What is a MOOC anyway?

MOOCs are massive open online courses. As opposed to traditional courses that have tuition and limited enrollment, MOOCs are free and open to the masses.

How are MOOC’s structured?

The large numbers associated with MOOCs mean that instructors can not possibly respond to students on an individual basis. Classmates therefore rely on each other, organizing online study groups and working in online forums for help. Lectures are given via video and in-lecture quizzes make sure you understand the material. Teaching assistants oversee discussion boards and feedback for homework and exams is electronic.

Where did the idea for MOOCs come from?

The roots of massive online open courses can be traced back to the American inventor Douglas Engelbart who advocated for the utilization of the computer as a cooperative tool for intellectual growth. Since then, many educational reformers have advocated for the use of computing technology integrated into the learning process and openness in the educational process.

In 2004, an early version of the MOOC was developed by Sun Microsystems. Concepts and lessons learned from these approaches influenced a nonprofit organization, Curriki, which has created an online repository/community for curricula and has more than 300,000 educator, parent, and student members. Curriki’s online community connects educators from around world and enables the sharing of curriculum and best practices.

In the fall of 2011, the idea of a global community of learning gained massive attention when more than 160,000 people signed up for an artificial intelligence course offered by Sebastian Thrun and Peter Norvig (through the company now known as Udacity). Following the popularity of Thrun and Norvig’s course, Daphne Koller and Andrew Ng launched two MOOC’s from Stanford University through the company Coursera. MIT later that fall launched MITx as an effort to develop a free, open platform for online education. The first course launched in March 2012 was 6.002x with more than 155,000 participants. Harvard and the Berkeley joined MIT’s initiative later that year and MITx was renamed edX.

In reference to MOOCs, Anant Agarwal president of edX said that he would “like to call this year the year of disruption and the year is not over yet.” This fall, edX has more than 370,000 students in its inaugural classes. Coursera, now offering courses from 33 of the most elite universities, has reached more 1.7 million students.

The rise of MOOCs means that we should begin thinking about how free, top-quality education can change our world. The education that can be spread through MOOCs is not limited by geography or political boundaries. 60% of students in MOOCs are ambitious young people from countries like India, Brazil and China. Will supersized education be the propellant needed to spur innovation globally? Will MOOCs knock down the barriers to a good education? We can only hope.

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Although healthcare providers are making progress in adopting health IT, Americans surprisingly seem less than enthusiastic about the change. According to a study of 2,147 adults conducted by Harris Interactive in May 2012, only 26% of Americans want their medical records to be digital.

The financial benefits of electronic health records (EHRs) should be reason enough for Americans to overwhelmingly favor EHRs. In 2009, the American healthcare system lost more than $750 billion dollars due to inefficient services and administrative expenditures. A transition to EHRs would significantly reduce this number.

In addition to the financial benefits of electronic health records, EHRs also offer huge benefits to patients including health information exchanges.  If a primary care doctor joins an HIE, then the provider’s patients’ health information will be shared with their all of their healthcare providers including specialists and emergency care providers. This type of information sharing guarantees that patients get the best care because all of their providers will have the same, up-to-date, full-scope information.

Another benefit of electronic health records is that they allow for e-prescribing. Instead of writing out a paper copy of prescription, healthcare providers can send an electronic prescription directly from their office to the pharmacy. E-prescribing reduces provider errors and saves patients time. As more providers adopt electronic health records, routine processes like writing notes and prescriptions will become more efficient, allowing providers more time to interact with patients.

Electronic health records also allow for providers to use predictive analytics. Software like Xerox’s Midas+Live can be utilized to continually examine patient health information and alert providers of important changes in patients’ conditions that happen simultaneously like an increase temperature combined with various lab test results. The information can be used to inform healthcare providers of a decline in a patients’ condition sooner than current operating procedures.

While much of the rhetoric surrounding electronic health records has addressed how EHR’s can benefit providers, it is important for patients to understand how electronic health records will benefit them just as much.