A MOOC platform open to all?

Observaciones de Tony Bates sobre la plataforma de software libre de Stanford/EdX para MOOC Class2Go, y sobre el anuncio de software para evaluar automáticamente trabajos académicos. El desarrollo de software libre para MOOC es en principio positivo, dado que permitiría a cualquier institución ofrecer sus cursos en línea abiertos y masivos, sin pasar por "operadoras comerciales" como Coursera. Sin embargo, se agradecería que el enfoque de este software fuese menos conductista y centrado en los contenidos, y contemplase por ejemplo la gestión de foros de debate a gran escala.

The bigger question is when will these Ivy League engineers start talking to educators about pedagogy, educational validity, and the nature of learning? I have no objection in principle about researching and developing teaching approaches that will work on a very large scale, so long as they adequately deal with the essentials of teaching and learning, and not just build what is relatively easy to develop in engineering terms.

This is what makes the current focus within x-MOOCs so infuriating. There is clearly huge potential for some major breakthroughs in developing large-scale, low-cost education, but some recognition that this needs to be a team effort that requires educational as well as engineering input on an equal basis is absolutely essential, otherwise it can end up being an extremely dangerous and destructive development, given the weight given to Ivy League developments in the mainstream media.