By Meghan Drake. They have been touted as the biggest revolution in higher education since Plato opened his academy, but a growing number of educators are saying that MOOCs — “massive open online courses” offering free instruction through cyberspace — may not be ready for a cap and gown. Academic administrators at top colleges are increasingly questioning the rigor of MOOC courses, the rates of success for students and the financial viability of teaming up with private companies using aggressive marketing tactics. Read more...

By Bob Aceti. Online courses from the world’s best universities offer a lifetime of learning.
Education is the prerequisite to a sustainable community. The economy is dependent on a flexible workforce that can adapt and innovate as markets and technologies change. It also requires a healthy workforce free from financial and negative stress that reduces humanity to a tool of special interests.
Informed knowledge delivered through education channels to each and all to their own level of ability keeps politics in check. Changing the electoral system that seems to elect the blind leading the hapless and hopeless starts and ends with informed citizens making good decisions. More...

Avec l'application Google Apps for Education, Google est déjà un familier des outils d'aide à la formation. Mais le géant américain ne compte pas s'arrêter en si bon chemin, et propose désormais un nouvel outil simplifiant la création de cours en ligne massifs et gratuits. Suite...

By Mary Russo. February 27th, the Managing Board published an editorial entitled “The Shortcomings of MOOCs,” in which they argued that although Massive Open Online Courses represent an aspirational ideal of public education, they are not worth the resources that must be expended to surmount the obstacles that they present.
Although I recognize the challenges highlighted in the editorial, I believe that MOOCs are more worthwhile than suggested by the Managing Board, as they characterize the principle of intellectual curiosity which is central to the University and to the ideals of higher learning. I hesitate to use the word education in my response, as I believe that much of the heated debate over MOOCs stems from the misconception that they threaten to replace or permanently alter our traditional educational system. On the contrary, I believe that MOOCs simply broaden the reach that our distinguished and accomplished educators have, and are a worthy pursuit for the University. More...

By Gayle Christensen and Brandon Alcorn. A REVOLUTION in education has been promised with a little help from technology. Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) are free, online university-level instruction that anyone can access from anywhere, at least in theory. They have dominated headlines in the sector in recent years.
Proponents have made bold claims for a fundamental change in higher education – drastically decreasing price and increasing access. Thomas Friedman, in an article in The New York Times, argued that nothing has greater potential to "lift more people out of poverty" and to "unlock a billion more brains to solve the world's biggest problems". Anant Agarwal, founder of MOOC-provider edX, believes they are making education "borderless, gender-blind, race-blind, class-blind, and bank account-blind". More...

Par Christine Vaufrey. Quel rapport entre un MOOC distribué sur FUN et les capitales régionales françaises telles que Nantes ou Lyon ? Le transmedia storytelling.
Comprendre le Transmedia Storytelling est un MOOC piloté par Mélanie Bourdaa, professeure associée à l'Université Bordeaux 3. Ouvert en janvier dernier, le cours entre dans sa dernière semaine (fin le 16 mars 2014). Sur six semaines, il aura décliné l'usage du storytelling multiplateforme ("transmedia") dans le cinéma, la bande dessinée, la publicité, la télévision, les comix et les jeux vidéos. Suite...