Absent: Olinger, Woodard
Presentation: Nate, Connor
Nate
You reviewed the claim, the article, the pros and cons.
You cited a specific quote. Nicely done! You spoke as an “expert” throughout, demonstrating basic understanding of the
reading.
The editorial cartoon on Nate’s slide was pretty hilarious.
You had a nice hypothetical situation for the idea of MOOCs related to folks in class.
JJ question: Statistics about normal dropout rates. You said “I don’t know,” which is a fine answer. You also
referenced Nagy.
Connor
You then started to review the implications of this type of model.
In your Power Point, you included a nice slide with “The Wilson Technique”; this was fun and funny. Thanks for the
picture of me on the slide!
You then shared your seminar discussion questions:
1. Do online courses substitute for physical classroom courses? Why?
2. Do you think that Heller’s presentation of both sides of the argument helped your personal view about the topic?
3. What is the meaning of the allusion to Achilles (page 21) and how does it contribute to his argument? Connor
answered this well…
JJ: Felt like he wasn’t making an argument, but quoting things…
 Geyer: Argument in one line about MP3 player. MOOCs need to find a way to make this work; the CopyrightX
example balances the interaction / class size / MOOC interaction.
 Fendinger: Connor’s Achilles allusion—not a fair way for him to do it. Not fair to other teachers who would
teach Greek mythology; you shared that scholars teaching three poems would be that much better.
 Geyer: I pictured it as a Khan Academy thing. Teachers wouldn’t let this happen, people paying wouldn’t… I
pictured it as a kind of Sparknotes for humanities.
 Nick Wright: Hard to completely replace the classroom setting with videos.
 Menke: Online government class absolutely sucks.
 Austin: To attest to that, I took online health through an online service; nothing is graded.
 Noah Worobetz: Took it with brother…
 Alex: Struggle…
 Noah: Not motivated—I can screen clip the PPT
 Alex: Worked through logistics…
 JJ: Cincinnati State class over programming; glorified teaching assistant. The system can work.
 Alex: Quality of Harvard classes sound way different than online ones. Questions on multiple choice quizzes just
don’t work.
 Menke: Three main answers…
 Alex: Had to email the client… grade was lower, didn’t care…
 Austin: On the first level, the communication via email is the same with online and regular classes, but you can go
to a teacher face-to-face…
 Eble: Stressed face-to-face…
 Geyer: MOOCs are not just for people who need a credit.
 Alex: 90% dropouts…
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JJ: Passing 15,000 students… 90% dropout rate = funneling
Alex: Shows how many people don’t care…
Menke: Imagine listening to a boring history class…
Eble: Entertainment value?
Fendinger: Glorified documentary—I’d rather travel there myself…
Geyer: You’d rather take the class at Harvard…
Olinger: I agree—shared an anecdote about driving to school, heard a commercial about online school. Shared
anecdote with “Online World War II”
Eippert: MOOCs = learning for learning’s sake.
Spuzzillo: The people who are taking the class who don’t pass are still getting knowledge…
Noah: This has a lot to do with time; I see MOOCs as an additional thing…
JJ: Sounds more like John Green versus Naumann videos…
Eble: Like Crash Course?
Taylor: Conlon videos were awful… (Olinger agreed)
Eble questioned; Taylor: In a classroom, hard to know what to pay attention to… shared the Pinkerton “He
wouldn’t make his own.”
Geyer: Not interested, so wouldn’t sign up…
Menke: Plenty of videos out there, educational opportunities out there…
Geyer: Assessment hammers it home; when I read for fun, I read totally different than for an assignment… (Liam
agreed)
Menke: Not worried about a credit, why worry about mastery?
Eble: Videos about home repair… wife… can a MOOC really teach writing?
Olinger: My “assessment” was actually fixing the car…
Taylor: Guitar…
Fendinger: Watch Ken Burns documentaries on Netflix…
JJ: Isn’t the idea of the YouTube learner old news? Colleges may be behind… This may raise the question of
why we go to college, the synthesis essays we did…
Luke Weber: Learning for learning is a luxury… you shared the socioeconomic ideas…
Eble: Shifted discussion to higher education today…
 JJ: Socioeconomic elements of the issue—types of classes are limited, limiting for people.
 Fendinger: The other thing I saw is that, speaking specifically about Harvard, classes before 11 AM = no one
shows up. I’m old-fashioned about school. “I hate MOOCs with a passion.”
 Menke: Pro from the teacher’s perspective = perfect lecture in a shorter amount of time. Integrate a MOOC into
the actual classroom.
 Olinger: Like with Mr. Conlon, but in class…
 Eble: Does borrowing make teachers worse?
 Menke: If I taught, I’d have my own teaching style…
 Eble: Challenged…
 Taylor: Students getting more perspectives…
 Austin: As long as the teacher knows the material well enough for questions…
 Menke: At the same time, it then becomes “Mr. Girard’s class.”
 Sanders: Two systems streamline the second system… “A rising tide lifts all boats.”
 Eble: Adjunct professor?
 JJ: Shared his experience… “glorified teaching assistant”
 Noah Worobetz: Guy in video a professor?
 JJ: Not the prof… Wright asked him a question…
 Eble: Adjuncts…
 Geyer: Person didn’t get a Ph.D. Secondly—outside of adjunct teachers, I don’t see any professor just plainly
showing those videos.
 Spuzzillo: What if the president of the university says, “Why not hire an adjunct?”
 Poch: South Dakota State paying an adjunct…
 Worobetz: So where will the new videos come from?
 Menke: You don’t need new videos…
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JJ: How much have we updated the Pythagorian theorem?
Marshall Eippert: MOOCs as a niche market… the challenge is a slippery slope…
Eble talked; Spuzz helped
Austin: Lower tuition / affordability of classroom setting?
Geyer: Idealized teacher = the one giving the lecture; use Amherst as an example. Replacing professors with
adjuncts makes them seem like a lower-tier college. I don’t think MOOCs will take over.
Menke: That’s an elite college (JJ slammed down his hands)…”lower” colleges are problematic…
JJ: Research colleges—fewer and far between
Fendinger: Boats, tugging cow towns.
Menke: Research institute = important, but I can still do research at a smaller college.
Geyer: How many jobs in the marketplace require PhDs and MBA’s?
Eble: Undergraduate degree / graduate degree?
JJ: Some companies will pay for education…
Marshall: To Menke’s point—I’m looking at a smaller school… you do research with your professor. How do
you quantify the rewards of spending more money on undergraduate versus spending less money on a state
school? Hard to put a dollar amount on that…
Sanders: Outside of economics… I see knowledge as an evolving entity. With MOOCs, small numbers—would that
create stagnation?
 Noah Worobetz: Professors, teaching-wise, yes; yet, with students and a larger pool of watchers, that would
change.
 Fendinger: Would videos be updated?
 Noah Worobetz: Same thing with books…
 Eble challenged…
 Noah Worobetz: Shared anecdote about
 People complained about Conlon…
 Eble: Shared T.S. Eliot example of “ivory towers.”
 Sanders: Change from a monarchy to a democracy…
 Spuzzillo: Little rigid control, freedom of speech… videos will be under scrutiny, so dogmatism … we don’t need
to be afraid of a potential patent on truth…
 Wright: Conservative versus liberal… no one will make the best…
 Eble talked…
 Sanders: Our economic standing, selling MOOCs to lower-class people…
 Olinger: Father Putka…
JJ: The “cost is ease” thing—wages are increasing beyond inflation…
 Eble talked…
Connor Peed: MOOCs post videos; Jacob Menke said something about “videos living forever.” Shared an AP biology
field trip. Videos = harder or easier?
 Menke: That’s the case for science… but how much has Greek literature changed? Calculus? Teaching of the
Scarlet Letter changed?
 Fowler: New thinking about literature…
 Eble talked…
 JJ: Updating being a hard thing? Easier to make a change to a video, whereas a book is problematic.
 Menke: But doesn’t producing MOOC videos cost many dollars, much work?
 Fowler: Clarified…
 Geyer: Even if it costs a million dollars…
 Eble: iTunes analogy…
 Noah Worobetz: YouTube videos can change with new links…
 Geyer: Khan Academy does this…
 JJ: Did Conlon spend tons of money?
 Eble: Time!
 Wright: Videos at Harvard will be better…
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Menke: Anger!
Fowler: Overdramatized presentation… Nagy puts in little clips of movies…
Eble: Why come to class every day?
 Geyer: Asked Menke about his government class… relative to someone at Cincinnati State, that money means
nothing to you…
 Menke challenged...
 Noah Worobetz: Parents pay for money…
 Geyer:
 Eble: Discussion boards, other elements can serve the purpose of talking…
 Geyer: These won’t help to expand views…
 Noah Worobetz: Many people still joke around… Yappi anecdote…
 Fendinger: Discussion boards = a YouTube chat…
 Geyer: Perception of what you’re doing—“school” = more professional…
 Menke: A bit more respect…
 Geyer: People paying their own money…
 Menke: Why does our parents paying money make a difference?
 Geyer: No perception of money…
 Taylor: When it’s my money..
 Wright: Paying for a concert…
3/18/15
Nate Flower’s seminar notes on “Laptop U”
Heller explores both sides of MOOCS… talks about how they may revolutionize education for either good or
bad
Will MOOCS limit/diminish innovation? Teachers and schools aren’t going to want to redo a video they have
already spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to make so they will most likely reuse their videos for some
time… estimate the fully loaded cost to produce our MOOC to be $150,000
Do MOOCS really bring people together? They may communicate on a message board, but they don’t know
each other personally. Most people who graduate from college make lifelong friends that stay close for the rest
of their lives. How will sitting at home or at a coffee shop watching someone talk on your computer allow you
to experience life to its fullest?
MOOCs were designed to make learning more accessible and cheaper for students, yet the rich will be able to
attend the elite schools and make lifelong connections and learn important life-lesson while everyone else is on
the internet
1. Do online courses substitute for physical classroom courses? Why?
2. Do you think that Heller’s presentation of both sides of the argument helped your personal view about the topic?
3. What is the meaning of the allusion to Achilles (page 21) and how does it contribute to his argument?
Argument in line about MP3 player
Teaching methods evolve
Difference in opinions in teaching- every teacher has own style
Hard to completely replace classroom setting with videos
System doesn’t work- high school online courses aren’t as sophisticated as college courses online
No way to grade written responses
Just listening to teacher talk
MOOCS are overdramatized- need to be to get information out in less than an hour to keep people
involved/attentive
MOOCS are just to learn for fun not to get a real education
Getting knowledge is more important than getting credit
MOOCS are bad because of change in learning
Teachers have perfect lecture because record it and take time to make
People learn their own way and MOOCS could provide different options for people to learn the way they learn
best
MOOCS made by Harvard type school teachers make other university professors up their teaching skills and
adapt
Adjunct professors might become the norm if more and more MOOCS are released because the professors will
have the ability to do more than just teach so they can hire an adjunct and do what they want
Are you willing to pay for the experience of going to college?
Professors will make videos with their ideas, but then other professors will respond with their video with their
view or ideas
Are people going to be able to analyze different MOOCS and develop their own opnions about the subject?
Why do we come to school? Everyone has their own reasons
Discussion boards can turn bad quick… topics change instantly
People who pay for their education get more out of it… if you buy something as opposed to your parents you
will take more pride in the thing you spent your money on
Seminar: Nathan Heller: “Laptop U”
Posed questions from Connor:
1. Do you think that online courses are a better substitution for physical classroom courses? Why?
2. Do you think that Heller’s presentation of both sides of the argument helped your personal view about the
topic?
3. What is meaning of the allusion to Achilles (page 21) and how does it contribute to his argument?
JJ- Heller wasn’t making argument? Just saying stuff
John- Whole essay can be defined in MP3 line.
Nick Fendinger- Achilles allusion is not fair because it is saying we must “pervade through educational
systems”
John- interprets MOOCs as like a Khan Academy
Nick Wright- videos at home don’t always work
Jacob- online government sucks!
Austin- Online health sucks because the grading system was awful.
Noah- Had brother to give him a sense of a classroom with his online course
Alex- hard to focus with a computer in front of you
JJ- some programs do work, but we have to make a solid computer system
Austin- its better with an immediate
John- the purpose of MOOCs is for the people who want to take it
Nick- I would rather do….
John- It’s not what would I rather do, but what you are able to do
Andrew- Online WWII was so boring that he didn’t want to do anything
The class is focusing around the topic of what is interesting us when it comes to learning
Liam- colon videos are awful and boring
John- reading for fun is different than reading for school….. then you will only remember the important stuff
Nick and Jacob- fought John and said that we can learn things by watching videos by yourself
Eble- analogy with wife
JJ and Luke- learning for the knowledge is something a person wants to do
Luke- even people that aren’t poor still can’t afford colleges
Jacob- MOOCs allow courses to condense but it would be better to incorporate the MOOCs into an actual
classroom
Eble- we all learn in different ways
JJ- Cincinnati State has a professor who uses another man’s videos to help teach the class
John- Adjuncts are stupid for getting that job because they have a phD but they didn’t anything with it.
Spuzz- why not hire an adjunct
JJ- caused Jacob to pause by slamming his hand on the desk
Class is beginning to talk about the value and cost between local colleges vs bigger colleges
Eble- talked for a while
Me- I said that there is continuous new information and updating them is hard to do.
Class talked about the different ways to update the new information in the most effective way.
Class summed up by talking about how serious we are about school when we pay for it and when we
don’t pay for it.