Re: [xmca] The business of education

[Huw Lloyd <huw.softdesigns@gmail.com>]

" One definite perk for instuctors: the software does most of the grading
for them."

Looks like the machine has been there a long time, Carol.

Huw

On 30 July 2013 17:37, Carol Macdonald <carolmacdon@gmail.com> wrote:

> We already have young people who only know how to talk to people over their
> social media and not those next to them. Now we don't have the teachers
> mediating ethics and values in their relationships with their learners.
> Perhaps the new generation will only be able to mediate their relationships
> of every kind through machines - are those relationships with people going
> to survive this assault.
>
> (The epistemology of learning as linear is a huge problem, but its effects
> on relationships that are more dangerous.)
>
> Carol
>
> On 30 July 2013 15:26, Wagner Luiz Schmit <wagner.schmit@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > Hello,
> >
> > This just came out:
> >
> >
> >
> http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=how-big-data-taking-teachers-out-lecturing-business
> >
> >
> > Wagner
> >
> > On Wed, May 22, 2013 at 10:30 AM, mike cole <lchcmike@gmail.com> wrote:
> > > And lots of people marvel at the progress, Helena.
> > > bait and switch.... and pay taxes like Apple!
> > > :-)
> > > mike
> > >
> > > On Tue, May 21, 2013 at 10:23 AM, Helena Worthen <
> > helenaworthen@gmail.com>wrote:
> > >
> > >> Hello -- the letter from Meister is really worth reading. It explains
> > why
> > >> MOOCs need the CSU system (and other public higher education
> > connections)
> > >> more than CSU needs MOOCs.
> > >>
> > >> Although short-term, the linkup with Coursera to offer MOOCs in
> various
> > >> disciplines appears to solve the immediate problem of how to expand
> > access
> > >> to already crowded, booked-up, high-tuition face to face classrooms,
> it
> > >> solves a different problem for Coursera and other big MOOC companies.
> > >>
> > >> That problem is, long-term ‹ and this is an important problem, since
> > >> Coursera, like the other MOOC companies, is a private company, like
> > >> Facebook, LinkedIn, Yahoo,  Amazon, etc. -- how to make money. Right
> now
> > >> MOOCs are free, or at least some are free. How can they figure out how
> > >> much to charge? How much are they "worth" --?
> > >>
> > >> The  simplest way to figure that out would be to hook up with a state
> > >> university and say, "Our class is worth three credits at San Jose
> State,
> > >> and tuition at San Jose State for three credits is $2,400, so our
> class
> > >> should cost $2,400."  But it can get much, much  more fine-grained
> than
> > >> that, since all kinds of personal information gets collected when
> > someone
> > >> enrolls in a class.
> > >>
> > >> Bottom line- without the hookup to established institutions, all the
> > MOOCs
> > >> offer is celebrity teachers doing what are essentially TV shows or
> > >> audiotape classes (you may have noticed that the price on Great
> > >> Teacher-type audio tapes have crashed from $299 to less than $100
> > >> recently). So no matter how celebrated a professor is, it's the hookup
> > to
> > >> an institution that makes it possible to establish market value. And
> > make
> > >> huge money in the long run.
> > >>
> > >> Which is basically gutting the public education system and
> transferring
> > >> its authority to  exchange credits for tuition to a private company.
> > >>
> > >> Another argument for free public higher education -- the only way that
> > >> public education can compete against a for-profit system.
> > >>
> > >>
> > >> Helena
> > >>
> > >>
> > >>
> > >> On 5/11/13 1:30 PM, "mike cole" <lchcmike@gmail.com> wrote:
> > >>
> > >> >The following letter from the UC faculty association president seems
> > worth
> > >> >distributing. Fraught futures.
> > >> >mike
> > >> >
> > >> >
> > >> >
> > >> >CUCFA President Meister's Open Letter to Coursera Founder Daphne
> Koller
> > >> > http://cucfa.org/news/2013_may10.php
> > >> >
> > >> >......
> > >>
> > >>
> > >> >http://cucfa.org/news/2013_may10.ph<
> > http://cucfa.org/news/2013_may10.php>
> > >> >__________________________________________
> > >>
> > >>
> > >>
> > > __________________________________________
> > > _____
> > > xmca mailing list
> > > xmca@weber.ucsd.edu
> > > http://dss.ucsd.edu/mailman/listinfo/xmca
> >
> >
>
>
> --
> Carol A  Macdonald Ph D (Edin)
> Developmental psycholinguist
> Academic, Researcher,  and Editor  *EditLab.net*
> Honorary Research Fellow: Department of Linguistics, Unisa
>
>