Dr. Karen Head and Thomas Friedman (Essay Sample)

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The Perspectives of Dr. Karen Head and Thomas Friedman on the Effectiveness of Online Writing Courses MOOCs
Education plays an important role in the modern human society. In every part of the world, people are seeking to advance their education in order to acquire certain key competencies that are necessary in securing a good future (Friedman). For many years, education has been used to determine or defines people’s skills and capabilities especially in the job sector. People value education as it helps individuals acquire certain credentials that are considered vital for one to secure a job. Traditionally, people have had to attend educational institutions such as colleges in order to pursue their studies. Some people believe that this model is good for educational purposes as it facilitate student-tutor personal interaction, which is essential for imparting necessary skills and academic prowess. However, new technologically based model of education, Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), is quickly replacing the old system of pursuing education (Friedman). Though, there is concern whether the system, as it is believed, would be able to provide the best learning experiences to many students all over the world, irrespective of their financial or social backgrounds. According to Freidman and Head, MOOCs are a fantastic concept that can revolutionize the higher education system for the current and future students’ needs. On the contrary, Head differs with Freidman on the effectiveness of online writing courses doubting the viability of the system in attaining its perceived potential of reaching out for more students, easing the process of studying, and conveying the right skills as would have been the case with the convectional system of education. It is Friedman’s belief that if sufficiently adopted and properly developed, MOOCs can provide more affordable and the best education to many people in the world, uplifting their lives from ignorance and poverty.
In a sentiment shared by both Head and Friedman, MOOCs is still underdeveloped not only in the U.S, but also in other parts of the world. This new system of accessing higher education demands a considerable long time in facilitating its development. As much as institutions, government, and other relevant bodies are trying hard to make it work, other logistical and political barriers tend to delay the takeoff of the project. For instance, Head pinpoints some concerns on the issue to do with the evaluation criteria for the students pursuing MOOCs, and the safety and privacy issues associated with this kind of education system; things which have not received substantial attention until now when many have started embracing the educational innovation. In her example, Head complained that MOOCs systems are designed to offer inflexible rubrics that do not allow evaluators to include their explanations, “of why sample essays had been scored in a particular way.” However, Friedman responds to Head claims, by sharing professional’s viewpoint on the issue, citing that the various organizations working on MOOCs are pursuing ways to perfect student evaluation and awarding credential, and as soon as that is done, the system would ease access to higher education, be ready to scale up and change the world.
MOOCs is a revolutionary education model that has the potential to reach more people seeking higher education, than the current education system that demands students to attend education institutions in order to access their education. Head, although, does not believe in such sentiments owing to her previous experience when they introduce MOOCs in their institutions. During that time, they had predicted to attract approximately 20,000 students when only a few accepted the idea. She claims that the maximum number of students she has ever taught before in MOOCs is 62, something that she believes, has proven even the students are not ready to embrace the system. Friedman disagrees with this, affirming that the traditional model of education is too expensive, leaving out many students from accessing it. In his observation, many students all over the world are pursuing courses from elite universities such as Stanford and Massachusetts, which a majority of them could not previously afford. He noticed that in one of the platforms, the Coursera, that provides MOOCs, it only took half a year for the students to increase from 300,000 to 2.4 million, pursuing 214 courses from approximately 33 universities that include eight major international ones. MOOCs have a revolutionary potential to enable other special case students who cannot access classes, to acquire educational knowledge at the comfort of their homes. For instance, some people have strained social skills or physically incapable of accessing learning institution (Friedman). MOOCs provide such people a good opportunity to learn by simply accessing their courses through the internet. This way, the educational model facilitates more people to access quality education, thus benefiting the society more than the traditional education model could ever do.
Spending approximately $200,000 for a four-year college education is unrealistic bearing in mind that the job market has reduced owing to the high competition for cheap labor by companies, which has exported jobs to other countries with cheaper job seekers with equally similar competencies as those in the U.S and any other part of the world (EdWriters). Students need to spend on education that can offer value to their lives. Spending too m...