MOOCs offer courses and not degree programs: Facts and Myths revisited

The bottomline is Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs)'s facilitate access to content in most convenient way. In short they are content for informal education...

NEW BUSINESS MODEL: For 1st time, MIT's free online classes can lead to degree

But, then with content, library books, and readings, does this directly and conveniently bring education (with necessary competency and skills) that leads to jobs or merely gives a means to find information that leads to intellectual satisfaction??? It is for the seeker to decide whatever they need... "MOOCs are free non-degree online courses with open unlimited global enrollment to anyone who desires to learn, and regardless of their current educational level." source: Global Directory of MOOC
See also:

• A Q&A with “Godfather of MOOCs” Sebastian Thrun after he disavowed his godchild
• Moocs are a good alternative to books - Times Higher Education; 
• Are Moocs the best chance we have to satisfy a global thirst for education?; 
• A New Polemic: Libraries, MOOCs, and the Pedagogical Landscape
• MOOCs May Facilitate Fraudulent Degrees 
•  University education, like love, cannot simply be moved 
• Faculty group continues anti-MOOC offensive @insidehighered
• The Disadvantages of Online Classes  : This is a long list but misses one most important academic concern: which disciplines require hands-on and practical intensive training???
• 5 Reasons Why MOOCs Provide Little Real Value
• The Golden Age of MOOCs is over and Why I hate Coursera

From m.chronicle.com - January 19, 5:22 PM

"An annual survey's findings reveal growing skepticism among academic leaders about the long-term prospects for massive open online courses." (source)

Four Facts About MOOCs:

1. It is About Spending Money Wisely on Education
2. MOOCs Continue a Diverse Education System
3. MOOCs Are About Quality Mass Education
4. MOOCs are built on 100 years of distance education experience

 Five Myths of MOOCs:

1. It's All about Money
2. MOOCs Create a Two-Tier Educational System
3. MOOCs Are Inherently Inferior
4. MOOCs Are Mechanistic
5. We've Seen How This Plays Out

Here is the MOOCs/Final Debate - MindMeister Mind Map (includes Pros and Cons). More discussion: MOOCs: Disrupting the University or Business as Usual? - Arena; Is higher education actually making inequality worse?

Side effects of publish-or-perish pressure on academia

Among academics, the maxim "publish or perish" (i.e., publish your research or risk/losing your job) is a threatening reminder of the importance of publication. Source: Publish or perish? - Understanding Science

Review of the literature (sample):

• Why are so many badly written papers still published?
• Side effects of publish-or-perish pressure on graduate ... - SciELO
• Publish or Perish Blogs' Intro 
• Unarmed but still Dangerous - “Publish or Perish” = “Life or Death”
• Publish-or-perish: Peer review and the corruption of science | David ...
• 'Publish or Perish': No Stopping Bad Science — Liberty Magazine
• What's Wrong With "Publish or Perish"? - Discover Magazine Blogs

Best Sellers again in the news

Extract from http://bookriot.com:

"So, after hours combing the Web, here are the 10 of the best top 100 book lists:"
10. TIME’s List of of the 100 Best Novels
 9. Book Riot’s 100 Greatest Novels 1893-1993 
 8. The Guardian’s Top 100 Bestselling Books of All Time (in the UK)
 7. The Entertainment Weekly 100 Greatest Novels Ever
 6. The 100 Most Influential Books of All Time
 5. The 100 Favorite Novels of Librarians
 4. 100 Major Works of Modern Creative Nonfiction
 3. The Modern Library Best 100 Novels of the 20th Century 
 2. Goodreads Top 100 Literary Novels Of All Time
 1. Top 100 Works In World Literature

Continue reading: The 10 Best Top 100 Books Lists @ http://bookriot.com