A new and valuable report on MOOCs in K12 education

A new MOOC report from the Michigan Virtual Learning Research Institute is an excellent review of MOOCs and how they apply—and may apply in the future—to K-12 education. From the report’s press release:

“The Michigan Virtual Learning Research Institute™ has released “What Massive Open Online Courses Have to Offer K-12 Teachers and Students.” Written by Dr. Rick Ferdig of Kent State University, the report examines the relatively new education delivery model of massive open online courses (MOOCs) and begins the conversation about the potential impacts of this model on K-12 education. The report is at http://media.mivu.org/institute/pdf/mooc_report.pdf.

The release of this report coincides with the launch of a MOOC running from October 7 to November 8. This free course, “K-12 Teaching in the 21st Century,” is aimed at high school students, pre-service teachers and in-service teachers who are interested in a conversation about using 21st century tools for teaching. The experience is designed to provide participants with a deeper understanding of MOOCs, along with an introduction to emerging and free technologies such as presentation media, online artifact creation, and collaboration innovations.”

Keeping Pace 2013 has a section on MOOCs, which is similar to our blogs posts here and here. This new report goes into more depth on the background of MOOCs, and is an excellent complement to our writing on the topic.