Open Ed and MOOCsOverview ~ Examples ~ Outcomes

Foothill CollegeTuesday, March 12, 2013

12:30 – 1:30 pm

What is a MOOC?• Massive

– Large scale, unlimited or very high enrollment (+50,000)– Diversity of participants due to worldwide and nationwide availability

• Open– Typically no cost to enroll and acknowledgement of completion

• Fees for academic credit with student identify authentication and proctored testing– Student coursework may be shared for peer assessment– Typically registration required to enable tracking

• Online – Rich multimedia, interactivity and communications via Internet and mobile devices

• Course – Structured learning content via video and text; some assign textbooks– Objective assessments usually auto-graded, some peer-graded assessment – Affiliated with a university and/or faculty member– Usually for a set duration – Typically teacher-led

Meaning of MOOC Keeps Evolving…• 2008

– Term coined by Dave Cormier • Free course through University of Manitoba:

"Connectivism and Connective Knowledge" • Enrollment of 2,300

– cMOOC• Original MOOCs were based on connectivist theory • Emphasizes that learning and knowledge emerge from a network of connections

• 2011– Stanford University offered 3 computer science courses free to general public via Internet

• 100,000+ enrollments in each• Sebastian Thrun’s course: Introduction to Artificial Intelligence

• 2012– Emergence of xMOOC

• Well-financed providers, associated with top universities• Coursera• Udacity• edX

cMOOC vs. xMOOC• cMOOC

– Way of learning in a networked world• Connectivist model• Participatory• Distributed• Supports lifelong networked learning• An event around which people who care about a topic and get together and work

and talk about it in a structured way• Way to connect in collaborate while developing skills and acquiring knowledge

• xMOOC

– Free courses offered by universities and colleges – Classes taught online to large numbers of students– Minimal involvement by professors – Typically, students watch short video lectures and complete assignments that are graded

either by machines or by other students; discussion forums

xMOOCs

Pedagogical Foundations

• Efficacy of online learning

– Online learning methods at least as effective as face-to-face learning– Hybrid methods more effective than either method alone

• Importance of retrieval and testing for learning

– Use of interactive exercises and retrieval questions after each short video

• Mastery Learning

– Give immediate feedback– Give students multiple opportunities to learn the content and demonstrate their knowledge

• Peer assessments

– Provide a valuable learning experience for the students doing the grading– Crowd-sourcing, many ratings combined combine them to obtain a highly accurate score

• Active learning in the classroom (flipped classroom)

– Move lecture online to allow more classroom/in-person time for interactive engagement between faculty and students, and between students and their peers

Coursera

University of California, San FranciscoUniversity of California, Santa CruzUniversity of Colorado BoulderUniversity of CopenhagenUniversity of FloridaUniversity of GenevaUniversity of Illinois at Urbana-ChampaignUniversity of London International ProgrammesUniversity of Maryland, College ParkUniversity of MelbourneUniversity of MichiganUniversity of MinnesotaUniversity of PennsylvaniaUniversity of PittsburghUniversity of RochesterUniversity of TorontoUniversity of VirginiaUniversity of WashingtonUniversity of Wisconsin–MadisonVanderbilt UniversityWesleyan University

Pennsylvania State UniversityPrinceton UniversityRice UniversityRutgers UniversitySapienza University of RomeStanford UniversityTechnical University of Denmark (DTU)Technische Universität München (Technical University of Munich)Tecnológico de MonterreyThe Chinese University of Hong KongThe Hong Kong University of Science and TechnologyThe University of British ColumbiaThe University of EdinburghThe University of North Carolina at Chapel HillThe University of TokyoUniversidad Nacional Autónoma de MéxicoUniversitat Autònoma de BarcelonaUniversiteit LeidenUniversity of California, IrvineUniversity of California, San Diego

Berklee College of MusicBrown UniversityCalifornia Institute of TechnologyCalifornia Institute of the ArtsCase Western Reserve UniversityColumbia UniversityCurtis Institute of MusicDuke UniversityÉcole PolytechniqueÉcole Polytechnique Fédérale de LausanneEmory UniversityGeorgia Institute of TechnologyHebrew University of JerusalemIE Business SchoolIcahn School of Medicine at Mount SinaiJohns Hopkins UniversityLudwig-Maximilians-Universität MünchenNational Taiwan UniversityNational University of SingaporeNorthwestern UniversityOhio State University

62 Universities Have Partnered With Coursera

openly licensed ~ no textbooks ~ open enrollment ~ proctored exams

Learn by doingHighly interactive, project-based exercises The lecture is deadBite-sized videos make learning fun Awesome instructorsIndustry experts and passionate educators Real world examplesAlways learn in context, plus get virtual "field trips" Active communityForums and meetups with curious, engaged peers to support learning Academic and career advancementCertificates of completion to show what you know

Udacity

Free Online Courses

Experiments

• Cuyahoga Community College

– Funded by $50,000 Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation grant to develop a basic skills math MOOC

• San Jose State University

– edX: Blended or hybrid version engineering class– Udacity: Jointly offer three $150 courses

MOOC Missteps by Coursera• Fundamentals of Online Education: Planning and Application

– 41,000 enrollment– Georgia Institute of Technology– Coursera cancelled class after one week in February 2013

• Due to student complaints about technical glitches and confusing instructions

• Microeconomics for Managers

– University of California at Irvine– 37,000 enrollments– Fewer than 2 percent have been actively engaged in discussions– Instructor quit teaching half-way through 10 week session

• Bothered by “uninformed or superfluous responses to the questions posed in the discussion forums hobbled the serious students in their learning”

• Frustrated over his attempts to get the students to obtain and read as much of the textbook as possible

Sustainability & Business Models

• xMOOC partnerships – Universities and colleges – ACE

• Fees for student identify verification and proctored testing– “Signature Track” at Coursera– Pearson VUE Testing

• Employer leads for job applicants• Lead generation for colleges and universities• Loss leader or freemium model

– MOOC2Degree: first for-credit course free via Canvas Network

MOOC Outcomes

• Increased access to knowledge worldwide• Attention to online learning• Experimentation and missteps on grand scale• Catalyst

– Dialogue about online pedagogy– Challenging traditional lecture-based

and textbook-centric instruction – Revitalizing credit-by-examination efforts

Impact on Higher EducationPro and Con

• Moving toward competency-based models• Credit-by-examination options• Competition for faculty• Democratizing access to college level courses• Faculty development• Student remediation• Pedagogical innovation

Questions to Ask Before Partnering with MOOCs

• Terms of Use• Quality criteria• Student identity authentication and verification• Infrastructure and delivery platform• Tech support• Branding• Accessibility• Intellectual property

Questions for College Leaders to Ask Before Partnering with MOOCs

• What’s in it for my institution?

– Lead generation to increase enrollment– Marketing– Innovation

• What is our institutional capacity to deliver a high-quality MOOC?

• Where do MOOCs fit into our institution’s e-learning strategy?

Questions for Faculty to AskBefore Teaching a MOOC

• What’s in it for me?

• How much and what type of support will I receive?

• Criteria for determining sufficient quality?

• Intellectual property and licensing?