Maha, part of the mindset against (not for) cMOOCs has to do with not knowing. MOOCs are still spoken largely of as the X variety. If those that are in the know ignore cMOOCs then it perhaps tell us about what they think about cMOOCs. For example, there is a particular line of thought that xMOOCs are not good enough to develop competent computer science education teachers simply because you cannot just teach that as content. However, you hardly hear any conversation about how cMOOCs can help foster community development as an alternative approach to solving this problem.

The cMOOCs thing is a big experiment and every cMOOC is an opportunity to explore different and newer ways of learning, doing! This sort of content is not yet appreciated by many. The content from most xMOOCs (hard facts, theories, etc) are still the kings.

In 1997 one of my lecturers said to “email” him. He started rattling off his email address and when he got to the @ sign, i had to ask him to repeat. I was so embarrassed. A couple of years later it was better. The open mindset is important.