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The Professors Behind the MOOC Hype - Technology

The Professors Behind the MOOC Hype - Technology
Dave Chidley for The Chronicle Paul Gries, of the U. of Toronto, has taught MOOCs on computer science. By Steve Kolowich What is it like to teach 10,000 or more students at once, and does it really work? The largest-ever survey of professors who have taught MOOCs, or massive open online courses, shows that the process is time-consuming, but, according to the instructors, often successful. Nearly half of the professors felt their online courses were as rigorous academically as the versions they taught in the classroom. The survey, conducted by The Chronicle, attempted to reach every professor who has taught a MOOC. Hype around these new free online courses has grown louder and louder since a few professors at Stanford University drew hundreds of thousands of students to online computer-science courses in 2011. Princeton University's Robert Sedgewick is one of them. Like many professors at top-ranked institutions, Mr. It paid off. Why They MOOC Mr. But it might also be good for him. Mr. Mr.

Reflections of a mooc unvirgin I recently completed my first mooc, and I will soon receive the certificate to prove it. Many people don’t think a certificate of completion means much, but this one will mean a lot to me. I put substantial time and energy into this course, so it will be satisfying to have something tangible to recognise it. Before I signed up, I had decided to do a mooc because I was blogging about them but had never experienced one for myself. I considered doing Georgia Tech’s Fundamentals of Online Education via Coursera, but I wasn’t attracted to the introductory angle of the content. I also considered the independent(?) Eventually I settled on The University of Edinburgh’s E-learning and Digital Cultures mooc, because it targeted practising e-learning professionals who “want to deepen their understanding of what it means to teach and learn in the digital age”, not to mention the fact I was fascinated by its coverage of popular culture. Anyway, I thoroughly enjoyed the EDCMOOC. Pro’s Cons Like this:

The Evidence on Online Education WASHINGTON -- Online learning has definite advantages over face-to-face instruction when it comes to teaching and learning, according to a new meta-analysis released Friday by the U.S. Department of Education. The study found that students who took all or part of their instruction online performed better, on average, than those taking the same course through face-to-face instruction. Further, those who took "blended" courses -- those that combine elements of online learning and face-to-face instruction -- appeared to do best of all. That finding could be significant as many colleges report that blended instruction is among the fastest-growing types of enrollment. The Education Department examined all kinds of instruction, and found that the number of valid analyses of elementary and secondary education was too small to have much confidence in the results. Using technology to give students "control of their interactions" has a positive effect on student learning, however. John R.

Early demographic data - who takes moocs? Massive open online courses, or MOOCs, are popular. This much we know. But as investors and higher ed prognosticators squint into their crystal balls for hints of what this popularity could portend for the rest of higher education, two crucial questions remains largely unanswered: Who are these students, and what do they want? Some early inquiries into this by two major MOOC providers offer a few hints. Coursera, a company started by two Stanford University professors, originated with a course called Machine Learning, which co-founder Andrew Ng taught last fall to a virtual classroom of 104,000 students. Among 14,045 students in the Machine Learning course who responded to a demographic survey, half were professionals who currently held jobs in the tech industry. Many were enrolled in some kind of traditional postsecondary education. A subset (11,686 registrants) also answered a question about why they chose to take the course.

MOOCs and the general education economy Steve Krause writes that the recent EDC-MOOC (in which we both participated) was "meh." I agree. But you know what else was meh for me? School. K-12. So from my perspective, so what if MOOCs are meh? Clearly though, universities depend on general education courses to make their economic model go. So it's not that MOOCs are great. The upshot of this is that the humanities need to start developing a new economic model, one that will not depend on 1000s of undergraduates taking composition or western civ or whatever. Stephen Downes: The Role of the Educator How often do we read about the importance of teachers in education? It must be every day, it seems. We are told about "strong empirical evidence that teachers are the most important school-based determinant of student achievement" again and again. The problem with the educational system, it is argued, is that teachers need to be held accountable. The problem with focusing on the role of the teacher, from my perspective, is that it misses the point. Let me tell you how I know this. Each of these has contributed in one way or another to an overall approach not only to learning online but to learning generally. It's an approach that emphasizes open learning and learner autonomy. It's an approach that emphasizes exercises involving those competencies rather than deliberate acts of memorization or rote, an approach that seeks to grow knowledge in a manner analogous to building muscles, rather than to transfer or construct knowledge through some sort of cognitive process.

WIKI - Massive open online course Education service on the web Poster, entitled "MOOC, every letter is negotiable", exploring the meaning of the words "massive open online course" A massive open online course (MOOC ) or an open online course is an online course aimed at unlimited participation and open access via the Web.[1] In addition to traditional course materials, such as filmed lectures, readings, and problem sets, many MOOCs provide interactive courses with user forums or social media discussions to support community interactions among students, professors, and teaching assistants (TAs), as well as immediate feedback to quick quizzes and assignments. MOOCs are a widely researched development in distance education,[2] first introduced in 2008,[3] that emerged as a popular mode of learning in 2012, a year called the "Year of the MOOC".[4][5][6] History[edit] What is a MOOC? Precursors[edit] Early approaches[edit] cMOOCs and xMOOCs[edit] MOOCs and open-education timeline (updated 2015 version)[13][30] Students served[edit]

How to Build A Strong Online Classroom Community in a MOOC (A Beginning) #edcmooc | Design for Learning tag: #edcmooc MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) have recently exploded on the Internet. Currently participating in the “Elearning & Digital Cultures” Coursera MOOC has been both an exciting and enriching experience so far. Many of my classmates have noted that it’s difficult to connect or even find what you need. I see that. To some extent, online learners do have to take a bit of responsibility in learning how to use the tools, discovering the rules of etiquette and how to use the content creation options (Storify, Twitter, Facebook, Google +, Prezi, Storyline, etc.). Part of the fun of engaging in an online course is taking a few risks. I have a few suggestions from my initial experience in this MOOC, and as I continue to take this course over the next few weeks I’m sure I will have more: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. How about you? Go to the wall and add your own comments. Like this: Like Loading...

Why School? TED ebook author rethinks education when information is everywhere. The Internet has delivered an explosion of learning opportunities for today’s students, creating an abundance of information, knowledge, and teachers as well as a starkly different landscape from the one in which our ideas about school were born. Traditional educators, classrooms, and brick-and-mortar schools are no longer necessary to access information. Instead, things like blogs and wikis, as well as remote collaborations and an emphasis on critical thinking skills are the coins of the realm in this new kingdom. Yet the national dialogue on education reform focuses on using technology to update the traditional education model, failing to reassess the fundamental model on which it is built. In Why School? Why must schools change how they teach? Every generation seems to think its students are different. Students in the K-12 system have never known a world without the Internet. With so much information out there, it seems that finding information is easy but assessing it is tricky.

2012 Histoire des moocs Part 5 of my Top Ed-Tech Trends of 2012 series The Year of the MOOC Massive Open Online Courses. MOOCs. And oh man, did we talk about it. In retrospect, it’s not surprising that 2012 was dominated by MOOCs as the trend started to really pick up in late 2011 with the huge enrollment in the three computer science courses that Stanford offered for free online during the Fall semester, along with the announcement of MITx in December. Who cares what Cormier thinks and predicts? January: Googler and Stanford professor (and professor for the university’s massive AI class) Sebastian Thrun announces he’s leaving Stanford to launch Udacity, his own online learning startup. February: MITx opens for enrollment. April: Stanford professors Andrew Ng and Daphne Koller (also involved with Stanford’s fall 2011 MOOCs) officially launch their online learning startup Coursera. May: June: Udacity announces it’s partnering with Pearson, which will offer onsite testing for its classes. July: August: September:

Teaching 'E-learning and Digital Cultures' | thoughts and reflections on the EDC MOOC That's Great!: Why Not MOOseums? I have been interested in museums for a long time, with a special concern for museum effectiveness in offering open, informal or free-choice learning for the visitor. I've recently written about this (Barr 2013: online at "There are plenty of fascinating things about museums. But that museum focus has been almost entirely onsite. "In spite of the speed with which museums embraced the world wide web, few of them seem to have become equally enthusiastic about the prospect of expanding their on-site educational activities into the online environment. Combining the museum mandate with the learning potential of MOOCs, especially cMOOCs, seems to me like a natural. All one would need is for existing museum education staff to gain some familiarity with cMOOC structure and develop some facility with digital literacy. The connectivist learning opportunities offered through cMOOCs offer a whole new dimension to museum learning.

Le MOOC 2013 - Paris - Mai 2013 We are here. #edcmooc has approached the end So many wise words have already been written about the edc-mooc course. I have only a little extra to add. Here is a short resume about some of my thoughts: Besides my curiosity for the course content, my mental challenge by enrolling EDC-mooc was certainly the language. Would I be able to cope with the reading of the material as well as writing both blog posts and an assignment in english? Now when it's all succesfully completed, I almost burst of different feelings. As a teacher I can't help wonder why this course gave me such a kick in that direction. But the most dominant of the impressions from the EDC are connected to the overwhelming experience of being part of the very active group around the course. But again the community was there and a lot of people felt like me. When I wrote my final assignment, I found it quite difficult to cover even a few corners of the course in less than 800 words. If you haven't seen it yet, you should have a look at his video Amaze Gamma

Interesante los resultados de esta encuesta a profesores de USA que han desarrollado cursos MOOC. Todavía hay mucho por explorar en este campo. by cfosca Mar 31

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