Are MOOCs Worth The Investment? By William Stoddard

Are MOOCs Worth The Investment?

MOOCs and online education have begun to revolutionize the way kids learn these days. They are massive open online courses, and they are the new way to learn without attending an actual class or lecture. At times people believe that MOOCs are not nearly as effective as traditional schooling because of the lack of one on one time with the professor and the lack of social interaction between classmates. Too many people believe that online education is bringing a new reason for kids to not try and get into good colleges, but this is not true. The investment into MOOCs and online education is very strongly suggested by anybody that is using them because of their ease of access and current freedom of charge. The reason that MOOCs are worth investing in is because for now at least they are free, and easy to access. MOOCs are public, and online course free to anyone with an internet connection and computer.

New Times, New Technology:

Times are changing in a technological revolution through the last 20 years. Computers, and other electronical devices are becoming such a major part of society that they are being used more and more in classrooms and schools. MOOCs and other sources for online education provide an easy way for students to do their assignments and research because they will already be using a laptop or computer and won’t miss anything taught in class due to distraction. However, there are arguments that MOOCs won’t give the same value as traditional schools because they are primarily on the computer and there is little interaction with other students or the teacher. This argument against online education can be a very good reason to why parents and students wouldn’t enjoy doing online courses because they won’t be able to get a tutor or have one on one conferences with their professors. Although this is a problem, it is not one without a solution. The students would still be able to interact with their teachers and other classmates through email or video chats. Technology is improving and creating new ways for people to interact even when they are far away from each other. This creates a new way for students to contact the professors that teach online courses and discuss their grades or assignments.

New Understanding:

Parents need to understand that technology is becoming a primary source for all information and learning. Even in traditional schools students are using their laptops or computers to research and study the topics each class offers. Online education is truly no different besides not having a professor talking to the class live. All of the course materials, and classes are online and can be viewed at all times. At times this may seem cheap to those that are looking at hiring graduates. I mean if you student had all the class notes and information online while they were taking a test wouldn’t that raise suspicions? Cheating exists everywhere. In traditional schools, or online cheating will still be there no matter what is the topic. A recent article written by the Tampa Bay Times quoted a eSchool principal named JoAnne Glenn as saying “This has become a very challenging and hot topic in the classroom, as well, this same issue is real in our classrooms.” (Jeffrey S. Solochek, Tampa Bay Times. Opposing Viewpoints) The quote is suggesting that there needs to be a new way to teach students how to learn whether in the classroom or online. Cheating exists everywhere, whether people try to fix it or not. Parents and teachers alike worry over things like this, but online education provides students an opportunity of a lifetime no matter how easy it could be to cheat, they have got to trust that cheating on a test or something will only cheat them in the opportunity to take advantage of free education.


The picture on the left is from an article describing the rise of online education in the United States. The first graph which is being displayed explains how the demand of online courses is being matched nearly equally by the supply in the current market of education. The middle graph is describing the diversity of students that participate in these courses. And the final graph is the description of what courses are generally offered in the MOOC that is being discussed which is in California. The article is talking about how in a little less than a year Stanford University in California had 160,000 more students. These students didn’t attend the campus and a lot of them weren’t even in the United States. Stanford became the first major university to offer MOOCs or massive open online courses. The success rate wasn’t amazing, actually it wasn’t even 50 percent, but this one start was all these courses needed to get rolling. Colleges around the country are now beginning to participate in have online courses offered as part of the universities program. (http://www.nature.com/news/online-learning-campus-2-0-1.12590) This unique opportunity to get involved even through colleges or universities is one that will revolutionize education. Policy-makers at these universities and colleges are starting to see the use for having online courses for students who cannot make it into an actual school because in the long run it will help with their education and futures.

Benefits to MOOCs:

One of the main reasons that people will say MOOCs and other online education opportunities are worth investing in is because they are free. There is no charge for tuition, books, or housing. You can do everything from a computer that has an internet connection, and it will cost absolutely nothing. There is an article written by Michael Cusumano that is directly related to this. The title of the article is “Are the Costs of ‘Free’ Too High in Online Education?” and it discusses the symposium MIT held in the fall of 2012 about how technology is revolutionizing the way students learn, and teachers teach. Michael talks about how even though MOOCs are free, there is still a cost in order to use them. From a parents point of view they want the best for their student, and generally this means getting into a good university once they graduate high school. That is the cost of MOOCs simply enough. The loss of a college/university experience, and even the education received at that school. A strong argument that has plagued the current use of MOOCs and other online courses is how long will they stay free? MOOCs are currently free of charge because they make all of their money off advertisements. This practice is normally used by social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and search engines like Google, Bing, and Yahoo. They make all of their money off of the advertisements that other websites, or even business would like to put into an ad on that site. It provides a two way profit for each, the company putting up the ad gets publicity and will possibly gain more customers while the web page displaying the ad gains money for every time the ad is clicked on, seen, or placed on their site. MOOCs are starting to utilize this for the gain of money. All businesses, corporations, schools, anything needs money to grow and function. MOOCs are no different and are using the money they have to continue operating as a free idea. However, no one knows how long they can keep this up. The number of students that are starting to use MOOCs is growing rapidly and eventually they will need to charge people some money in order to continue the education of young students. How they will do this is very hard to say considering they can’t really charge tuition or housing. For now though MOOCs are free and it is worth taking advantage of because eventually they will not be so easy to obtain access too.

Traditional Schooling 1, MOOCs 0:

There are advantages to both a traditional school, and to online education. A few of the main advantages of attending a tradition school are: real life interaction with students and teachers, more choices for major, and real time office hours for professors. These simple things may seem like they are not that big of a deal in high school, but when in college these things make all the difference. Parents, policy-makers, and even students look at college as the next step in their futures. So why would you want to take away the social experience of college? This is a major part to any students future success. Majors are the reason we go to college as well, they are the particular subject in which students would like to attend school to study. Having more than just a few options for your major can impact your life forever and it will create new chances and opportunities for you to grow in a certain topic.

Equal game MOOCs:

Online education also has some advantages compared to the traditional schooling. A few of them are: Flexible schedule, classes you missed are all online and available all the time, and ease of access. Time and time again students at a traditional school will miss class because they slept in, are sick, or had to take a test for a different class. This is why doing online education is so effective because any class time a student has missed will be online anyway for the student to re watch and learn what they missed. Plus it would be very difficult for them to miss anything unless they fall asleep while listening to it, and thats why having such a flexible schedule is very easy to deal with for students. It doesn’t make them any lazier and it helps them keep up with their classes. These courses are also very easy to get into because all that is needed to take an online course is a computer and internet connection, as long as you have those two things nearby it is easy to access any online course you are wanting to attend.
There are definitely a lot of things people think about MOOCs and most of them are not very good for the reputation of them. Whether it is students are more likely to cheat, or they will lack the experience that a student at a real school would have. Yes these are all true to an extent. Not all students do well in the social environment of a real university, and not everyone will cheat on an assignment or test. It is the assumption of certain people that students involved in online education will miss out on the important and recommended steps of growing up and getting a career. Students need to really make the choice themselves though, and I understand that might be difficult for their parents or any adult that cares for them to let happen. There is an article discussing how MOOCs are becoming more ‘disruptive’ and it is causing even policy-makers to wonder about how they are so effective in the world today. This article is written by Michael Horn and Clayton Christensen at Wired Magazine. It discusses the different ways in which people believe MOOCs are becoming more disruptive in the community no matter how easy and free they have become. Students are in need of independence about their education, and the article describes exactly how it provides that as long as they have somewhere to start. (http://www.wired.com/opinion/2013/02/beyond-the-mooc-buzz-where-are-they-going-really/)
The last thing that I wish to talk about is the way which students need to choose their own paths. Parents and other influential people in a students life tend to push their own opinions upon the child. This is not how kids need to learn, they need their parents when they are young, but as they grow older they need to develop their own interests, and have opinions created by themselves. Education to kids has always seemed like a chore, mainly because their parents have normally made them attend and although it is always a good thing for them to go they will need to learn that college is very different. Attending a real college/university will take more dedication than anything they have ever done especially if they are an athlete, but online education does not take the same amount of dedication. It still requires the student to do well, and participate in classes but its without all the pressure parents put on them. They can take what classes they want just like in college, but they don’t have to attend the class at a certain time of the day. Both options are very good for the student, and parents need to offer their opinion when necessary, but not push it upon their children. It needs to be the students choice.

Conclusion:

In conclusion online education is worth the investment because although it doesn’t provide all the services that an actual college/university would, it helps people gain an education and a future. It is easy to access, and free of charge for the time being which is an excellent opportunity for everyone to profit from. This should be the students choice though, not their parents because eventually everyone needs to learn to be on their own and even taking online courses you can still gain that experience in different ways while still gaining the knowledge and education you need to succeed in life. Eventually MOOCs will not be free and everyone that wanted to be involved with them but didn’t act quick enough will be forced to face the fact that nothing is ever free.