Making ‘MOOCs’: The construction of a new digital higher education within news media discourse

Abstract

One notable 'disruptive' impact of massive open online courses (MOOCs) has been an increased public discussion of online education. While much debate over the potential and challenges of MOOCs has taken place online confined largely to niche communities of practitioners and advocates, the rise of corporate 'xMOOC' ventures such as Coursera, edX and Udacity has prompted popular mass media interest at levels not seen with previous educational innovations. This article addresses this important societal outcome of the recent emergence of MOOCs as an educational form by examining the popular discursive construction of MOOCs over the past 24 months within mainstream news media sources in United States, Australia and the UK. In particular, we provide a critical account of what has been an important phase in the history of educational technologydetailing a period when popular discussion of MOOCs has far outweighed actual use/participation. We argue that a critical analysis of MOOC discourse throughout the past two years highlights broader societal struggles over education and digital technology-capturing a significant moment before these debates subside with the anticipated normalization and assimilation of MOOCs into educational practice. This analysis also sheds light on the influences underpinning how many people perceive MOOCs thereby leading to a better understanding of acceptance/adoption and rejection/resistance amongst various professional and popular publics.

Fixing higher education through technology: Canadian media coverage of massive open online courses

“…3 Such discussions were also held in professional blogs and magazines (Bulfin, Pangrazio, and Selwyn 2014;White, Leon, and White 2015). A study of three major higher education magazines found that the most important themes discussed in relation to MOOCs were: impact on teaching, change in universities and business models (White, Leon, and White 2015).…”

“…By means of a thematic analysis of the English-language coverage of MOOCs in Canadian newspapers and professional magazines (2012)(2013)(2014), this paper adds to a small corpus of research on media coverage of MOOCs (Brown 2015;Bulfin, Pangrazio, and Selwyn 2014;Deimann 2015;Kovanović et al 2015;White, Leon, and White 2015). Canada represents an interesting case study in this context: the adoption of new technologies in the field of education has been vigorously supported by the federal government.…”

Massive Open Online Courses and Economic Sustainability

“…However, there is little published discussion on the business and financial aspects of MOOCs (Bulfin, Pangrazio & Selwyn, 2014). Thus critics have questioned of the sustainability of MOOCs.…”

The rise of the video-recorder teacher: the sociomaterial construction of an educational actor

“…As the hype dissipates, there is a sense that the 'disruptive' nature of MOOCs has been cast aside and the phenomenon is being normalised and assimilated into more traditional forms of educational technology practice (Bulfin, Pangrazio & Selwyn, 2014). As MOOCs become heterogeneous, variants are emerging with new identities becoming incorporated into new forms in a reconfiguring landscape (Czerniewicz et al, 2014).…”