Icdk outlook No. 04, May 2019 The Future of Education

 
 
Danish Agency for Science and Higher Education 
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rates
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. The critique goes that it is simply not as motivating to complete an online 
course or degree as compared to a more active learning form, such as classroom-
based education. However, even though the average completion rate of MOOCs is 
only 15%
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, the intention of the students might not necessarily be to complete the 
course, but only to learn specific parts. This means that MOOCs could pose a 
supplement to students for “quick learning” and not as a substitute to the existing 
institutions. In other cases where learning is not necessarily online-based (such as 
42), the innovative models actually ensure more student motivation since they 
enable students to tailor their own learning experience while being paced by their 
environment at the same time. This way of “rebundling” by keeping some of the 
essential parts, such as an ability to have a social life and access mentors or 
faculty, while scraping away others, thus brings a whole new dimension to the 
discussion surrounding MOOC dropouts. 
2.3 
Summing up: The future of bundled education 
So, what is a likely scenario?
The above-mentioned signals and drivers show some of the trends present in 
Silicon Valley when considering the new alternatives and the future of the bundled 
education. The new alternatives pose a case for an unbundling trend in higher 
education. Established institutions in Silicon Valley are trying to adapt to a future 
where digital media and online-based learning is gaining ground, and they have 
increasingly started to supply online courses of their own (for example through 
EdX), but also increasingly focused on the use of digital learning tools. It is 
however hard to tell whether unbundled alternatives will be able to act as a direct 
substitute to the traditional university in the future or merely as a supplement in 
most cases. When considering the MOOC, it seems to have found its place in 
education, not as a substitute but rather as a supplement, to create flexibility for 
students to join courses beyond the exclusive on-campus experience. Other 
examples however seem to work as a direct substitute to the university degree. 
Taken together however, the unbundling trend could be a signal of an increasing 
need for choice among students to be able to tailor their own educational 
experience, based on modules and courses instead of bundles. One critical test is 
of course if US employers give the same kind of value to an unbundled education 
as to one, where they know that an established institution ensures that certain 
quality standards are met and where the educational curriculum and model has 
been accredited to meet certain requirements in a coherent way for different 
academic subjects.
The mentioned cases show different ways of unbundling that in some instances 
resemble the traditional university to a larger degree than the simple online 
courses, and the debate is thus no longer revolving only around ‘the MOOC’ as a 
new alternative. It is interesting that emerging education institutions in the US are 
resembling parts of the unbundling-trend sparked by MOOCs more than 10 years 
ago.
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Konnikova, 2014 
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http://www.katyjordan.com/MOOCproject.html
 

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