Making use of MOOCs

E/merge Africa Seminar 25-29 JulyAndrew Deacon, Tasneem Jaffer, Janet Small, Sukaina Walji

Centre for Innovation in Learning & Teaching, University of Cape Town

Seminar overview1. Today’s presentation

• What are MOOCs• Categories of MOOC• Who is here• Six MOOC uses & our collective experience

2. Questions to explore during the week • imagining more and different uses

3. Final session on 29 July • extending ideas about uses

Massive

• Have many thousands participanting

Open

• Open to anyone with an internet connection

Online

• Everything is online

Course

• Course is organised to support learning

M O O C

What is different about MOOCs?MOOCs are like other courses but have greater: • scale in terms of numbers of students

• diversity in the backgrounds of students

• flexibility in how students access and engage

MOOCs occupy “in between” spaces

An “in-between” space for engaging large numbers of people in a learning experience

Educational books,

media, …MOOCs

Traditional formal courses

Expect high engagement, but

small numbers reached

Lower engagement; different measures of

engagement (sales, views, attendees), with large

numbers reached

e.g. Short courses Global Citizenship Write Science courses

e.g. most degree programmes

To pioneer the best social learning

experiences for everyone, anywhere

We provide universal access

to the world’s best education.

Current UCT MOOC portfolio

Enrollment by continent

Europe48%

Africa20%

North America6%

South America6%

Oceania4%

Asia16%

42% from Africa, Asia and South America

Categories of MOOCsUnderstanding types helps determine use and re-use

Showcase teaching and introduce topics with high-profile ‘rockstar’ presenters

Introduce fields and support students in undergraduate study

Develop skills and introduce topics for postgraduate study.

Showcase research and special interest topics of interest to postgraduate level

Showcase professional careers for continuing education and qualifications

Category 1 Teaching showcaseGeneral interest high profile course

Showcases the institution by means of an engaging subject or personality led.

Global interest and matches a popular understanding of high profile MOOCs

High production costs | high enrollment | loose curriculum ties May attract external funding

Category 2 Gateway skills

Provides foundational, bridging or enhancement skills for pre HE entry or during undergraduate pathways towards specialisation.

Could replace teaching for 'bottleneck courses.’

Local interest, either within the institution or at a country-wide setting.

Moderate production costs | low enrollment | close curriculum ties May attract external funding |

Category 3 Graduate literacies Post-graduate level courses to support application or programmes of study

Focussed on building postgraduate literacies.

Likely to be of local or national interest.

Moderate production costs | low enrollment | close curriculum ties May attract external funding

Category 4 Professional showcase

Geared towards vocational skills development, re-tooling and professional development.

Could be offered in conjunction with professional bodies.

Likely to be of local interest, although some specialised topics may be globally relevant. .

Moderate to high production costs |medium to high enrollment Close curriculum ties |May attract organisational fundingHigh potential for pathway to credit or revenue generation

Category 5 Research showcaseShowcase research or more specialised topics of interest

Offered at postgraduate level and assume some background in the topicstill geared towards general or leisure learning.

Likely to have global appeal.

Moderate/high production costs | medium/high enrollment Loose curriculum ties

Who we are & our experienceFrom the pre-course survey

Where are we from?

South Africa50%

Africa31%

Rest of the world19%

Have you enrolled in a MOOC?

No31%

Yes, a few41%

Yes, many22%

Unaware6%

Have you completed a MOOC?

No30%

Yes70%

MOOC uses

As an Open Educational ResourceWhere material in MOOCs is shared as a resource or downloaded and used to create new learning materials

• Our example: Education for All• Staff at a hospital downloaded videos and showed them in

a group meeting where to stimulate discussions on disabilities In their context

© University of Cape Town CC-BY

Degrees of Openness: Creative Commons licensing

© University of Cape Town CC-BY-NC

As part of a Prescribed TaskWhere a MOOC or specific modules of a MOOC is prescribed to students to watch, read or interact with as part of a core or supplementary programme of study

• Our example: What is a Mind?• Another university required its students to take this

MOOC and then write an additional essay for which they would be awarded credit.

As supporting a flipped classroomWhere a formal class incorporates a MOOC, using the MOOC materials as core content and lectures, and contact time is used to stimulate discussion and activities

• Our example: Medicine & the Arts course run as a flipped classroom by educators

Flipped classroom example

As bridgingMOOC recommended to students by a lecturer and taken independently by formal students to supplement current study or enable transition

• Our example: Understanding Clinical Research which is recommended to MMEd students enabling them to start with their research projects

As wrappingWhere a study group takes a MOOC together supported by a facilitator who might localise or contextualise MOOC material

Our example: Postgraduate Office at UCT offers facilitated MOOCs

As partnering or affiliationA local institution formally partners with or becomes an affiliate of a MOOC to deliver a localised version of MOOC

Our example: CopyrightX affiliate version at UCT where UCT students study localised version of HarvardX. Certification is available to these students.

How have you used MOOCs?• My Honours student had

to follow the first two weeks of a particular MOOC.

• I use them to build my businesses and also create courses

• Advice my students to make use of MOOC's to develop there skills

• It can help me make my own online courses.

• Pre-class preparation.

download readings

download videos

used ideas

took course myself

required student to enroll

0 5 10 15 20 25

Have you recommended MOOCs?

• Students were really excited to be exposed to perspectives. This opened them up to embrace the opportunities that exists for their learning processes (academic and professional).

• They were really surprised at the vast amount of knowledge and free material on the internet, and were very keen to enroll and participate.

• They enjoyed it more than the normal pre-reading assignments

• These were informal recommendations, not linked to any of the courses I taught. The students were happy to find interesting resources.

• They were astounded that education could be free

• We are an under resourced school. But I have recommended MOOCs to my fellow teachers and friends

No44%

Yes56%

Follow-up and discussionsFeedback from participants on these uses• Do they make sense?• What barriers or constraints are there?

Further discussion• How can you use MOOCs in your context• How are you already using MOOCs• What opportunities do you see?

• Thank you!