MOOCs are NOT ATMs for the mind. Moore's Law still prescient AND prescriptive, but no "Moore’s Law for Learning!" #CFHE12 #tltgSMOOCHERS

Reminder:  No “Moore’s Law” for learning ...ever.  No ATMs for the mind.
No new app or educational approach will double the speed of human learning in a couple years.  Not even the most promising xMOOCs, cMOOCs.  Not even the scariest brain enhancing drugs.  Not even intense economic and political pressure to extend the accessibility, increase the effectiveness, and reduce the costs of education.  

NOT about human learning!

At best, we will continue to develop more valuable combinations of technology and pedagogy.  We will continue to increase the quality, efficiency, and effectiveness of education in many fields.  We will continue to make improvements.  Many will be significant.  Some may be dramatic.  None will be exponential.  Not like Moore's Law. 

Moore's law helps to describe and explain the extraordinary progress of digital information technology.  At best, educational institutions can help develop and then use new tools and resources based on the exponential progress of that technology.  However, the scale of gains achieved in education by using such technology will never result in exponential improvements in human learning.  


See:

• "Moore's Law: The rule that really matters in tech," excellent recent article explaining Moore's Law, providing an update on its progress/viability, and some implications. -by Stephen Shankland, CNET News Cutting Edge, CBS INTERACTIVE INC. October 15, 2012 12:00 AM PDT 
• "Moore's Law BOTH Prescient AND Prescriptive" and "No 'Moore's Law' for Learning!" -by Steve Gilbert, TLT-SWG blog, June 13, 2011.

IMAGE selected, once again, by Steve Gilbert 20121114

Reproduction of graphic titled "Moore's Law, The Fifth Paradigm." "Date 19:37, 5 July 2005 (UTC) Source en:Image:PPTMooresLawai.jpg Author Courtesy of Ray Kurzweil and Kurzweil Technologies, Inc."

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c5/PPTMooresLawai.jpg/240px-PPTMooresLawai.jpg

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3APPTMooresLawai.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c5/PPTMooresLawai.jpg

Permission

"The permission for use of this work has been archived in the Wikimedia OTRS system.

It is available here for users with an OTRS account. If you wish to reuse this work elsewhere, please read the instructions at COM:REUSE. If you are a Commons user and wish to confirm the permission, please leave a note at the OTRS noticeboard.

Ticket link: https://secure.wikimedia.org/otrs/index.pl?Action=AgentTicketZoom&TicketID=1277861

[CC-BY-1.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by/1.0)]
By Courtesy of Ray Kurzweil and Kurzweil Technologies, Inc. (en:Image:PPTMooresLawai.jpg) [CC-BY-1.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/1.0)], via Wikimedia Commons