They can also help students see the relevance of studying humanities.
For example, in the video linked above, Edelman discusses the experience of having members of the Syrian resistance take his course looking for information about how nations rebuild following civil war.
MOOCs could also provide an alternative way to access courses, which would perhaps lure students from STEM disciplines who don’t feel they have room in their regular class schedules.
Much attention has been paid to the potential for MOOCs in areas like computer programming, where human interaction isn’t crucial and machine grading works pretty well.
In contrast, the discussion of MOOCs in humanities courses has focused more on the negative, like problems with peer assessment.
But if the humanities really are in crisis, it is time to start acknowledging the positive potential of MOOCs—they don’t provide a complete solution to the problem, but they can give schools another tool for their toolbox.
David Blake is the CEO of Degreed, whose mission is to “jailbreak the degree” and a contributor to MOOCS.com and Huffington Post Education. Previously, he helped launch New Charter University and was a founding member of Zinch. David was also selected as a Stanford d.School EdTech Entrepreneur sponsored by the New Schools Venture Fund and Teach for America. This article first appeared on MOOCs.com.
- MOOCs in India: A (giant) untapped audience - January 13, 2014
- Can MOOCs and the humanities coexist? - November 7, 2013