MOOCs reinforce digital divide #edcmooc

An interesting question, having completed two MOOCs is do MOOCs break down the binary divide between the educated the non-educated or do they simply globalise it?

Education, education, education

Can you really understand MOOCs or even conceive of the idea of doing a MOOC without a certain level of education. A Professor leading one MOOC expressed surprise at the level of contribution and the level of education of participants [1]. But should that be surprising? The view of the democratising effects of MOOCs from providers is, from experience, miss-placed. Instead it provides a renewed educational opportunity for the educated, perhaps with the frisson of "attending" universities they could not possibly have attended, or afforded to attend in person.

Technology

To complete a MOOC you need expensive technology, access to high bandwidth networks, and a clean power supply. These are the preserve of First and Second world countries, although some parts of the rural UK would struggle with a high bandwidth connection to a network. So we add another limiting factor, those living in urbanised societies or within and urban environment where economies of scale make access to the prerequisites of a MOOC possible.

Time

To complete a MOOC you need time. Time is probably available to the information workers of the cities and the First and Second world. However, all other things being equal it is not available to the agricultural worker who works 15 hours a day, or the poor factory worker. To them time to complete a MOOC would be inconceivable even if they had the vision and technology.

Internationalisation

This I would argue is different. MOOCs break down barriers of distance, translation software breaks down barriers of language and possibly the widespread use of common second languages in MOOCs such as English and Chinese also breaks down language barriers. So MOOCs represent a globalisation of inequality, form local roots in Western and East Asian Societies (those with a developed University system such as China, S. Korea, Singapore, Malaysia) to the rest of the world.

[1] Youngman, O., 2013. Massive open online courses: a first report card. Guardian, 17 October 2013. Available from: http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/oct/17/massive-open-online-courses-report-card [Accessed 10 November 2013].