Part 5 of my Top Ed-Tech Trends of 2012 series
The Year of the MOOC
Massive Open Online Courses. MOOCs. This was, without a doubt, the most important and talked-about trend in education technology this year.
And oh man, did we talk about it. MOOCs MOOCs MOOCs MOOCs MOOCs MOOCs MOOCs MOOCs MOOCs MOOCs MOOCs MOOCs MOOCs MOOCs MOOCs MOOCs MOOCs MOOCs MOOCs MOOCs MOOCs MOOCs MOOCs MOOCs MOOCs MOOCs MOOCs MOOCs MOOCs MOOCs MOOCs MOOCs MOOCs MOOCs MOOCs MOOCs ad infinitum.
The Year of the MOOC
In retrospect, it’s not surprising that 2012 was dominated by MOOCs as the trend started to really pick up in late 2011 with the huge enrollment in the three computer science courses that Stanford offered for free online during the Fall semester, along with the announcement of MITx in December. Add to that the increasing costs of college tuition and arguments that there’s a “higher education bubble,” and the promise of a free online university education obviously hit a nerve.