rise of online and blended learning and how free online courses are set to transform the higher education sector. Today, Wollongong University…
Australian humanities subjects need to get on board with MOOCs and develop Australian voices in online learning.
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FUTURE OF HIGHER EDUCATION: We continue our series on the rise of online and blended learning and how free online courses are set to transform the higher education sector. Today Ruth Morgan looks at the…
Quality education which is free online may only affect some parts of the higher education sector.
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FUTURE OF HIGHER EDUCATION: We continue our series on the rise of online and blended learning and how free online courses are set to transform the higher education sector. Today RMIT’s Vice Chancellor…
Some people could be left behind in the digital revolution in higher education.
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FUTURE OF HIGHER EDUCATION: We continue our series on the rise of online and blended learning and how free online courses are set to transform the higher education sector. Today, Tim Pitman writes on who…
Online learning has shown a better way to design courses.
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FUTURE OF HIGHER EDUCATION: The rise of online and blended learning and the development of free online courses is set to transform the higher education sector. We’ve asked our authors how to remake the…
Massive open online education could be the answer to addressing community and industry needs.
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FUTURE OF HIGHER EDUCATION: The rise of online and blended learning and the development of free online courses is set to transform the higher education sector. We’ve asked our authors how to remake the…
Are you motivated or do you need a social setting and role models to keep you driven?
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FUTURE OF HIGHER EDUCATION: The rise of online and blended learning and the development of free online courses is set to transform the higher education sector. We’ve asked our authors how to remake the…
A flexible online learning environment is what Australian university students want, so what’s getting in the way?
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FUTURE OF HIGHER EDUCATION: The rise of online and blended learning and the development of free online courses is set to transform the higher education sector. We’ve asked our authors how to remake the…
ANU vice-chancellor Ian Young says those giving away course content for free will find it difficult to later introduce fees.
AAP
Australian universities should be wary of being their “own worst enemy” when embracing Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) delivery, says Australian National University vice chancellor Ian Young.
Comparing…
How will online courses deal with assessment and accreditation?
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Many are proclaiming 2012 is the year of the MOOC — Massive Open Online Course — thanks to the arrival of major players, edX, Udacity and Coursera all started by colleagues from elite American universities…
Despite online courses available for free, university students still want the experience of bricks and mortar campuses.
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MOOCs, or Massive Open Online Courses, are gaining a lot of attention. Some commentators believe that these free internet-delivered courses are the future of university education.
Others meanwhile argue…
The rise of open online courses will affect almost every part of higher education, including the international student market in Australia.
AAP Image/Julian Smith
Mass Open Online Courseware (MOOCs) is less than a year old but it is already clear this will be the game changer in higher education worldwide. Right now it is reverberating through Australian universities…
Avoid the hype – we need to take a realistic look at the changes ahead in higher education.
Flickr/Stanford EdTech
My childhood was influenced in some measure by two great icons that no longer exist. The first was Kodak – I adored my Box Brownie and I still have the wonderful grainy black and white pics. The second…
Universities sell more than just lectures and lessons.
Flickr/Butler University
When some of the world’s most prestigious universities – including Harvard and MIT in their edX venture or Stanford and Princeton through Coursera – start putting courses online for free, it tells you…
Paying for expensive textbooks could be a thing of the past for university students.
Flickr/Abstract Machine
In the same way that free open online courseware is threatening to disrupt traditional universities, open textbook initiatives such as OpenStax College from Rice University threaten to do the same to the…
Getting students hands on experience through a virtual world is the next big step in education.
Flickr/Mercy Health
In higher education, we’ve been talking about “e-learning” for years. But, in practice, we have mostly been teaching in the same way just through different mediums; that is, delivering one-way lectures…
Entire universities may one day fit in students' pockets.
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By Gilly Salmon, Swinburne University of Technology
More than 1,000 years of formal university learning and teaching does not change quickly, or without a struggle. But we are starting to see some key tech trends engaging staff and students – and therein…
Physical attendance at lectures may become a thing of the past.
Flickr/Matt From London
Universities are traditionally seen as exclusive institutions for the few, not the many. But that is changing as a new wave of online courses throws open the doors of academia to all.
Led by world renowned…
What does it mean to be truly open?
D Sharon Pruitt
The word “open” has grown educational wings over the past decade. From the British Open University, which enrolled its first students in 1971, the concept has expanded to mean various ways of relaxing…