I, for one, welcome our new MITx online overlords.
What is MITx? Here are all the details from MIT. Let me just point out some key aspects.
- Free. Free as in "Grab a brew. Don't cost nothin."
- This is not just course materials (like the Open Courseware Project). It also includes online learning tools. I guess if you think of Open Courseware as a textbook, MITx would be the whole class.
- Oh, and open source learning tools.
- There will be some type of MIT-based certificate based on student mastery.
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Mastery vs. Grades
It isn't quite clear yet, but the announcements does say "mastery" and it does not say "grades". This could be a great opportunity to move away from grades. Really, grades are supposed to be about mastery - but I think it has been "tainted" over the years. All too often, it seems like grades are used as rewards or punishment. That just isn't supposed to be that way.
Wouldn't this just be the same thing as grades but called something else? I think not. Since this is a free tool, I suspect that people will use it differently than real classes. Why would someone take one of these MITx courses? Would it be for the "reward" or for the learning? Or maybe the learning WOULD be the reward. That is the way it is supposed to be.
Is This a Threat to Universities?
It shouldn't be a threat. But really, it depends on what universities are trying to do (and K-12 schools I guess - not sure what level MITx will address). If the university's goal is to "produce" degrees and to have butts in seats in the classroom, this might be a threat. If students look to get "their learnin done" at MITx, they might not enroll in college.
But what if a university is more than class? What if a class is more than content and assessment? What if the class is a community of learners? What then? In that case, this MITx is just another tool. Another tool that students can use in their pursuit of learning.
Really, online courses have been something I have talked about for a long while. Around the year 2000, online courses was the popular thing for administrators to push. My stance was: lets not get into that battle. If we try to compete in the online space, we will lose. We can't beat institutions like MIT at online. It just isn't a battle we want. Instead, lets focus on the here and the now. Let's focus on what we can win. We can win if we build a community of learners.
