Beware of the proliferation of MOOCs

Now that everybody wants to do one, quality can be at risk. And your school’s profitability, too.

The moment in the hype cycle, when the first over excitement is done, and people start to mainly see the negative sides, is a great moment for me to join a hype. MOOCs have rapidly gone through the first stage of the hype cycle, and are now climbing out of the through of disillusionment. And that is often where the early majority also starts to notice the hype and join in. And this is where it gets tricky, because this is where mediocrity is joining in.

MOOCs can be, amongst other things, great advertising for an institution of higher education. An inspiring teacher, unique content, images from a beautiful campus, all can make people consider taking a paid-for course at that institution. Or maybe next time pay for a verified certificate. And maybe this is also how potential students (or their paying parents) in the near future will choose where they go to college: just take a few MOOCs to compare the quality of the courses. So, the mediocrity is not only a disappointment for non-paying MOOC followers, but it can actually cost your institution money in the future.

This week, I was in such a mediocre MOOC. The topic and intro had made me do a bit of research on the school behind it, and I found out they had a campus near to me. For a brief moment, I thought that getting a Master’s degree from them might actually not be such a bad idea. Until I viewed the first video lectures, and tried to answer some of the accompanying quiz questions. I realise that not all teachers can be Alberto Alemannos, or Dan Ariely’s, or Paul Blooms, or Michael Roths, or, well the list is long. But you cannot do a video lecture by reading out loud a text from the screen of your iPad or MacBook, without looking up before sentences end. That is mediocre teaching, at best. And if the quizzes think an answer that is a list of three elements (in this case solidity, functionality and beauty) is wrong if you include the comma’s and the word ‘and’ (the correct answer was “solidity functionality beauty”), it gets even worse.

So, I dropped the course. You can say I dropped out, but that would be too flattering for the course. I simply discarded an unsatisfactory product. And I also concluded that if I want to take a Master’s degree based on this subject, I will not go to this particular school.

If you are jumping on the MOOC-train, be sure you do it right. You do not compete only with your local or regional competitors anymore. You have a global audience, that can take courses from the best teachers in the world. And if they spend money, they will certainly not spend it on anything less than high quality content, presented by engaging and inspiring teachers.

Have you taken a mediocre MOOC? And has it influenced your opinion of a school? Share your story, here, or on Twitter, where I talk about MOOCs, too.