Will Coursera and Co meet the same fate like California Virtual University?

One of the most astonishing things in the current debate on MOOCs and how Coursera and Udacity might terminate the University as we know it, is the neglect of the history of distance education. This is an academic field with a long history and has witness the rise and the fall of virtual and online …

OER auf der Learntec: Ist das ein Widerspruch?

Nach einjähriger Pause war ich heute wieder auf der Learntec, da ich mich erfolgreich mit einem Vortrag zum Thema „„Open Education, Offenes Lernen und Offene Bildung. Oder: Willkommen in einer schönen neuen Welt?!“ auf dem Kongress beworben habe. Ich plante, die aktuellen Entwicklungen um Open Courses und MOOCs kritisch zu beleuchten, aber auch mit Hilfe …

On the role of openness in education

It’s an hour for me to be one of first authors of the brand new journal Open Praxis with the paper „On the role of openness in education“ that I have written together with my colleague Sandra Peters (University of Technology Sydney). It covers much of her PHD work on the historical research in education. …

A bigger picture on MOOCs

I was pointed to the above info graphic and asked for a brief review, so I am happy to share my thoughts. It starts with a well-known transformation in higher ed, the rise of the (tuition) costs worldwide, but in particular in the U.S. This initial position is then boiled down to mere economical factors …