Hope you all had a nice relaxing long holiday ka. I now feel amused to see my family and friends talking about 'Monday allergy' as I no longer have it! Oh! I've made so many people jealous of me lae ka!
This morning, I picked up an article I read a while ago to see what I should share on my ppt, especially to ASEAN students I'll talk with tomorrow in Hat Yai. And so I think to get 2015 started, let me share with you several pieces of articles I like ka.
1. A Curriculum for the Selfie Generation by Dan Barrett from the Chornicle of Higher Education, June 2, 2014
It mentions about the need for more General Education courses to 'fit for a generation of oversharers' and many colleges offer courses about 'life'.
Florida's state law in 2013 led the University of Florida to have a 'required' course on 'What is the Good Life?' for students 'to explore that question through art, architecture, history, literature, music, religion, and philosophy.' Roanoke College emphasizes on doing higher-level intellectual tasks like synthesizing and making judgments aobut arguments to come up with courses to satisfy two requirements, namely, 'intellectual inquiry' and 'living in an examined life'.
After all, the key persons to lead the students are their professors and I now am curious what our Thai universities have done about the Y and very soon the Z generation that will enter into the university walls!
2. MOOC U: The Revolution Isn't Over. by Jeffrey Selingo from the Chronicle of Higher Education, October 3, 2014; and Can Humanism Survive the Coming by Clay Farris Naff from Humanist, Sept/Oct 2014
Over 6 million people have signed up for MOOC (Massive Open Online Courses) since 2011. It's still believed to be capable of changing the world though it doesn't seem to be that successful (only about 10% complete them) and should be best used as a supplement to formal classes for now.
Several arguments why MOOC classes don't work that well...they are like long regular ones and may need to be run differently, course materials often disappear from the web a few weeks after a class ends due to the intelletual property issue, and they don't make money for colleges.
The second article also touches on MOOC Company Coursera, founded by Stanford University 'to give everyone in the world access to a high quality education for free'. It quotes the New York Times about Harvard Business School and others are trembling over MOOC, wondering whether they should jump on this bandwagon, risking the devalue of on-campus education or to stay put at the risk of being left behind.
No matter what, I seriously think that MOOC will be here to stay to benefit learners from all walks of life....not that much for the Thais for now and our universities can maximize the use for more benefits. MOOC courses may need to be segmented to fit with the target groups' preference and requirements. For the selfie generation, it needs to be shorter with powerful messages of communication to ignite further research and thinking. With the spoonfed style of learning of the Thais, recording professors' teaching to call it 'elearning' doesn't really work that well in the Thai context as it could be quite long and boring. Shorter and more entertaining teaching styles could attract increased students' attention and learning.
I started the first working day of the year with the meaning of 'life' of and for our young generations!
Keep thinking, learning, and taking actions ka...perhaps 'acting while teaching too na ka:))!'
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