Funny, isn't it how new words enter the language. I was introduced to the term MOOC, which means "Massive Open On-Line Course" in the sense of instructional courses that are offered (usually free) to anyone who registers, only the first of November, and now it's being profiled on NPR shows and written about in the Sunday New York Times Educational-Life section.
The occasion was the formal dedication of a brand-spanking new building for the College of Communications on the University of Texas campus in Austin, the Belo Center for New Media. I decided to attend since I serve on the Advisory Board of KUT-FM, which occupies a quarter or so of this fantastic facility with their new studio. In fact, here are a couple of neat photos of the new Studio 1A and its control room at the station.
The Belo Center dedication featured the President of UT here in Austin, Bill Powers, along with a former student who represented the students, an award-winning professor, Dr. Alves, in the College of Communications, and of course the Dean of the College of Communications, Rod Hart.
The professor who represented the faculty was funny and interesting. His comments centered on the meaning of "new media," and he was the first to say that no one knows exactly where the trends are headed in all respects. He did state that the Internet represents one of the fundamental discontinuities of communications, right up there with the development of the written word, and the invention and deployment of the printing press. He expressed concern about the potential loss of the legacy of journalistic professionalism as the mechanism of disseminating information changes in the future.
So where does our new term, MOOC, come in? It's a way to distribute educational courses, especially courses that are taught in a seminar format, over the Internet. That allows unlimited numbers of people to either audit or to take the course. I'm not sure exactly how the grading is done, in that some mechanism to measure answers must be employed. But this is just the beginning. In fact, a professor of mathematics at Stanford was interviewed on NPR about his course, which he said was registered to something like 64,000 people, with approximately 7,000 passing and getting a certificate to that effect. The course did not count for credit at Stanford (or at any college), but the certificate would confirm the accomplishment for workplace or personal purposes.
Here's a link for additional information on MOOC:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massive_open_online_course
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James Kennedy George, Jr (Jim George)
Author, Reunion, a novel about relationships.
Available via order on the Internet on Amazon and all other Internet retailers, including any book store. In stock at several book stores, including Book People in Austin, Tamarack on the West Virginia Turnpike, and in Hearthside Books in Bluefield, WV.
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