It’s not disruption of Higher Education – it’s privatization
February 25, 2013 at 5:28 am 4 comments
Great piece by Aaron Bady about the trends in higher education. I particularly liked the definition of “Borg complex” about MOOCs, which I’d not heard of previously.
So I want to shift the debate a bit. Shirky thinks in terms of “disruption” and what can come of it, in theory. I think in terms of what the “disruption” of the University of California system looks like in practice, as a complex of politicians, financiers, and career administrators move in lock-step to transform it into a self-sufficient corporate entity, and to enrich private industry in the bargain. I see a group of decision-makers who quite manifestly do not know what they are talking about and who barely try to disguise it, for whom “online” is code word for privatization. If I am against MOOC’s, I am against the way “MOOC” is being experienced in California, in practice: as an excuse to cheapen education and free the state budget from its responsibility to educate its citizenry.
via Tree Sitting – The New Inquiry.
Entry filed under: Uncategorized. Tags: MOOCopalypse, MOOCs, public policy.
1.
josh giesbrecht (@joshgiesbrecht) | February 25, 2013 at 9:59 am
Is that italicized bit a quote, or is it your writing? I don’t see it in the article you linked to. (Great source and great point, though.)
2.
Mark Guzdial | February 25, 2013 at 10:26 am
It’s in the original piece by Aaron Bady. I linked to the reference he gave for it.
3.
nickfalkner | February 25, 2013 at 7:09 pm
Thanks, Mark, I needed something well-written, factual but depressing in the lead up to SIGCSE. I may have to refer to Borg Complex extensively in my LATICE talk.
4.
Michael Sacasas | February 25, 2013 at 11:30 pm
I appreciate the link to my “Borg Complex” post. Examining the rhetoric of technological determinism and the uses to which it is put has become a research interest of mine. You may want to take a look at a tumblr blog I’ve set up as a database of Borg Complex rhetoric and related materials: http://frailestthing.tumblr.com
Thanks again,
Mike