Reflection: The rising number of students is always an issue discussed in secondary education, too, but rarely is online and distance education ever in the conversation in terms of alternatives or solutions. Perhaps that is because secondary and primary students have a harder time using distance education tools (motivation comes to mind, your average middle schooler is barely motivated to come to school let alone actively engage with school at a distance). Is it possible for distance ed to play a vital role in secondary, maybe even primary education?

Reflection: de Langen, F., & van den Bosch, H. (2013) describes the tendency of higher ed relying on old fashioned methods of teaching and pedagogy. This is similar to my college experience overall, and it is something I have always wondered about: why are college professors so often only keen on lectures and papers? We know these aren't the only, or even the best, ways to learn information, but so many college professors rely on them.

MOOCs: Opening up to more people than ever; often times offering classes based off competencies and employer demands rather than university research interests; some big universities use brand recognition to get people interested in MOOCs (de Langen, F., & van den Bosch, H., p. 219, 2013)

Secure assessments (students pay for their exams to be looked at by professionals or experts)

de Langen, F., & van den Bosch, H. (2013) suggest that MOOCs will "not be the disruptive innovations that have been predicted by some and hoped by others" but they could "be facilitators of other developments that could change the educational sector" (p. 225)