Online Learning Debacle
âCollective statistics arenât available, but by one trackerâs account, most âmassive online open coursesâ â known as MOOCs â have completion rates of less than 10 percent."
"Consider the popular nonprofit tutorial service Khan Academy. Itâs free. But users do pay a price: In effect, they trade their data for the tutoring. 'Data is the real asset,â founder Sal Khan told an academic conference last fall. The site tracks the academic progress of students 13 and older as they work through online lessons in math, science and other subjects. It also logs their location when they sign in and monitors their Web browsing habits. And it reserves the right to seek out personal details about users from other sources, as well, potentially building rich profiles of their interests and connections.After Politico inquired about Khan Academyâs privacy policy, which gave it the right to draw on studentsâ personal information to send them customized advertising, the policy was completely rewritten. The new text, posted online late last week, emphasizes Khan Academyâs commitment to protecting privacy and deletes the line about targeted advertising. But the revised policy makes clear that Khan Academy still allows third parties, such as YouTube and Google, to place the tiny text files known as 'cookiesâ on studentsâ computers to collect and store information about their Web usage. Khan Academy also states that it may share personal information with app developers and other external partners, with studentsâ consent. A spokeswoman for the site said Khan Academyâs main goal in collecting data is to 'help students learn effectively and efficientlyâ.â *
Caitlin Emma, "Online Courses Donât Live Up to Hypeâ, Politico, Sept. 2013
http://www.politico.com/story/2013/09/online-courses-failing-moocs-97031.html?hp=l6
Caitlin Emma, âOnline Learning Run Amokâ, Politico, Nov. 2014
http://www.politico.com/story/2014/11/online-education-run-amok-113208.html
Jennifer Berkshire, âAll In for Profitâ, Edushyster blog, Sept. 2013
http://edushyster.com/?p=3284
Larry Cuban, âConnecting School Reform to Online Instruction in K-12 Classrooms: The Next New Thingâ, blog, April 2012
https://larrycuban.wordpress.com/2012/04/13/connecting-school-reform-to-online-instruction-in-k-12-classrooms-the-next-new-thing/
Larry Cuban, âOnline Instruction for K-12 ["Disruptive Innovationâ]â, blog, June 2013
https://larrycuban.wordpress.com/2013/06/01/online-instruction-for-k-12-part-1/
Larry Cuban, âOnline Instruction Outsources Jobsâ, blog, Nov. 2012https://larrycuban.wordpress.com/2012/11/07/online-instruction-outsources-jobs/
* http://www.politico.com/story/2014/05/data-mining-your-children-106676_Page2.html#ixzz3Og5urdZo
Links compiled by Lance FialkoffÂ












