The Need for Student MOOC Demands Broadband
Written by:
Kajeet
Resources available to those K-12 students who can access the Internet continue to expand at a rapid pace.
One recent example comes to us from EdSurge, where Dhawal Shah, founder and CEO of Class Central, writes about the growth of the Massive Open Online Course (MOOC).
Mr. Shah shares interesting details about the nature of MOOC growth. One big “takeaway” is that student enrollment in MOOCs in 2015 – 35 million students enrolled in at least one MOOC this year - was more than twice what it was in 2014. Now, MOOCs are aiming to enroll more high school students.
According to Mr. Shah:
MOOC providers have started targeting high schoolers with the intentions of closing the college readiness gap, helping students to get a taste of different majors through introductory courses, and providing exam preparation (like AP) courses. Two specific MOOC providers are leading the charge: edX with its High School Initiative, and FutureLearn with the Going to University Collection.
We applaud the expansion of MOOCs to younger students who are ready for them. We also note that with each expansion of Internet-based educational opportunities, the Homework Gap widens.
More MOOCs means more opportunities to those younger students in our K-12 institutions who are fortunate enough to have ready access to the Internet outside of their classroom. But there are millions of students without such access.
The expansion of MOOCs into the world of K-12 education highlights yet another educational resource that is unavailable to students without Education Broadband.