Beyond Hype, Hyperbole, Myths, and Paradoxes: Scaling Up Participatory Learning and Assessment in a Big Open Online Course

Abstract

Most readers of this volume are likely familiar with the distinctive history of massive open online courses (MOOCs). Their rapid expansion contrasts with the more steady expansion of higher- education technologies in prior decades, punctuated by small bursts around the advent of computers, personal computers, multimedia computers, and the Internet. The pace of change quickened around the turn of the century with the open education movement that laid some groundwork for the modern MOOC. The acronym itself was coined in 2008 for an open course on “connectivist” learning offered by George Siemens and Stephen Downes. MOOCs exploded in 2011– 12 with Udacity, Coursera, edX, and others, suddenly enrolling tens of thousands of students around the world in free courses designed around the instruction of prominent academics. This outpouring of attention, investment, and learners was unprecedented in higher education.