Cell Phones and Daggers: Moocs, Disruption and Change

Moocs are disruptive. 

Open education is disruptive.

The traditional gatekeepers of knowledge are losing their leverage.  Will the ripple effect of major universities 'opening' their virtual doors to students from around the world knock over the dominoes of change? 

I hope so. 

I see a world where access to information makes lives better. Moocs make lives better for those with the self-guided learning skills needed to learn independently.

Free (or almost free) access to reliable, expert curated information is a miraculous opportunity for anyone literate enough to take advantage of a MOOC.  

Combine inexpensive mobile technology with the archived course content available right now, add translation software and satellite bandwidth and the possibility of reaching across the globe into the most remote spots on the planet becomes real.  

Information brings change. Inexpensive and reliable information is a powerful disruptive agent. 

A telling example of this kind of change can be seen happening right now in one of the most war torn corners of the planet. 

Mulukan Ayalu, who may be the busiest man in Dalifagi (Paul Salopek, 2013) http://outofedenwalk.nationalgeographic.com/files/2013/01/Paul-Salopek-Oasis3-1024x683.jpg

This story by Paul Salopek, of an electronic oasis certainly 'disrupted' my thinking: http://outofedenwalk.nationalgeographic.com/2013/01/28/electronic-oasis/ 

The open education based free access to knowledge aspects of MOOCs inspire me. The short term disruption of my online world unsettles me.  

Not a bad place for an educator to be.

~ Dennis

May 1: Classroom 2.0 Webinar: the New Media Consortium

Attend: Tuesday, May 1st, for live and interactive Future of Education conversation with Larry Johnson, Chief Executive Officer of theNew Media Consortium(NMC). We'll talk about the NMC Horizon Project the NMC Horizon Reports, their summer conference, and more. With over one million downloads in the past nine years, the NMC Horizon Report series serves the higher education, K-12, and museum communities across the globe in their desire to understand the impact of emerging technologies on their chosen field or discipline.

Laurence F. Johnson, Ph.D. is the founder of the Horizon Project, which produces the acclaimed series of Horizon Reports that are now used by more than a half-million educators in nearly 60 countries, and Chief Executive Officer of the New Media Consortium, an international not-for-profit consortium dedicated to the exploration and use of new media and new technologies. Its hundreds of member institutions constitute an elite list of the most highly regarded universities, museums, research centers, and companies in the world. Johnson is an acknowledged expert on emerging technology and its impacts on society and education, and the topics of creativity, innovation, and how to think about the future. With more than 25 years of experience in the higher education arena, he has served in roles from professor to dean, CIO and provost, and most recently, president before joining the NMC in 2001.