1. Virtue
1.1. Do we desire to become a more educated, and in turn understanding, society?? If the answer is yes, which i believe it to be, then, we should seek the most widely distributed form of education.
2. Pros
2.1. Free/Low Cost
2.2. Widely distributed knowledge
2.2.1. Diverse usership
2.2.1.1. Geographically
2.2.1.2. Economically
2.2.1.3. Politically
2.3. Accessibility
2.3.1. The Interwebz are everywhere
2.4. Repeatable
2.4.1. Re-watch lectures
2.4.2. View lessons multiple times
2.5. Condensed
2.5.1. Large amount of information can be covered relatively quickly
2.6. Mostly serious students that actually complete
3. Cons
3.1. Easy to cheat
3.1.1. Google...that is all
3.2. Non-credit (Certificates awarded for successful completion)
3.3. Large initials #s
3.4. Loss of student/teacher relationship
3.5. Little to no contact between instructor and student
4. Stakeholders
4.1. Primary
4.1.1. Students (both in MOOCs and traditional)
4.1.2. Professors ^^
4.1.3. MOOC service companies
4.1.3.1. Coursera
4.1.3.2. Udacity
4.1.3.3. EdX
4.2. Secondary
4.2.1. Non-academic employees of universities
4.2.2. Education finance racket
4.2.3. K-12 education
5. MY argument
5.1. MOOCs are generally good.
5.2. These are great tools, and positive examples of what MOOCs could evolve into.
5.2.1. Khan Academy
5.2.2. Online classes
5.2.3. Mises Institute
5.3. I realize there is little solid proof for either side
5.4. Coming from a business background and an entrepreneurial one at that, I see a great opportunity to positively impact the world and make a buck
5.5. Education is expensive, and that's stupid
5.6. Why is it stupid?
5.6.1. Because 90% of the things that are taught are out there for free or cheap.
5.6.2. Most times, you don't ever utilize half of what you've been taught, because its not practically applicable
5.6.2.1. For the record I realize I'm speaking in generalities, however, this is a brainstorming tool, so it's allowed.
5.6.2.1.1. Someone rationalize paying $1000+ for an intro to cinema class for an engineer (you can't), yea, it may make you a more well rounded person, but its stupid to pay for it, really stupid.
5.6.3. So, I'd rather not pay anything for trivial pursuit answers than shell out thousands of $$$
5.7. The "market" would be the best place to unleash this beast in
5.7.1. The lesser competitors, the U of Phoenix's of the world, would quickly get smelled out by the interwebz awesome regulatory mechanism, your everyday geek
5.7.2. The best competitors, who offer the best service at the best value, would succeed...see examples to the right
5.7.2.1. Amazon
5.7.2.2. Google
5.7.2.3. Twitter
5.7.3. Hopefully, eventually, most education evolves into this medium, the brick and mortar classroom is a dinosaur.
5.8. Accrediting could come about through industry or sector leaders, much as it does already with extra-professional training. Let the people who know what they're doing and who actually do it, set the standards.
5.8.1. For example (in the future)...
5.8.1.1. Samsung wants to crush Apple, so they start trying to find genius programmers and engineers
5.8.1.2. Does Samsung walk around complaining about how Stanford doesn't put out the quality people they used to? NO!
5.8.1.3. Samsung begins funding a MOOC service provider to search, through a massive population, for the best and brightest in the field.
5.8.1.4. After completing these courses successfully, and because Samsung hasn't been stupid and blindly trusted just anyone,they offer jobs to the best of the class.
5.8.1.5. Knowing that Samsung has done the coolest thing possible and just funded a world class education and then offered you an awesome job working for these awesome dudes, you accept. Or you can decline, either way, it's your perogative, they took a gamble, if it doesn't pan out, sucks for them.
5.8.2. Rather than putting 20 somethings into massive amounts of debt to perpetuate a system that is failing beneath our feet, we evolve, start offering free information for free, instead of charging for free information, alleviate the debt crisis, stop making engineers take a semester of sociology, stop making sociologists take a semester of physics, everyone wins, and then, if later in life, you want to expand your knowledge and learn about all the awesome stuff in the world from someone who knows what they're talking about, YOU CAN! FOR FREE! THE SAME WAY YOU GOT THE INFORMATION NEEDED FOR YOUR JOB! FOR FREE!
5.8.3. Examples of this already...
5.8.3.1. Here, yea, it's wikipedia, but its a list, so I am selectively ignoring that rule.
5.9. So, in conclusion... MOOCs are not the answer, they are an evolutionary step in the changing landscapes of education and technology. They are something that we can learn from (no pun intended) to take the desirable parts and innovate those into something that more suits our needs as a society. Then we can discard the negative parts. And even this second incarnation will not the be answer, the answer is fleeting because innovation is conceived within chaos. We must adapt as our technology advances and as we advance as a society.
6. Ethics Approach
6.1. Common Good
6.1.1. Educated populous is preferable to non-educated
6.1.1.1. Education is therefore good
6.1.1.2. As a whole we should strive to be a good society
6.1.1.3. Free or low cost education allows more of society to access education
6.1.1.4. The more people that access and use the low cost education, the more people become educated
6.1.1.5. This creates an educated society which is preferable to a non-educated society
6.2. Rights
6.2.1. The free education does not infringe upon the rights of others
6.2.1.1. While it may shift the economical state of education, that is a consequence of a shift in medium, not a deliberate infringement upon a persons rights.
6.3. Utilitarian
6.3.1. Maximizing the educational output for the least amount of dollar and societal cost
6.4. Fairness
6.4.1. It is fair and just to allow all of those, even those without the monetary means, free access to free information
7. Issue
7.1. MOOCs or massively open online courses are becoming popular, and scaring the current hierarchical structure that exists within academia.
7.2. These courses are offered at little to no charge to anyone with connection to the interwebz.
7.3. College is expensive. These are not, therein lies the actual issue. Because, judging from the current state of a lot of "academic" institutions, it's mostly a money game. And when someone circumvents a monopolistic enterprise, that enterprise immediately discredits its existence. Demonize the enemy.
7.4. Mostly, concerns have arisen over credibility of information, cheating, you know, things that don't exist on traditional campuses. See the cons section, up and to your left on the screen.
7.5. Free information for free. Or, free information at a ridiculous retail mark-up, that is attributed to "the experience."
7.5.1. Digressive tangential rant, which this whole mind map pretty much is, but, the whole "experience" this is complete bull. I could've gotten ridiculously intoxicated "with my bros" just as easily in college as out of college. The "experience" is not unique to being in college, it's unique to being twenty years old. If you put a bunch of us anywhere, the same "experiences" would manifest. I'd rather get my education for free as well as my "experiences."