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RE: Project MOOC - "Knowledge should be free"
I am not sure what 'knowledge should be free' means. It sounds like a slogan with little or no meaning. I wonder also how it ties in with your suggestion of 'long term monitisation'!!
That said, knowledge could be made more widely available and at lower cost. I would support that.
I actually don't think knowledge should be free. It is a commodity and should be traded like any other commodity. Those who have knowledge should be renumerated for passing it on. Why not? You might just as well say that food should be free.
Thanks @bradenford for your feedback.
Maybe "knowledge should be free" is a provoking thesis, as you also get compensated on Steemit. Your statement:"Knowledge could be made more widely availabe and at lower cost" seems to be more adequate.
IMO online learning content doesn't obsolesce that fast (same goes for many other fields). I think we already discussed on Steemit an approach of rewarding short/long term content different, this would provide an incentive for more quality content.
Thanks for your reply.
On the substance of your proposal, I guess one question is 'what can online learning provide that reading a book can't?' The MOOC model doesn't seem to have addressed that very well. I would suggest that what the internet can give is a sense of community. Mostly we learn more from fellow students than from teachers. In the 19th century Cardinal Newman criticised the new University of London because it was only an exam body, and he felt that residence - students having contact with each other - was more important than exams.
This, I think, is were MOOCs and online courses fall down. If you can find a way for students to interact in a meaningful way, maybe by forming them into small groups who can be in contact and nag each other, 'How many of the 1000 words have you learnt today?', then you might make progress.
I see MOOC more as another medium to study. Of course you can learn many things by reading a book, but let's face it many younger people prefer more dynamic/interactive ways of studying.
Bringing people together seems to be a motivating aspect. How would you do it in a meaningful way ?
I am not sure how you can bring people together. I guess the idea would be to create study groups or something like that.