Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Interview with Daphne Koller, Co-Founder of Coursera

On Friday, April 5th, Penn will host the Silfen University Forum, which will discuss "Open Learning and the Future of Higher Education."  An acclaimed group of panelists will discuss this important topic, as Penn President Amy Gutmann moderates.  One of the scheduled participants of this forum is one of the most well-known advocates of open learning: Coursera co-founder Daphne Koller.
Koller, the award-winning Rajeev Motwani Professor in the Computer Science Department at Stanford University, co-founded Coursera with Andrew Ng (Director of the Stanford Artificial Intelligence Lab and Associate Professor of Computer Science).  The massive open online course platform, of which Penn has partnered with, officially launched in April 2012 and has given learners across the world access to high quality college courses for free through the internet.  While some have proclaimed this to be the ultimate disruption of higher education, others claim that the classroom experience cannot be replicated or surpassed by a digital platform such as this one.  What are Koller's thoughts on the matter?

I had a chance to catch up with the Coursera co-founder in anticipation of the Silfen University Forum to get some of her thoughts on open learning and the future of higher (and to a further extent, general) education:


MTW: As open learning becomes more prominent in education, what role do you see future educators fulfilling in the classroom?

DK: I think most educators will move to a role in which they interact much more closely and directly with their students.  Rather than spending most of their time on content preparation & dissemination, and on grading of homework, they will be guides, tutors, coaches.  They will also curate content and contextualize it, and make it directly relevant to their students' needs.

MTW: What things should a professor who is thinking of teaching a MOOC for Coursera keep in mind about the thousands of potential learners that may take their course?

DK: That they come from very diverse backgrounds: geographical, socio-economic, educational, ethnic.  Therefore, one needs to teach in a way that is more inclusive, and very sensitive to students' different needs and expectations.
   
MTW: Where would you like to see Coursera and open learning in 5-10 years?

DK: We believe in learning without limits.  I would love to be able to connect anyone, anywhere to the best education in any topic.

MTW: What is the biggest misconception you’ve seen or heard regarding Coursera and MOOCs?

DK: That they are non-interactive and non-social.

MTW: What is the most important thing that you hope everyone recognizes about the possibilities of open learning?

DK: That nothing empowers like knowledge, and that making education a basic human right can help move us closer to solving many other of the world's problems.

***

For more thoughts from Daphne Koller about open learning and the future of higher education in anticipation of her appearance at the Silfen University Forum, see her Ted Talk below from June 2012 (published August 2012):




*Although tickets are no longer available for the Silfen University Forum, you can still view the webcast of the event by going to this link on Friday, April 5th 2013 at 12pm: http://www.upenn.edu/silfenforum/webcast.html*


Sunday, March 24, 2013

MOOCs: 2 Questions We Need to Consider

The biggest buzz-term in higher education right now is "MOOC."  A MOOC (massive open online course) has the potential to give thousands of students from all over the globe free access to high quality education from top professors completely through the internet.  Penn has thrown their hat in this ring, supporting one of the big platforms for MOOCs called Coursera (Penn Coursera courses are here) and there will be a forum at Penn on April 5th discussing open learning, the principal that sets the foundation for MOOCs.

The question that everyone is attempting to answer: Are MOOCs the future of higher education? Will they continue to disrupt higher education by granting widespread free access to knowledge that previous generations have paid thousands of dollars for?  Will they unite people all over the globe as these people pursue the quest for high level knowledge?  Will they level the playing field for citizens everywhere?

I do not have the answer, however, I am optimistic.  I am a big fan of open learning and utilizing technologies in innovative ways to maximize learning. In this case, MOOCs have the potential to be amazing fixtures in education.

Because I often look at learning environment design and the intricacies that create a space that maximizes learning for the learner, there are 2 design questions that I feel are important as we figure out the future of MOOCs:

First, how should we design MOOCs to keep the learner motivated?  The foundation of a MOOC relies heavily on the self-motivational capacity of the learner. There are a lot of articles that state that many people who start a MOOC do not finish.  I am not sure that we can interpret the MOOC stats correctly as of yet (remember, stats don't always tell the whole story).  So rather than focusing on that, I'd like to focus on motivation as a whole. How can we make sure that the learner stays motivated when there's no one forcing him or her to keep going?

Second, what is the best way to design a MOOC for maximum learning?  The main issue here is even if we can motivate the learner to keep participating in a MOOC through its design, he or she may not get the most out of the learning experience that they can. If they are motivated to finish a MOOC, but learn less than or even the same as what they would have learned in the classroom, isn't that a missed opportunity given how boundless a digital environment can be?

If we simply transfer the classroom experience to an online space (by say, turning the lectures into video lectures, and then tacking on a discussion forum), I do not think this will result in the maximum amount of learning that could occur from a MOOC.  Going back to my previous post that discussed why we must learn from learners, it is important that we get an understanding of how learning currently takes place in digital environments like virtual worlds, video games, and participatory media from the perspective of those who are actually learning in those environments.  An understanding of this will help as we design any digital environment for learning, including MOOCs.

These are just 2 of many, many thoughts I have about MOOCs and their future.  I believe it is a bright future and that right now educators and researchers are working out the kinks.  We have only begun to experience what a MOOC can do and what it can consist of.  Beyond the hype, this really is a very important development in higher education and perhaps one day, in all of education.

Saturday, March 16, 2013

Why We Must Learn from the Learners

This is an interesting time to be in the field of education.  I follow the stories, the trends, and the developments, and it seems like there are nearly a million ideas about where we should take education.  From new technologies in the classroom, to the rise of MOOCS (massive open online courses), education is in an exciting, yet somewhat volatile place right now.  For everyone in support of one way of forming or reforming current education (whether PreK-12 or Higher Ed), there is another person or group that is in support of a completely opposite direction.

This is not new.  In our studies at GSE, we have learned that theories of education have always had opposition.  There never seems to be a time where there is one absolute truth.  Some may say that this is the beauty of education - that there is no absolute truth.  We're dealing with human beings, and because no two human beings are exactly alike, there's no way that a one-size-fits-all education can work.  Therefore, there has to be different theories and different approaches.  The major concern, however, is whether we as educators and administrators are so focused on the possible theories, angles, and perspectives of education, that we are not concentrating enough on the learner and the learning that takes place within education.

Learning is a phenomenon that is exclusive of education.  Education is a social structure meant to foster and facilitate learning.  When we hear stories of students who are having trouble learning (or trouble proving that they've learned something), I believe we are too quick to think about the problems with education.  Perhaps the problem is not so much that we need, let's say, to turn a public school into a charter school, but rather that we have to reflect on whether our methods of connecting with the learners of today actually connects.  Are we doing our best to really understand how today's student (digital natives as they are labeled, since they have grown up using the technology that is prominent today) receives and interprets information and knowledge?  Are we talking to the digital natives to get an understanding of why they are so interested in that cell phone that we think is a distraction in the classroom?  The answer may be deeper and more complex than "Oh they just like to be on that silly Facebook."

More than ever, this is a time where we as educators and administrators need to get to know the students of today. All of the technology that has exploded onto the educational scene is fairly recent.   It is possible that the students of today "know" as much or even more about how that technology should be used to teach them than we do, even with our extensive research backgrounds and educational experience.  I believe it's important that, as we shape the world of education for the students of today and tomorrow, we consider these students almost like co-researchers and learn with them and from them about what works best to help them learn.   Paulo Freire wrote a chapter in his book, Pedagogy of Freedom, titled, "There is No Teaching Without Learning."  Are we spending enough time learning about - and from - our students of today so that we can put them in the best position to receive the knowledge we are trying to teach them?