One day, the people who hyped "AI" in education will pretend it never happened, and will suffer no consequences for this, just as the people who hyped MOOCs, and franchising, and unregulated recruitment, and every other rolling disaster, have suffered no consequences.
November 7, 2025 at 8:40 AM
One day, the people who hyped "AI" in education will pretend it never happened, and will suffer no consequences for this, just as the people who hyped MOOCs, and franchising, and unregulated recruitment, and every other rolling disaster, have suffered no consequences.
It's like ten (fifteen?) years ago when universities were tripping all over themselves to invest in MOOCs. Who remembers MOOCs?
<george costanza voice>oh no, i'm so sorry, it's MOOPS.</george costanza voice>
<george costanza voice>oh no, i'm so sorry, it's MOOPS.</george costanza voice>
November 8, 2025 at 1:27 AM
It's like ten (fifteen?) years ago when universities were tripping all over themselves to invest in MOOCs. Who remembers MOOCs?
<george costanza voice>oh no, i'm so sorry, it's MOOPS.</george costanza voice>
<george costanza voice>oh no, i'm so sorry, it's MOOPS.</george costanza voice>
If you'll be in Albany next week, I'll try to connect threads on anti-democratic parents' rights groups, AI, democracy, and education at a talk I'm giving at SUNY-Albany on Thursday afternoon as part of the AI and Democracy: Critical Questions Speaker Series.
November 7, 2025 at 1:41 AM
If you'll be in Albany next week, I'll try to connect threads on anti-democratic parents' rights groups, AI, democracy, and education at a talk I'm giving at SUNY-Albany on Thursday afternoon as part of the AI and Democracy: Critical Questions Speaker Series.
I also feel irreplaceable, b/c most students come to this school for “the college experience” and I’m able to provide personalized human and humane interaction in a way that fashions like MOOCs and AI generally can’t.
November 4, 2025 at 9:18 PM
I also feel irreplaceable, b/c most students come to this school for “the college experience” and I’m able to provide personalized human and humane interaction in a way that fashions like MOOCs and AI generally can’t.
Are MOOCs still a thing? They were everywhere for a while
Just like the way they sold MOOCs
October 29, 2025 at 11:50 AM
Are MOOCs still a thing? They were everywhere for a while
We learned absolutely nothing from the MOOCs experiment
Just got another one advertising a seminar on how to adapt teaching to student LLM use. The opening sentence is, "Like it or not, AI is here to stay." Logging this now for when the #AIbubble bursts.
I just heard at length about new university AI priorities, then got an unrelated survey from a university AI task force that asked if we're moving fast enough on AI and what resources I need to better use of AI. I'm sure glad this is all based on sound science and isn't just a massive hype bubble.
October 21, 2025 at 5:07 AM
We learned absolutely nothing from the MOOCs experiment
Healthcare productivity has hardly budged because ICU rooms still require a nurse on-standby, an OR still needs a surgeon, etc.
In education, labor productivity is effectively the teacher-to-student contact time (i.e., ratio). Hence, the obsession of some with MOOCs, AI teachers, etc.
In education, labor productivity is effectively the teacher-to-student contact time (i.e., ratio). Hence, the obsession of some with MOOCs, AI teachers, etc.
October 20, 2025 at 3:29 PM
Healthcare productivity has hardly budged because ICU rooms still require a nurse on-standby, an OR still needs a surgeon, etc.
In education, labor productivity is effectively the teacher-to-student contact time (i.e., ratio). Hence, the obsession of some with MOOCs, AI teachers, etc.
In education, labor productivity is effectively the teacher-to-student contact time (i.e., ratio). Hence, the obsession of some with MOOCs, AI teachers, etc.
MOOCs on steroids
In about three years the entire university pivot to AI curricula and schools and programs is going to be so deeply embarrassing. We will all pretend it never happened and I will be standing there, looking at people with a mirror in my eyes. This is all so embarrassing.
October 17, 2025 at 1:05 PM
MOOCs on steroids
Remember when UVA fired its president over resistance to MOOCs?
In about three years the entire university pivot to AI curricula and schools and programs is going to be so deeply embarrassing. We will all pretend it never happened and I will be standing there, looking at people with a mirror in my eyes. This is all so embarrassing.
October 17, 2025 at 12:41 PM
Remember when UVA fired its president over resistance to MOOCs?
15 years ago the NYT and every other provost insisted MOOCs were the hotness.
Today it’s the machine that cannot accurately tell me basic historical facts or reliably tabulate a spreadsheet.
Today it’s the machine that cannot accurately tell me basic historical facts or reliably tabulate a spreadsheet.
In about three years the entire university pivot to AI curricula and schools and programs is going to be so deeply embarrassing. We will all pretend it never happened and I will be standing there, looking at people with a mirror in my eyes. This is all so embarrassing.
October 17, 2025 at 3:32 PM
15 years ago the NYT and every other provost insisted MOOCs were the hotness.
Today it’s the machine that cannot accurately tell me basic historical facts or reliably tabulate a spreadsheet.
Today it’s the machine that cannot accurately tell me basic historical facts or reliably tabulate a spreadsheet.
It’s a good time to mention for people who may be new-ish to me: I promise that I am familiar with MOOCs, Ed-tech, financialization, credentialism. Promise.
October 17, 2025 at 12:57 PM
It’s a good time to mention for people who may be new-ish to me: I promise that I am familiar with MOOCs, Ed-tech, financialization, credentialism. Promise.
Lol, omg, I totally forgot about MOOCs
October 17, 2025 at 1:46 PM
Lol, omg, I totally forgot about MOOCs
moocs!
In about three years the entire university pivot to AI curricula and schools and programs is going to be so deeply embarrassing. We will all pretend it never happened and I will be standing there, looking at people with a mirror in my eyes. This is all so embarrassing.
October 17, 2025 at 12:38 PM
moocs!
It’s interesting (derogatory) how much more robust the immune system was a decade and change ago when it came to MOOCs.
In about three years the entire university pivot to AI curricula and schools and programs is going to be so deeply embarrassing. We will all pretend it never happened and I will be standing there, looking at people with a mirror in my eyes. This is all so embarrassing.
October 17, 2025 at 4:17 PM
It’s interesting (derogatory) how much more robust the immune system was a decade and change ago when it came to MOOCs.
I've been saying for a couple years now that the AI-will-fundamentally-reshape-the-academy craze has all the elements of the mid-2010s MOOCs-will-fundamentally-reshape-the-academy craze.
In about three years the entire university pivot to AI curricula and schools and programs is going to be so deeply embarrassing. We will all pretend it never happened and I will be standing there, looking at people with a mirror in my eyes. This is all so embarrassing.
October 17, 2025 at 12:25 PM
I've been saying for a couple years now that the AI-will-fundamentally-reshape-the-academy craze has all the elements of the mid-2010s MOOCs-will-fundamentally-reshape-the-academy craze.
MOOCs redux
In about three years the entire university pivot to AI curricula and schools and programs is going to be so deeply embarrassing. We will all pretend it never happened and I will be standing there, looking at people with a mirror in my eyes. This is all so embarrassing.
October 17, 2025 at 10:48 PM
MOOCs redux
The other thing about MOOCs is that they were supposed to be free. Run by a non-profit.
Got lots of free recordings, and then they were sold for $800 million.
Now run as a competitor to brick and mortar schools.
Free labor from scholars.
There’s a pattern here.
www.edsurge.com/news/2021-06...
Got lots of free recordings, and then they were sold for $800 million.
Now run as a competitor to brick and mortar schools.
Free labor from scholars.
There’s a pattern here.
www.edsurge.com/news/2021-06...
2U Buys edX for $800M, In Surprise End to Nonprofit MOOC Provider Started by MIT and Harvard - EdSurge News
When MIT and Harvard University started edX nearly a decade ago, it was touted as a nonprofit alternative to for-profit online course providers. Today, ...
www.edsurge.com
October 17, 2025 at 4:00 PM
The other thing about MOOCs is that they were supposed to be free. Run by a non-profit.
Got lots of free recordings, and then they were sold for $800 million.
Now run as a competitor to brick and mortar schools.
Free labor from scholars.
There’s a pattern here.
www.edsurge.com/news/2021-06...
Got lots of free recordings, and then they were sold for $800 million.
Now run as a competitor to brick and mortar schools.
Free labor from scholars.
There’s a pattern here.
www.edsurge.com/news/2021-06...
I agree. As I’ve said elsewhere (many times at this point), AI starves its host in a specific way. So MOOCs and blockchain et al are good conceptual models to understand the why but the scale and politics of this thing is sort of…particular. Similar to Trump 1.0 v Trump 2.0.
This is also where I think the MOOC comparison hits its limits. MOOCs grew out of the old university prestige economy. Ai devalues knowledge and expertise so much that admins broke that economy by welcoming it in. A new compact will be needed, for sure.
October 17, 2025 at 2:09 PM
I agree. As I’ve said elsewhere (many times at this point), AI starves its host in a specific way. So MOOCs and blockchain et al are good conceptual models to understand the why but the scale and politics of this thing is sort of…particular. Similar to Trump 1.0 v Trump 2.0.
So interesting to see how people narrate about edtech on this platform. No longer my beat, but I worked on MOOCs as a postdoc and then on many learning platforms (e.g., research with Age of Learning, Khan Academy, Coursera, online courses w/Google), and was the VP of Research at...
October 17, 2025 at 3:51 PM
So interesting to see how people narrate about edtech on this platform. No longer my beat, but I worked on MOOCs as a postdoc and then on many learning platforms (e.g., research with Age of Learning, Khan Academy, Coursera, online courses w/Google), and was the VP of Research at...
I had a friend who confidently told me in 2010 that by about 2015 there'd only be 10 colleges left in America and all students would just be in MOOCs at those 10 colleges.
October 17, 2025 at 3:50 PM
I had a friend who confidently told me in 2010 that by about 2015 there'd only be 10 colleges left in America and all students would just be in MOOCs at those 10 colleges.
a friend went from being a stay-at-home mom without a work visa to a senior leader in tech through MOOCs
yes, it takes an unbelievable amount of discipline which basically no 18-year-olds actually have, but you can change your life through online learning
yes, it takes an unbelievable amount of discipline which basically no 18-year-olds actually have, but you can change your life through online learning
The real story is never whatever faculty are reading the admin saying at MIT, or whatever. I get tired of takes based on such insular perspectives. I've watched thousands of people change their lives, upskilling at their jobs, because of continuing education that takes advantage of these modalities
October 17, 2025 at 4:42 PM
a friend went from being a stay-at-home mom without a work visa to a senior leader in tech through MOOCs
yes, it takes an unbelievable amount of discipline which basically no 18-year-olds actually have, but you can change your life through online learning
yes, it takes an unbelievable amount of discipline which basically no 18-year-olds actually have, but you can change your life through online learning
Like I think academics would currently have more useful things to say about things like information and communication on tiktok if they had managed to be interested enough to separate the hype from the real compellingness of video content years ago, including in examples like MOOCs
October 17, 2025 at 4:51 PM
Like I think academics would currently have more useful things to say about things like information and communication on tiktok if they had managed to be interested enough to separate the hype from the real compellingness of video content years ago, including in examples like MOOCs
MOOCs died and descended into heaven to become Canvas and Sakai.
October 17, 2025 at 1:47 PM
MOOCs died and descended into heaven to become Canvas and Sakai.
I was at a micro credential seminar and they spoke about how “successful” MOOCs are and micro credentials will follow - lol
October 17, 2025 at 11:38 PM
I was at a micro credential seminar and they spoke about how “successful” MOOCs are and micro credentials will follow - lol