Hey, remember MOOCs? Remember "the year of the MOOC?" Remember how UVA's board tried to fire the president because she wasn't sufficiently hyped about MOOCs? Remember how Sebastian Thrun (Udacity) said there would eventually be only 10 higher-ed outlets bc of MOOCs?
Just thought I'd ask.
Just thought I'd ask.
"LLMs must become a core part of the educational experience.... This imperative grows with each new development in text, image, and voice generation — even the potential for AI-driven lessons delivered by simulated celebrities." Uurrgghh. (And what about environmental damage of this proposal?)
The continued success of universities hinges on the response to the generative AI reckoning | Wonkhe
The essay assessment is only the most obvious casualty of generative AI. Janice Kay, Chris Husbands and Jason Tangen explain why AI should prompt a total overhaul of education strategies
wonkhe.com
March 11, 2024 at 10:30 AM
Hey, remember MOOCs? Remember "the year of the MOOC?" Remember how UVA's board tried to fire the president because she wasn't sufficiently hyped about MOOCs? Remember how Sebastian Thrun (Udacity) said there would eventually be only 10 higher-ed outlets bc of MOOCs?
Just thought I'd ask.
Just thought I'd ask.
That's what they said about MOOCs.
Yawn.
Yawn.
October 16, 2025 at 6:47 AM
That's what they said about MOOCs.
Yawn.
Yawn.
Joke‘s on me because MOOCs failed at being remembered and but MOOC politics absolutely won the university.
July 28, 2026 at 1:56 PM
Joke‘s on me because MOOCs failed at being remembered and but MOOC politics absolutely won the university.
Anyone remember MOOCs?
The fun thing is that no matter what happens, no university administrator who went all-in on AI will ever be held to account or even subject to mild critique.
Two point six TRILLION dollar valuation drop for "AI" companies. All because these people refuse to reckon with what their systems are actually good at, and what they are absolutely no good for, and keep trying to shove it into every damn thing, regardless.
nymag.com/intelligence...
nymag.com/intelligence...
August 5, 2024 at 2:01 PM
Anyone remember MOOCs?
Remember MOOCs? Remember NFTs? Remember crypto? No? Neither does your provost--they're working on AI now
September 19, 2024 at 12:13 AM
Remember MOOCs? Remember NFTs? Remember crypto? No? Neither does your provost--they're working on AI now
The way that MOOCs won by losing? whew.
I remember during MOOC fever, hearing @tressiemcphd.bsky.social say "well what will they do with the buildings?" That's the whole game! The land, the debt, the tuition against which it is collateralized--that's the whole ball game. We're not a 7/11 branch you can close or a corporate HQ you can move
July 28, 2026 at 1:55 PM
The way that MOOCs won by losing? whew.
About a dozen years ago I was part of a pedagogical conference that was all MOOCs, all the time. MOOCs until the cows came home. Turns out we were all just MOOCs.
I cannot begin to count the amount of technology tools I have been told in the last 20 years that I need to teach my students how to use because they were the future.
95% of them are gone.
A tool is a tool.
95% of them are gone.
A tool is a tool.
there is no rhyme or reason to an entire “AI” department, much less an AI school. There is no curriculum, as such, because AI is not a school of thought. It has no theory, no method. It’s just a tool. Two or three courses, max, if someone is obsessed with it should suffice.
August 20, 2026 at 2:47 PM
About a dozen years ago I was part of a pedagogical conference that was all MOOCs, all the time. MOOCs until the cows came home. Turns out we were all just MOOCs.
MOOCs on steroids
In about three years the entire university pivot to AI curricula and schools and programs is going to be so deeply embarrassing. We will all pretend it never happened and I will be standing there, looking at people with a mirror in my eyes. This is all so embarrassing.
October 17, 2025 at 1:05 PM
MOOCs on steroids
Good news, we don't have to fear MOOCs anymore
woof ≈80% of assignments this summer term have essentially been just raw chatgpt/claude output, including assignments that required designing stuff in illustrator/affinity/canva. The battle is lost for asynchronous online courses.
July 11, 2026 at 5:17 AM
Good news, we don't have to fear MOOCs anymore
MOOCs were the “future of higher ed”
Sooooooo fucking stupid
Sooooooo fucking stupid
Remember MOOCs? Remember NFTs? Remember crypto? No? Neither does your provost--they're working on AI now
September 19, 2024 at 2:16 AM
MOOCs were the “future of higher ed”
Sooooooo fucking stupid
Sooooooo fucking stupid
fuck me for being this person, i guess, but public universities are a civic good and shouldn’t be run like businesses. and if you’re going to insist on running them like so, at least do some market research. students like their professors; they don’t want MOOCs taught by ChatGPT.
March 14, 2026 at 2:42 PM
fuck me for being this person, i guess, but public universities are a civic good and shouldn’t be run like businesses. and if you’re going to insist on running them like so, at least do some market research. students like their professors; they don’t want MOOCs taught by ChatGPT.
Remember when UVA fired its president over resistance to MOOCs?
In about three years the entire university pivot to AI curricula and schools and programs is going to be so deeply embarrassing. We will all pretend it never happened and I will be standing there, looking at people with a mirror in my eyes. This is all so embarrassing.
October 17, 2025 at 12:41 PM
Remember when UVA fired its president over resistance to MOOCs?
Except for MOOCs. They just didn't work at all.
December 24, 2025 at 3:59 AM
Except for MOOCs. They just didn't work at all.
Every time somebody says something about using AI to teach, I say "Remember MOOCs?"
Except for MOOCs. They just didn't work at all.
December 24, 2025 at 4:04 AM
Every time somebody says something about using AI to teach, I say "Remember MOOCs?"
The other day I was talking with some students about AI in higher ed, and I mentioned that once the AI bubble bursts it will likely go the way of MOOCs. They looked at me and said "what are MOOCs?"
Article from 2012
www.cfr.org/blog/will-mo...
Article from 2012
www.cfr.org/blog/will-mo...
Will MOOCs Revolutionize Higher Education?
The hot new buzzword in university circles these days is MOOCs—massive open online courses. They may be the future of higher education. Or maybe not.MOOCs are just what their full names imply: online…
www.cfr.org
March 8, 2025 at 2:24 PM
The other day I was talking with some students about AI in higher ed, and I mentioned that once the AI bubble bursts it will likely go the way of MOOCs. They looked at me and said "what are MOOCs?"
Article from 2012
www.cfr.org/blog/will-mo...
Article from 2012
www.cfr.org/blog/will-mo...
We learned absolutely nothing from the MOOCs experiment
Just got another one advertising a seminar on how to adapt teaching to student LLM use. The opening sentence is, "Like it or not, AI is here to stay." Logging this now for when the #AIbubble bursts.
I just heard at length about new university AI priorities, then got an unrelated survey from a university AI task force that asked if we're moving fast enough on AI and what resources I need to better use of AI. I'm sure glad this is all based on sound science and isn't just a massive hype bubble.
October 21, 2025 at 5:07 AM
We learned absolutely nothing from the MOOCs experiment
free story pitch (i'm lazy, for whoever wants to run with it): go back and revisit all the media hype articles (including university admin and related quotes) about MOOCs
January 13, 2025 at 2:00 PM
free story pitch (i'm lazy, for whoever wants to run with it): go back and revisit all the media hype articles (including university admin and related quotes) about MOOCs
Vous vous souvenez des MOOCS ? Ce devait être la fin des universités, une révolution dans le savoir, blablabla.
Et c’était plus pertinent que les IA génératives.
Et c’était plus pertinent que les IA génératives.
October 16, 2025 at 8:00 PM
Vous vous souvenez des MOOCS ? Ce devait être la fin des universités, une révolution dans le savoir, blablabla.
Et c’était plus pertinent que les IA génératives.
Et c’était plus pertinent que les IA génératives.
In a few years, this will all look as stupid as NFTs and MOOCs, but by then, a whole generation will have forgotten how to learn anything.
Big announcement from @manchester.ac.uk today:
"The University of Manchester has announced a strategic collaboration with Microsoft, becoming the first university in the world to give Microsoft 365 Copilot access and training to every student and colleague."
#GenerativeAI #Research #Manchester
"The University of Manchester has announced a strategic collaboration with Microsoft, becoming the first university in the world to give Microsoft 365 Copilot access and training to every student and colleague."
#GenerativeAI #Research #Manchester
World-first AI partnership between The University of Manchester and Microsoft announced
The University of Manchester becomes first university in the world to provide Microsoft 365 Copilot access and training to all students and staff.65,000 staff and students will receive full Microsoft ...
www.manchester.ac.uk
January 19, 2026 at 11:42 AM
In a few years, this will all look as stupid as NFTs and MOOCs, but by then, a whole generation will have forgotten how to learn anything.
It’s a good time to mention for people who may be new-ish to me: I promise that I am familiar with MOOCs, Ed-tech, financialization, credentialism. Promise.
October 17, 2025 at 12:57 PM
It’s a good time to mention for people who may be new-ish to me: I promise that I am familiar with MOOCs, Ed-tech, financialization, credentialism. Promise.
MOOCs redux
Every piece of AI-in-education hype I've seen fails to go beyond this logic:
December 8, 2024 at 8:15 PM
MOOCs redux