Online Learning Update

August 14, 2011

Are MOOCs the Future of Online Learning?

Filed under: Online Learning News — Ray Schroeder @ 12:10 am

by Arienne McCracken, Mind/Shift

In education, we often hear arguments in favor of smaller class sizes. These arguments contend that students learn better when there are fewer of them in a class, because each one gets more individualized attention from the instructor. So it may seem counter-intuitive to support classes that can swell to several thousand participants. How can students learn in these sorts of settings? How can instructors handle the crowd? The answers to these questions aren’t found in traditional classrooms — no surprise. It’s hard to imagine 2,000 students in a traditional lecture hall having a very rich or engaging learning experience. But engaged learning is what you find among the thousands of students who participate in a MOOC.

http://mindshift.kqed.org/2011/08/are-moocs-the-future-of-online-learning/

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