What is a MOOC? What are the different types of MOOC? xMOOCs and cMOOCs | Reflections The acronym “MOOC” has been in vogue recently, with lots of discussion about organisations like udacity, coursera and edX. The acronym stands for “Massive Open Online Course.” These organisations provide one interpretation of the MOOC model. They focus on concise, targeted video content – with short videos rather than full-length lectures to wade through – and use automated testing to check students’ understanding as they work through the content. These MOOCS have been dubbed “xMOOCs”. I’ve taken and completed a couple of xMOOCS so far. I’ve found the video lectures to be an improvement on the traditional lecture format. But, of course, the one-on-one interaction and easy back-and-forth questioning that can happen at the end of a formal lecture cannot take place in an xMOOC. Coursera recently implemented a system for crowd-sourcing peer assessment. So what is the other type of MOOC, and how is it different? The other type of MOOC is based on connectivism. Like this: Like Loading...
MOOCs, Courseware, and the Course as an Artifact As Phil mentioned in his last post, he and I had the privilege of participating in a two-day ELI webinar on MOOCs. A majority of the speakers had been involved in implementing MOOCs at their institutions in one way or another. And an interesting thing happened. Over the course of the two days, almost none of the presenters—with the exception of the ACE representative, who has a vested interest—expressed the belief that MOOCs provide equivalent learning experiences to traditional college courses. Keep in mind, these folks were believers. They were enthusiastic about MOOCs in general. On the other hand, there was widespread enthusiasm for using MOOCs as essentially substitutions for textbooks in classes that included instructors from the local campus. The obvious conclusion is that MOOCs are more of a threat to textbook companies than they are to universities. The Course as an Artifact: A Brief History Course artifacts, in and of themselves, are hardly new. Enter the MOOC Google+ Comments
Oh, the irony: Coursera suspends online course about how to run an online course A Coursera instructor offering an online course on how to manage an online course has apparently given her students – all 40,000 of them – an unintentional lesson on how not to do just that. Just a week after its launch, a course on the “Fundamentals of Online Learning” was suspended after complaints by students about technical glitches, confusing instructions and problems with the group-oriented design of the class. Led by Fatimah Wirth, an instructional designer at the Georgia Institute of Technology, the class was intended to cover online pedagogy, course design, assessment, web tools and other relevant topics. On her blog, Online Learning Insights, educator and instructional designer Debbie Morrison called it “the disaster at Coursera.” Others on Twitter were similarly critical: Egads, this group thing in #foemooc is a giant clusterf*#k.Not the best way to start a course with this much information (says the ISD)— Michelle Franz (@lrndeveloper) January 29, 2013
constructivism | All MOOCs, All The Time One of the purposes of research is to establish a foundation of prior knowledge for future experiments to engage and extrapolate before proposing a new design that will further the field. This is important; without an understanding of what came before, research runs the risk of reinventing the wheel, or even (worse yet) coming up with something more rudimentary than the wheel. In my days of teaching creative writing, it used to be quite the stressor to get smart, motivated teenagers to take notes of their plots and characters. These were students used to doing everything right and being able to beat the system just with what was stored in their heads. I think about this as I read more literature on the history of MOOCs as described by the MOOC creators. Children must grow up in an environment that stresses self-motivation and self-assessment. “There won’t be schools in the future…. My response: Continue reading The due course of education in America is linked to public policy.
On-Campus or Online?: Two Generations Compare MOOC Experiences Hello everyone. This is Robert McGuire with MOOC News and Reviews, and today we have a very interesting interview. We’re going to hear from two students who were learning the same online material from different perspectives and for different reasons and at very different points in their careers. [Enjoy this interview with two generations of Duke University students who compare MOOC experiences. Before I introduce them, let me explain what class in common they had. Most recently, Professor Noor taught that MOOC and at the same time adapted his on-campus class into a flipped version where the Duke University undergraduates followed along while the masses of people around the world were in the MOOC, and the Duke students were doing that as their homework, and then they would come to the lecture hall for small group work. We have with us today two students who were in the two different versions of the class. Wu Yep, that’s right. McGuire Welcome James. Wu Thank you. Welcome Ben. Somberg Yeah. No.
MOOC Student Demographics | the augmented trader I report on survey responses from 1,207 of the 25,589 students who enrolled in a Massive Online Open Class (MOOC) titled “Computational Investing, Part I” via coursera.org in Spring 2013. The responses represent 56% of the students who completed the course and 2.5% of those who initially enrolled but did not complete it. Related articles Executive summary Here are a few of the most relevant and interesting bits of data: Enrollment and completion: 25,589 enrolled (clicked “sign me up”).15,688 (61%) watched a video6,855 (27%) took a quiz.1,165 completed the course, which is: 4.5% of those who enrolled.7.4% of those who watched a video.17% of those who took a quiz. Of those who completed the course: 36% live in the US.53% are white.89% are male.9% hold Ph.D.s. And now, for a more detailed examination. Background This data concerns students who enrolled in the second offering of Computational Investing, Part I in Spring 2013. Demographics: Country of Residence Demographics: Age Demographics: Sex
What is a Constructivist MOOC? Lisa Lane describes three kinds of MOOCs here. OSSEMOOC is a Constructivist MOOC (what Lisa would call a network-based MOOC). It is a way of exploring and sharing resources, and constructing new knowledge through connections. Please check out the video: “What is a MOOC?” on the “About” page. It is not a “course” in the true sense of the word, but more of a “community” of learners, constructing learning together. You opt in when you can and when you want to learn. The topics, the calendar, the resources are here, as an entry point, and we share in social media where we feel most comfortable or where it best suits our needs. Welcome to online learning where you are directing your own learning! Like this: Like Loading... The MOOC Moment and the End of Reform A shortened version of this paper was given at UC Irvine last week, with the great Tressie McMillan Cottom talking about MOOCs and for-profit education. You can see video of both of us and the respondents here. Much thanks to Catherine Liu, Michael Meranze, and Peter Krapp for organizing and participating. The MOOC phenomenon has happened very quickly, to put it mildly. Last November, the New York Times declared 2012 to be “the Year of the MOOC,” and while it feels (at least to me) like we’ve been talking about MOOCs for years now, the speed by which the MOOC has become the future of higher education is worth thinking carefully about, both because it’s an important way to frame what is happening, and because that speed warps the narrative we are able to tell about what is happening. The MOOC phenomenon is also a shift in discourse, a shift that’s happened so quickly and so recently, that it fills up our mental rear-view mirror. For example. I mean that in two different ways.
About MOOC Completion Rates: The Importance of Student Investment | the augmented trader I just finished teaching a Massive Online Open Class (MOOC) titled “Computational Investing, Part I” via coursera.org. 53,000 people “enrolled,” which is to say they clicked a “sign up” button. How many finished? related post regarding lessons learned Completion rates are low, but that statistic is misleading Much of the criticism of MOOCs centers on supposedly low completion rates. And these rates do seem low when compared to completion rates of regular university courses. One of the 53,000 students in my class watches a lecture video. What does it cost a student to enroll in a course? The economics are significantly different for a student at a traditional university than for a student starting a MOOC. At a regular university all of the students starting a course have paid tuition, they have moved to an apartment or dorm near the university, and they’ve set aside time to complete the course. What’s the cost of failure or withdrawal? What are the implications for completion rates? Like this:
Apprendre à lire dans un MOOC de langues Hey, si vous en avez pas marre de mon projet d’applications pour l’apprentissage des langues (dans le cadre de MOOC dédiés), voici un nouveau billet sur le sujet. Cette fois-ci, on s’intéresse à l’apprentissage du script d’une langue étrangère. On a parlé récemment de vocabulaire, de grammaire, mais on a oublié l’apprentissage de la lecture. Fichtre, sacré oubli. Du coup, voici quelques idées et réflexions au débotté … L’apprentissage de la lecture sur une plateforme d’apprentissage peut se faire dans deux contextes différents. Les exercices correspondants seront donc axés sur des correspondances son/script (ou phonème/morphème pour les intimes). Le second cas est celui l’apprentissage d’un script inconnu, alors qu’on est déjà soi-même alphabétisé. Une attention toute particulière doit être donnée à la reconnaissance des sons et à la prononciation lors de l’apprentissage d’une langue. Le chinois représente l’exemple-type d’une écriture basée sur les logogrammes.