tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506803982752146525.post737603137736207834..comments2024-03-25T20:17:29.106+00:00Comments on Careful With That Axe, Eugene: The MOOC is dead, long live the SPOC!Dr Eugene O'Loughlinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12862889013218798392noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506803982752146525.post-1228827016972563122013-09-30T15:04:04.614+01:002013-09-30T15:04:04.614+01:00Hi Mark - many thanks for your comment, I agree th...Hi Mark - many thanks for your comment, I agree that introducing fees would add a "caveat of exclusivity back into the system". My fellow Irish folks at Alison have been successful for quite some time, and prove that it is possible to sustain a business model without fees. I wonder though, how successful others, like the Khan Academy, would be without huge donations from Bill Gates?<br /><br />EugeneDr Eugene O'Loughlinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12862889013218798392noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506803982752146525.post-5865613302890874432013-09-30T14:46:16.527+01:002013-09-30T14:46:16.527+01:00Though the innovation of the SPOC may improve the ...Though the innovation of the SPOC may improve the 'success' of the enterprise and better deliver an 'education' with a greater degree of control and precision, from Harvard's perspective, reintroducing the fees and the cost adds a caveat of exclusivity back into the system. The rhetoric from MOOCs that had emerged was that of a democratisation of education, the abrogation of barriers to self-betterment regardless of income or social standing. That was the real achievement of the MOOC—the transcendence of educational exclusivity. <br /><br />It seems with this move, the Ivy Leagues and others may again move towards that, albeit with a much lower threshold. A market must remain though for free education providers, it remains to be seen how 'open' Coursera and Udacity shall remain, despite noble beginnings. The only one that shows any signs of sustainable model-based free learning is alison.com based in the Republic of Ireland. With ad hosting they are generating a sustainable income while maintaining certificate and diploma courseware from the Open University and elsewhere completely free of charge. Hopefully we'll see more from them as education commodifies itself once more.Mark Weisenkrantznoreply@blogger.com