{"id":103,"date":"2014-02-11T21:57:00","date_gmt":"2014-02-11T21:57:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/geoffcain.com\/blog\/uncategorized\/when-is-a-mooc-not-a-mooc\/"},"modified":"2014-02-11T21:57:00","modified_gmt":"2014-02-11T21:57:00","slug":"when-is-a-mooc-not-a-mooc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/geoffcain.com\/blog\/when-is-a-mooc-not-a-mooc\/","title":{"rendered":"When is a MOOC not a MOOC?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n\n
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Statue of John Harvard Wikipedia<\/a><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

The Comical of Higher Ed has a headline that says “Harvard U. Will Offer Exclusive MOOCs to Alumni<\/a>.” After reading the article, the reader learns that what they are doing is giving alumni access to segments of courses and course content. The alumni are not taking a class. If it is not “massive,” if it is not “open,” and it is not a “class,” it is not a MOOC<\/b>! It is just the “online” part – it is an “O” not a MOOC.<\/p>\n

I need to put together a collection of articles that maps out how the CHE has gotten MOOCs completely wrong, and thereby polluting the discourse around MOOCs with misinformation, exaggerations and over-simplifications. It is a huge disservice to the academic community. They seem to have attempted to help by writing up an article about George Siemens<\/a>.<\/p>\n

There are a number of great discussions going on around universities, journals, and the web about what MOOCs are<\/a> and their possibilities (especially cMOOCs<\/a>). It is a shame that the CHE misses the boat so often.  <\/p>\n

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