Stephen Downes

Michael Fitzgerald comes out of his experience with EdX with some concerns:

• "I wish MOOCs had fewer problems. They can be just as flat and unengaging as a real-world lecture..."
• "I wish MOOCs were easier to build. I wrote about Eric Lander's biology MOOC, and came away daunted by the amount of work ..."
• "I wish MOOCs would sharply cut the cost of higher education, including at the graduate level."

But MOOCs - at least, those designed by EdX and similar initiatives - aren't designed to do any of those things. In fact, they are the opposite: they are designed to replicate traditional instruction, to depend on bespoke content, and to make someone a lot of money. See also: MOOCs: Interesting Legal Territory Ahead and read aboiut how MOOCs are designed to convert professor content into commodity content.