Two worlds, two Shapiro: xMOOC and cMOOC
About MOOC or MOOK (Massive Open Online Courses) in general, everything is somehow known. But not everyone knows, in fact there are two radically different approaches.
Although the history of MOOC, though quite short, is interesting enough. It dates back to 6 years ago, in the already distant 2008, when Canadian researchers Stephen Downes and George Siemens opened an online course on connectivity and related knowledge. It was accessible to all comers and free of charge, and over two thousand people signed up for it.
The industry of courses, as well as their audience, has greatly grown since that time, and many of the world's leading universities are actively working to create and support the MOOC.
The leaders of this movement are American “titans” Harvard, Stanford and Massachusetts Technological University, which gather several hundred thousand students for their courses, but more and more countries and universities are picking up this trend. Its platforms for MOOK are actively being created in Europe, Asian countries, and Australia. In Russia, Lectorium became one of the pioneers in this industry.
Picture to attract attention from the course of Igor Asonov Engineering .
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So there are new approaches to the format of online courses. Stephen Downes stated that the absolute majority of courses today can be divided into two types: X-MOOK and B-MOOK (xMOOC and cMOOC).
The concept of X-MOOK more suited to the description of the classic open online course. It has a beginning and an end, it includes lectures, interactive tests for lectures and a section where you can directly ask a question to a teacher or discuss something with fellow students. In addition, students generally must comply with the terms that administrators offer them. That is, if you have not listened to a lecture for a certain time or did not pass an interactive test on time, you will most likely be dismissed from the course.
X-MOOK are usually supported by universities and are more likely to focus on a more traditional, academic approach to mastering the material. That is why such courses are considered more authoritative and “correct” in the educational environment. Nevertheless, to speak about what is better and what is worse is an extremely ungrateful thing in our case simply because the “X-” and “C-” courses are of a completely different nature.
Unlike the first ones, the C-MOOC is based on the participants' communication and discussion of various topics. And this very "C-" is nothing more than the first letter of the English word "connectivism". The concept uses the theory of connected knowledge (connective knowledge), the theory that learning takes place in a network-connected group of people who actively use blogs, wikis, social networks to search for knowledge, training communities and people with similar interests to create and develop various areas of knowledge .
The C-MOOC organizers actively encourage this behavior, and independently collect and systematize the results of this activity (blogs, posts on social networks, tweets, etc.) and then regularly send all the material they accumulate to all participants. Another feature of such courses is that they usually do not have the support of large organizations and large amounts of funding. They are organized by a group of enthusiasts who spend their time and energy creating a system for the formation, expansion and dissemination of knowledge based on the interaction of interested people from around the world.
This approach has greater flexibility and sensitivity to the specific needs of its members. Another big advantage of this approach is the socialization of the participants - the search for like-minded people and the possibility of expanding the network of contacts.
It is difficult to say in which direction the development of the MOOC will proceed. Many sites promoting X-MOOC are now striving to make their courses more responsive to the needs of the audience, while the B-MOOC continues to evolve towards improving the reliability of information.
Personally, I believe that the role of customized online education will grow steadily, and what forms it will take in the future will depend on the needs of the market. We live in a very interesting time.
Although the history of MOOC, though quite short, is interesting enough. It dates back to 6 years ago, in the already distant 2008, when Canadian researchers Stephen Downes and George Siemens opened an online course on connectivity and related knowledge. It was accessible to all comers and free of charge, and over two thousand people signed up for it.
The industry of courses, as well as their audience, has greatly grown since that time, and many of the world's leading universities are actively working to create and support the MOOC.
The leaders of this movement are American “titans” Harvard, Stanford and Massachusetts Technological University, which gather several hundred thousand students for their courses, but more and more countries and universities are picking up this trend. Its platforms for MOOK are actively being created in Europe, Asian countries, and Australia. In Russia, Lectorium became one of the pioneers in this industry.
Picture to attract attention from the course of Igor Asonov Engineering .
')
So there are new approaches to the format of online courses. Stephen Downes stated that the absolute majority of courses today can be divided into two types: X-MOOK and B-MOOK (xMOOC and cMOOC).
The concept of X-MOOK more suited to the description of the classic open online course. It has a beginning and an end, it includes lectures, interactive tests for lectures and a section where you can directly ask a question to a teacher or discuss something with fellow students. In addition, students generally must comply with the terms that administrators offer them. That is, if you have not listened to a lecture for a certain time or did not pass an interactive test on time, you will most likely be dismissed from the course.
X-MOOK are usually supported by universities and are more likely to focus on a more traditional, academic approach to mastering the material. That is why such courses are considered more authoritative and “correct” in the educational environment. Nevertheless, to speak about what is better and what is worse is an extremely ungrateful thing in our case simply because the “X-” and “C-” courses are of a completely different nature.
Unlike the first ones, the C-MOOC is based on the participants' communication and discussion of various topics. And this very "C-" is nothing more than the first letter of the English word "connectivism". The concept uses the theory of connected knowledge (connective knowledge), the theory that learning takes place in a network-connected group of people who actively use blogs, wikis, social networks to search for knowledge, training communities and people with similar interests to create and develop various areas of knowledge .
The C-MOOC organizers actively encourage this behavior, and independently collect and systematize the results of this activity (blogs, posts on social networks, tweets, etc.) and then regularly send all the material they accumulate to all participants. Another feature of such courses is that they usually do not have the support of large organizations and large amounts of funding. They are organized by a group of enthusiasts who spend their time and energy creating a system for the formation, expansion and dissemination of knowledge based on the interaction of interested people from around the world.
This approach has greater flexibility and sensitivity to the specific needs of its members. Another big advantage of this approach is the socialization of the participants - the search for like-minded people and the possibility of expanding the network of contacts.
It is difficult to say in which direction the development of the MOOC will proceed. Many sites promoting X-MOOC are now striving to make their courses more responsive to the needs of the audience, while the B-MOOC continues to evolve towards improving the reliability of information.
Personally, I believe that the role of customized online education will grow steadily, and what forms it will take in the future will depend on the needs of the market. We live in a very interesting time.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/223607/
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