One of my "Hot Topics" this week is MOOC's, which stands for Massive Open Online Course. The term MOOC came out of the Open Educational Resources movement and was coined in 2008. Thoughout this class, we have talked about a wide variety of MOOC's including Khan Academy and iTunesU.
There are two different types of MOOC's, xMOOC's and cMOOC's. An example of a xMOOC is a course you can basically audit through "Stanford University." An xMOOC is more like a traditional classroom where you learn through checkpoints, curriculum, and watch a teacher's lesson then leave. This type of MOOC is criticized for it's ability to engage the students compared to an cMOOC.
A cMOOC's is more about connectivity through pedagogy, you speak with the teacher virtually, you participate in group assignments virtually, basically you are connected with your classmates and your teacher. A cMOOC is more like this course, but it is a closed MOOK.
A lot of MOOC's are free to access, but there are some school's that have closed MOOC's that only enrolled students can "attend." MOOC's contain an almost endless amount of educational opportunity, and the best part about MOOC's is that they are mostly free! This means people who cannot afford higher education classes can "attend" classes of interest, and lifelong learners who simply don't have the time to enroll in classes can "attend" at their own pace. This is the theory behind so many MOOC's that are funded by non-profits like the "Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation" for example.
Some MOOC's offered by universities are offered at a much more affordable rate because of the cost savings to the university. These MOOC's are worth college credit and are desirable to students who can perform without direct classroom interaction.
I personally feel that a hybrid of both types of MOOC's makes the most sense. If there can be teacher and tech support but still be hands off, MOOC's will be able to remain free for students and affordable for their non-profit sponsors.
My second "Hot Topic" is about 3D Printing, something I've been interested in for a long time. Our school recently got a 3D printer and I've been very curious about it's potential with all I hear about 3D printing in the news.
The term 3D Printing is also called "Additive Manufacturing," where the printer "deposits a binder material onto a powder bed with inkjet printer heads layer by later"-Wikipedia. The process was first invented by Hideo Kodama in 1981, but was only popularized in the last decade. While "additive manufacturing" was gaining its relevance the same technology was being used actively as "reductive manufacturing" carving metal into shapes of desire.
3D printers work in correspondence with CAD (Computer Aided Design) programs, and a 3D scanner. This process allows for 3-Dimensional printing on an x,y, and z-axis. The cost of 3D printers has dropped substantially since their mainstream introduction in 2010. A printer costing $20,000 then, is somewhere around $1000 now.
One common misconception about 3D printers is that items are printed in usable condition, this simply isn't true. What happens is that each part of the item is printed independently, then you can hypothetically put the pieces together. Some of the things being printed using 3-D printers now include guns, medicine, organs, and many other items that are simply amazing!
One common and cost effective use of 3D printing is prototyping. A once very expensive tooling process is now much simpler and inexpensive due to 3D Printing. This is a very awesome use for educational purposes when students are innovating and design thinking.
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