The Future of Education

The recent popularity of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) has resulted in high quality education becoming freely available to almost anyone who has access to the internet. Many of the world's leading universities are now offering courses in a broad range of subjects with no fees and few, if any, strings attached. It is widely believed that the facilitation of MOOCs at such low cost is chiefly possible due to emerging online technologies. However as experienced teachers, and others, who participate in MOOCs quickly discover, it is the use of peer assessment that ultimately drives the per-person cost of these courses down to an absolute minimum. In fact, the costs are so low that the attraction of a small percentage of students who are willing to pay a premium for 'recognized' certificates can easily cover the costs of the courses and generate profits for the providers.

Recent trends have seen some MOOCs attract upwards of 30,000 students and this inevitably raises questions about the future of the traditional university. If good quality education is available free-of-charge, why will future students be willing to pay what often amounts to a small fortune to enrol at such institutions? Providing answers to this question should be a priority for university teachers and administrators since a failure to address the question may see some schools of higher education fall by the wayside in the not too distant future. However, whilst there is genuine cause for concern regarding the threat that MOOCs pose to the viability of traditional universities, providing such institutions are open to learn about what makes MOOCs successful, they should be capable of adapting to and countering such threats. In particular this may involve dropping some long-held objections and resistance to the implementation of peer assessment and review.

This paper and interactive case study aims to promote discussion about the types of problems that are encountered when using peer assessment and review in the traditional classroom. The need to generate effective solutions to those problems is almost certainly more pressing than is currently realized. Peer assessment and review will arguably play a major role in the evolution of post-modern university.

The action research that underpins this paper was conducted in a Budapest university and involved two groups of students, one 'homogeneous' and the other comprised of students from numerous European countries. Amongst many interesting outcomes, the results provide fascinating insight into the resistance that peer assessment evokes in students, teachers and administrators.