With all the buzz about the Grand MOOC Pivot of Saint Sebastian that word could not help but transport me back to my 1970s youth and the classic game of Pivot Pool (I had this game, but to date, have never had a real pool table).
cc licensed ( BY SA ) flickr photo shared by Alan Levine
All it took was some swapping out of Lucille Ball for The Great Pivoter, and for fun, the Happy Well Adjusted Coursera family enjoy the game as well. My blending of the MOOCers is not quite in the 1970s tint of the game box. Oh well. Plus a bit of text modifications. Long live the clone brush.
For reference, the original
It is after all a game for players…
THE GREAT
EDUCATION DISRUPTION
GAME FOR THE
ENTIRE WORLD
All you do is:
AIM FOR HIGHER ED
and
ADJUST WHEN THE STUDENTS SUCK
finally
TURN IT TO CORPORATE
TRAINING; ITS EASIER
Guess who wins this game?
UPDATE Nov 20, 2013: We now have a theme song for this game thanks to @dkernohan and @VivienRolfe
I’m guessing that the learners don’t win?
Thanks to the link back to the article about Thrun and the lively discussion going on there. My response was:
Thrun seems able to battle through some of his assumptions about online students but not all. He has bought into the institutional myth of the value of completion.
He probably reads every book he starts, too, because no one has ever told him the startling concept that it’s okay to buy a book because you only want/need to read two non-contiguous chapters. Or you want to datamine the endnotes.
The pleasure in a MOOC is in picking and choosing what of the class I want to learn. I meet other smart people; I do some interesting assignments which are of value to me and which I may or may not turn in. Turning in assignments is often more about ego or wanting to be seen than any real desire for feedback, and I often don’t have that ego need.
I have plenty of college degrees and postgraduate certificates, so I don’t need another degree, I don’t need to finish the class, and I sure as heck don’t need the stress that comes with the pressure to complete.
I want to learn what I want to learn at a rate that sustains my interest in the material and my pleasure in the class.
It ain’t broke, Thrun, so please don’t try to fix it on my account. I will resist, passively.