Delivered as part of Mind to MOOCs seminar hosted by the Open University of China, Beijing (20.10.2013)

1. MOOCS AND
CONVENTIONAL
UNIVERSITIES: ISSUES
Dr. Alan Bruce
Vice-President EDEN
Seminar: Mind to MOOCS
Open University of China
Beijing, 20 October 2013

2. Tracing the path
• MOOCs: symptom not cause of major re-appraisal of role of the
University in the 21st century
• Issues pre-date MOOCs
• Reform of structure, governance, ownership and transparency
increasingly important
• National priorities in a competitive and globalized world
• Internationalized imperatives and comparative pressures
• Authority, credibility and authenticity in a disrupted socio-economic
universe
• Neutrality and objectivity versus vested interest
• Quality, reliability and standards in the storm of technological
transformation

3. Addressing needs: role of the University
• Offering a highly valued learning environment for personal growth
in a time of radical change.
• Relevance in a technologically connected and evolving world
• Fostering critical thinking and the formation of values
• Providing imaginative alternatives in a time of crisis
• Facilitating access to diverse and non-traditional learners
• Maintaining independence and objectivity in research priorities
• Providing valued learning outcomes for a vastly altered student
population
• Moving beyond Western models of assumed timeless excellence

4. Facts that dare not speak their name
• Cost reduction
• Revenue generation
• Value for money
• Branding
• Commodification of knowledge
• Privatization and ownership of materials
• Business Model of Higher Education
• Generalized crisis in K-12 schooling systems, conditions and learning
outcomes in most countries
• HEI pre-existing resistance to technological innovation

5. Trending themes
• Issues on commercialization and corporate interest in HE pre-date
MOOCs
• Heated debate reflects a more general uncertainty about the
traditional role of HEIs in the era of MNCs and globalization
• MOOCs are not an isolated issue – connect also to society,
economy, CPD environment, training
• Current university issues: responding not ignoring MOOCs,
sustainability, pedagogy, credit, capacity
• Impact on lifelong systems and structures
• Impact of disruption in labor market outcomes
• Anglo-centric core: imperial control or true internationalism?
• Innovation may occur in the periphery – geographic and social

6. Summary
• Relevance beyond mere cost
• MOOCs reflect a more fundamental restructuring in global learning
systems
• Traditional universities are undergoing profound change and
MOOCs reflect aspects of that change
• Responding to fundamental sociological and economic
transformations
• Who owns knowledge? Knowledge as a tradable commodity.
• Who owns wisdom?

7. Thank you
Dr. Alan Bruce:
Vice President
EDEN European Distance and E-learning Network
abruce@ulsystems.com