CopyrightX, MOOCs, and Education

[anon26940528]

@anon61221983

I think that they may not seem usefully, but are sneakily useful.

Like I said, no need to preach to the choir. But demonstrating that it’s worth thousands of dollars in extra non-dischargeable loans is a stretch.

@anon61221983

But should they?

That’s easy: no. It’s not within my control, however. I think that’s what they’re becoming, and to a certain extent, that’s what they want to become.

@anon61221983

Marx theorized that the capitalist economy was the bourgeoisie economy–if that’s true (and I’m not necessarily saying it is, but IF it is)–than the lack of a middle class means the whole house of cards comes down. You need a middle class to support an ever expanding economy, because you need people to buy stuff, because the way that an economy can continually expand is to create an endless variety of stuff, and that can only happen if you have a large number of people who can spend a surplus…

Adam Smith also pointed out the same thing. Welcome to the clusterfuck. I don’t think we have an information economy. I think we have an economy where information is cheaper, and easier to convey. I think we have a lot of people writing books and not enough people reading them. For me, it’s about surviving capitalism as we know it: A pragmatic endeavor. If we want to abolish it, I’m fine with that too.

@anon61221983

However, I will say the direction of the majority of colleges and universities now is something that will not expand opportunities for those of interested in the production of knowledge–the new mode of operations is endless adjuncting and that does not allow for the sort of creative thinking you and I value. All it does is create bitter academics.

I certainly don’t believe in the status quo. In the words of Dr. Horrible, “Because the status is not… quo!” I don’t know how to solve the tenure problem, I just feel like yearning for the golden era isn’t getting anyone anywhere.

@anon61221983

Maybe I’m something of a luddite, but I’m not necessarily onboard with technology as the solver of human problems. I think it can, but it can also cause problems as well. Technologies, especially those for profit, are a double edged sword.

Sure technology creates new problems. I don’t know if you’re a Luddite. But, I think the sin you
commit is far graver: You underestimate technology’s capacity to upend models and markets. It doesn’t matter if MOOCs (or something else) introduce a whole new set of difficulties and controversies- they might still replace traditional face-to-face pedagogy effectively. I think insisting it won’t is sitting on your hands.

@anon61221983

On rent seeking… I think maybe the issue is that not all things are going to create wealth on their own. Maybe not everything should? Somethings are just not suitable to creating wealth and I think that should be okay.

In this economy, the value of an education is becoming less commensurate with its cost. People by-and-large aren’t getting educations to enrich their souls but to increase their income. You know that and I know that. They’re my classmates and your students. I think we’re going to keep coming back to this connection between education and employment, I think that’s a strong indication of the problem. I don’t want education linked to employment more than is absolutely necessary. I think we can replace this link with testing. Let people who want work train and test. Let people who want an education get an education. I doesn’t have to be bifurcated quite this way, but I think it’s an improvement on models that require four or six years of study when two could easily do.