Abstract
MOOCs have engendered excitement around their potential to democratise education. They appear to act as a leveller and offer equal opportunity to millions of learners worldwide. Yet, this alluring promise is not wholly achieved by MOOCs. The courses are designed to be used by people who are already able to learn, thereby excluding learners who are unable to learn without direct tutor support. The solutions to this problem tend to focus on the course, as ‘learning design’ or ‘learning analytics’. We argue that effort needs to be focused on the learner directly, supporting him or her to become an autonomous learner. Supporting millions of people to become autonomous learners is complex and costly. This is a problem where education is shaped principally by economic and neoliberal forces, rather than social factors. However, ‘automated’ solutions may result in attempts to quantify learners’ behaviours to fit an ‘ideal’. There is a danger that overly simplified solutions aggravate and intensify inequalities of participation.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Anderson, T. (2013). Promise and/or peril: MOOCs and open and distance education. Commonwealth of learning.
Biesta, G. (2005). Against learning. Nordic Educational Research, 25(1), 54–66.
Biesta, G. (2009). Good education in an age of measurement: On the need to reconnect with the question of purpose in education. Education Assessment Evaluation and Accountability, 21(1), 33–46.
Boga, S., & McGreal, R. (2014). Introducing MOOCs to Africa: New economy skills for Africa program. Available from https://auspace.athabascau.ca/bitstream/handle/2149/3473/MOOCs_in_Africa_2014_Boga-McGreal-2.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y.
British Council. (2014). Understanding India Report. Retrieved from: https://www.britishcouncil.org/sites/default/files/understanding_india_report.pdf.
Council Canada. Retrieved from http://www.downes.ca/files/Connective_Knowledge-19May2012.pdf.
Daniel, J., Cano, E. V., & Cervera, M. G. (2015). The future of MOOCs: Adaptive learning or business model? International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education, 12(1), 64–73.
Downes, S. (2012). Connectivism and connective knowledge: Essays on meaning and learning networks. Ottawa, ON: National Research.
Dua, A. (2013). College for All. In Voices on society: The art and science of delivery. New York: McKinsey & Company. Retrieved from http://voices.mckinseyonsociety.com/college-for-all/.
Equipping people to stay ahead of technological change. (2017, January 14). The Economist. Retrieved from https://www.economist.com/news/leaders/21714341-it-easy-say-people-need-keep-learning-throughout-their-careers-practicalities.
Field, J. (2000). Lifelong learning and the new educational order. Stoke on Trent, UK: Trentham Books.
Godwin-Jones, R. (2014). Global reach and local practice: The promise of MOOCS. Language Learning and Technology, 18(3), 5–15.
Guàrdia, L., Maina, M., & Sangrà, A. (2013). MOOC design principles: A pedagogical approach from the learner’s perspective. eLearning Papers, (33), 1–6.
Hanushek, E. A., Jamison, E. A., Jamison, D. T., & Woessmann, L. (2008). Education and economic growth. Education Next, 8(2), 62–70.
Hood, N., & Littlejohn, A. (2016). Quality in MOOCs: Surveying the terrain. Burnaby, Canada: Commonwealth of Learning.
ICEF. (2012, July 16). China and India to produce 40% of global graduates by 2020. ICEF Monitor. Retrieved from http://monitor.icef.com/2012/07/china-and-india-to-produce-40-of-global-graduates-by-2020/.
Illeris, K. (Ed.). (2009). Contemporary theories of learning: learning theorists… in their own words. London, UK: Routledge.
Illeris, K. (2014). Transformative learning and identity. Journal of Transformative Education, 12(2), 148–163.
Kellner, D. (2004). Technological transformation, multiple literacies, and the re-visioning of education. E-Learning, 1(1), 9–37.
Kennedy, J. (2014). Characteristics of massive open online courses (MOOCs): A research review, 2009–2012. Journal of Interactive Online Learning, 13(1), 1–15.
Knox, J. (2016). Posthumanism and the massive open online course: Contaminating the subject of global education. New York, NY: Routledge.
Littlejohn, A., Hood, N., Milligan, C., & Mustain, P. (2016). Learning in MOOCs: Motivations and self-regulated learning in MOOCs. The Internet and Higher Education, 29, 40–48. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.iheduc.2015.12.003.
Liyanagunawardena, T. R., Adams, A. A., & Williams, S. A. (2013). MOOCs: A systematic study of the published literature 2008–2012. The International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, 14(3), 202–227.
Lockyer, L., Heathcote, E., & Dawson, S. (2013). Informing pedagogical action: Aligning learning analytics with learning design. American Behavioral Scientist, 57(10), 1439–1459.
Margaryan, A., Bianco, M., & Littlejohn, A. (2015). Instructional quality of massive open online courses (MOOCs). Computers & Education, 80, 77–83.
Milligan, C., Margaryan, A., & Littlejohn, A. (2013). Patterns of engagement in connectivist MOOCs. Journal of Online Learning and Teaching, 9 (2), 149–159. Retrieved from http://jolt.merlot.org/vol9no2/milligan_0613.htm.
Olssen, M., & Peters, M. A. (2005). Neoliberalism, higher education and the knowledge economy: From the free market to knowledge capitalism. Journal of education policy, 20(3), 313–345.
Selwyn, N. (2012). Education in a digital world: Global perspectives on technology and education. New York, NY: Routledge.
Selwyn, N. (2016). Is technology good for education. Cambridge, UK: Polity Books.
Siemens, G. (2014). Connectivism: A learning theory for the digital age. International Journal of Instructional Technology and Distance Learning, 2(1). Retrieved from http://www.itdl.org/Journal/Jan_05/article01.htm.
Acknowledgements
The authors wish to thank Vicky Murphy of The Open University for comments and for proofing this chapter.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Littlejohn, A., Hood, N. (2018). The [Un]Democratisation of Education and Learning. In: Reconceptualising Learning in the Digital Age. SpringerBriefs in Education(). Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-8893-3_2
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-8893-3_2
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore
Print ISBN: 978-981-10-8892-6
Online ISBN: 978-981-10-8893-3
eBook Packages: EducationEducation (R0)