In part 1 of this post found on the Los Angeles Review of Books blog, four academics provide initial position papers on MOOCs.
http://lareviewofbooks.org/essay/moocs-and-the-future-of-the-humanities-a-roundtable-part-1
Al Filreis ’78 (professor at University of Pennsylvania) talks about his modern and contemporary American poetry (English 88) class that he has taught for 30 years. “The interactive, collaboration-based mode of the course has emerged from the material — “naturally,” as it were — and about 20 years ago I stopped lecturing entirely.” Filreis has been teaching this course online for about 20 years and has recently offered a MOOC.
Cathy N. Davidson (Duke University) discusses the educational access angle to MOOCs. “I don’t want a society that massively excludes so many students, nor one where you have to be better than perfect to gain admission to your state university.”
Ray Schroeder (University of Illinois Springfield) discusses his roots in a small liberal arts institution and his teaching online for the past decade. “The social constructivist principles of what scholars of education call the “community of inquiry” thrive online through teaching presence, social presence, and cognitive presence. Those are the very same principles that led to success the liberal arts college experience decades ago.”
Ian Bogost (Georgia Institute of Technology) talks about the different non-educational motivations for offering MOOCs (maybe good, maybe not so good). “Even if MOOCs do sometimes function as courses (or as textbooks), a minority of their effects arises from their status as educational experiences. Other, less obvious aspects of MOOCs exert far more influence on contemporary life.”