Education technology is a rapidly moving, sometimes divisive and always interesting, especially to us working in Higher Education.

Here’s a round-up of some of the articles I found interesting, and thought you might too.

Do comment, recommend and share.

MOOCs

Can the Current Model of Higher Education Survive MOOCs and Online Learning? – Henry C. Lucas, Educause Review

Henry Lucas, Professor of Information Systems at the Robert H. Smith School of Business, University of Maryland, College Park, analyses the impact MOOCs and other disruptive technologies will have on the Higher Education industry. He concludes that MOOCs offer a great opportunity to engage a new generation of students, and universities need to adapt their business models to incorporate emerging trends to avoid becoming redundant like the companies Lucas uses as case studies.

Let them eat MOOCsGianpiero Petriglieri, Harvard Business Review

Countering Henry Lucas’ article is an interesting argument by Gianpiero Petriglieri, Associate Professor of Organisational Behaviour at INSEAD. Prof. Petriglieri questions whether MOOCs can actually deliver the democratization of higher education, and open up elite institutions to all. Instead, he argues that MOOCs may actually lead to “colonialism” by elite universities and deepen the divide between themselves and smaller institutions.

Report by Faculty Groups Questions Savings from MOOCs – Lawrence Biemiller, The Chronicle of Higher Education

Summary of the latest report by Campaign for the Future of Higher Education. The executive summary to their report can be accessed here. The paper, backed by faculty unions in the US, argues that students are not getting value for money by having to pay for credentials from online courses which are “virtually valueless in the marketplace”. It cites the example of Georgia Tech’s fully online Masters course in Computer Science provided by Udacity as being exploitative of the university’s reputation and course content for their own commercial gain.

Gamification

Infographic – Knewton

A useful little infographic charting the history of gamification in education.

Gamification Infographic

Created by Knewton and Column Five Media

Mobile Learning

Five Fabulous ways to use Google Apps in the Classroom – Mary Claudia, Edudemic

A useful summary of how Google Apps can be used to organise lessons and allow collaboration between teachers and students.