慕课同心圈式发展:从高等教育破坏性创新向持续性创新模式的转变

The story of MOOCs through loops: From disruptive to sustaining innovation models of higher education

本文批判地分析了2012年以来慕课的发展。慕课在大学的实施受到多种并存且相互冲突的因素的影响。本文并非对相关研究文献进行深度述评,而是旨在揭示这些驱动因素并非泾渭分明、一成不变的关系。从这个角度看,本文认为慕课本质上是一种政策手段,被大学公开或间接地用于达成某个具体背景下政策过程的特定目标。本文的理论框架建立在教育政策过程和发展的基础上。慕课是一种全球现象,等同于在线学习或成为其代名词。但是,如此认识慕课是把问题简单化了,强调的是学习的传送方式而非对有效教学设计的深入理解。本文用相互交织的同心圈喻指慕课的不同发展阶段,以说明不同发展阶段的驱动因素具有连续性。换言之,有些驱动因素的作用可能不如从前了,但是它们依然对慕课的全球和本地实施环境产生影响。文章最后反思了慕课的下一个"发展圈",即大学可以选择部署慕课,以实现自身的目标和(或)更宏大的目标。

This article critiques Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) evolution since 2012. Rather than an in-depth review of the research literature, the paper attempts to capture the fluid boundaries between competing and co-existing drivers guiding MOOC implementation in universities. From this perspective, the paper views MOOCs as essentially a policy lever, implemented either explicitly or implicitly within universities to achieve particular objectives in a contextualised policy process. The theoretical framework is based on educational policy processes and development. MOOCs are a global phenomenon, tantamount with, or a proxy for, engaging in online learning. The limitations of this conceptualisation, which it is argued is based on a simplistic focus on the delivery mode of learning as opposed to a nuanced understanding of effective instructional design. The metaphor of loops or intertwined concentric circles of development in the critique demonstrates that the drivers of these circles are continuous. Some drivers may have diminished, they are nevertheless still playing a role in shaping global and local contexts in which MOOCs operate. The paper concludes by reflecting on and considering the next loop or concentric circle in which universities may choose to deploy MOOCs to meet their own local objectives and/or more global ambitions.