Ed Startup 101

In the spirit of broadening the massive, ubiquitous learning networks we stuff under the MOOC umbrella, I present Ed Startup 101, a MOOC (labeled as such by its creators, though they make sure to define it outside of that auspice) designed around the ingredients and considerations for people interested in the world of Educational Technology start-ups.

I first became aware of Ed Startup 101 through following Richard Culatta on Twitter. I met Mr. Culatta in March at the Department of Educational Technology as part of a contingent from Pepperdine University. We had a group discussion for an hour, and I had a few minutes at the end to ask Mr. Culatta several questions.

MOOCs and the Teaching Profession

Months ago I had a conversation with a friend of mine who works for an organization with strong ties to the charter school movement.  I respect him and a mutual friend of ours, and because I have a visceral problem with the charter school movement, I wonder how he and this other friend could have dedicated their lives to education yet be advocating for school choice and ravaging Diane Ravitch through social media.  I told this friend I wanted to understand his POV on the charter school movement, letting him know I was at best a skeptical audience.  We talked civilly the entire time and I felt like it was an eye-opening experience for the both of us, but I walked away from the conversation focused on one exchange:  I expressed dismay at the continual turnover of teachers in charter organizations was not only harmful for students at the school (as The Onion illustrates here), but was aiding in the erosion of teaching as a profession.  My friend’s response was simple:  I do not believe teaching is a profession.

Along with the hype, there is a lot of fear in the pundrity and commentary in relation to the MOOC movement:  if massified ed takes place on this global, global scale, what happens to teachers?

Predicting the Future = Knowing the Past

I made a comment during the first week of reading in the Current/Future State of Higher Education (#cfhe12), lamenting the lack of readings that withstood academic rigor, most notably through the journal process.  Academic journals are a source of contention and fight in open access circles (#oped12), and there are a number of journals that have already gone open access, continuing to vet and peer-review rigorous research while opening its books to anyone interested.

The International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning is such an open journal, and readings from it have helped guide my understanding of the history of distance and online education.  Within its electronic pages I have found history, perspective, dissent, and most importantly theoretical and research rationale for posits and claims.  So I wonder why, at this point in my cMOOC readings for cfhe12 and oped12, I have not found any articles from this journal, considering the ones I have encountered so far paint a great road map leading us from the dawn of industrial education to the massification precipice we are at today.

More from Week 1 of #CFHE12 – The Invisible College, Eroding Teachers, etc.

Continuing through my lit review log (which I plan to follow later in the week with some attempt at synthesis) of the first week of Current/Future State of Higher Education cMOOC:

Three Reasons Why India Will Lead EdTech in the 21st Century – Dr. Joshua Kim flags India as the prime sector for educational technology growth in the 21st Century, due to demand, culture and mobility (of devices and use).  Reading his thoughts, I wonder what his definition of educational technology is.  Is it apps?  Software?  Data collection and learning analytics?  

Future of Higher Education (#cfhe12) Readings – Week 1 (part 1)

The link between MOOCs and the future of education is pretty blatant, so I enrolled in the Siemens & Downes cMOOC The Current/Future State of Higher Education, running over the next few weeks.  The first week is dedicated to what is driving change throughout higher education.

• UNESCO Report on Trends in Global Education (2009) – What I found especially interesting about this piece was the use of the term massification, used in such a way that it was something I should have been aware of as a scholar of emerging trends in higher ed.