The Use of Massive Open Online Courses at
Howard University
Prepared For
Wayne Fredrick
President
Howard University
Washington, DC 20059
Prepared by
Timothy Johnson
Taskforce Subcommittee Chair
Washington, DC
November 13, 2013
4708 5th Street Nw
Apt# 403
Washington, DC 20011
Wayne Fredrick
President
2400 Sixth Street NW
Washington, DC 20059
Dear President Wayne,
Enclosed is the report we agreed to be submitted in September if Howard University
should implement a Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) program. MOOCs can:

Allow those who want to take a class, but can’t leave the house access to the
information

Improve students work performance

Keeps the school technologically up to date

I recommend Howard University and the division of Information Technology do further
research on MOOCs.
Colleges such as UNC, Stanford University, MIT, Duke and Yale have already
implemented their version of a MOOC program. The program has been beneficial to
students as well as faculty alike.
Introduction
What are MOOCs?
Massive Open Online Courses, also called MOOCs, are an online network of accessible
courses for continuous learning. From research found on www.moocs.com: Non-degree
online courses with open unlimited global enrollment to anyone who desires to learn, and
regardless of their current educational level. MOOCs are only accessible via the web.
MOOCs can offer multiple of courses and degrees that are just a click away.
How did it get started?
As cited by Juliana Marques who wrote the article A Short History of MOOCs and
Distance Learning. MOOCs first began in the United Kingdom in 1969. The name of the
MOOC was Open University. This University was the answer to the long distance
capabilities to still pursue and education via the web. MOOCs expanded quickly in
Europe and the United States. Australia was able to use this program to access
information from London School of Economics, which was one of the first in the United
Kingdom to now many schools have implemented their on version of MOOCS to aid
their students and share knowledge to those who want to access it.
Problems/Disadvantages:
During the implementation of MOOCs, there have been a few criticisms to whether the
program is an effective learning experience. Many faculty and administrators have
reviewed other programs and have given them their thoughts.
Associate Director Doug Holton of Center for teaching and learning excellence at EmbryRiddle Aeronautical University wrote apiece entitled. What’s the “problem” with
MOOCs? Here’s what he said about some of the MOOC’s that are available:
“Khan Academy, the organization is unclear and it lacks sufficient learner support. The
videos aren’t informed by research and theory on how people learn, and this may
diminish the effectiveness of his videos. He could make the physics videos more effective
for example if he directly addressed student misconceptions in the videos. It doesn’t
appear that any of the videos ever get revised or updated.” (May 2012)
Khan Academy is a MOOC, where you can learn Physics (as stated above) and computer
coding. This MOOC was introduces in 2006 by educator Salman Khan, a graduate of
MIT and Harvard Business School. The problem here is that the website lacks interaction
with students and hinders effective academic growth.
According to Dr. Jill Rooney, MOOCs have yet to allow “Star Students” to be recognized
for their efforts. Number 4 in her article states as follows:
“4. No individual distinctions: Professor David Youngberg of Bethany College has
raised an important problem with MOOCs, which he realized when he took a course
offered through Udacity himself: “star students can’t shine.” He worried about the
ramifications this has for a student’s future: “In traditional academe, I know my best
students well enough to write recommendations describing their personalities and
accomplishments in detail. Online anonymity results in references that mean virtually
nothing.” This is certainly an important consideration, because MOOCs are often
promoted as ways for employees to gain more knowledge, but I also think that MOOCs
present problems for students who rely on outside motivation and require ongoing
feedback and positive encouragement. There is not as much chance for this in a MOOC
as there is in a traditional course. This may be why MOOCs have such a high drop-out
rate. MOOCs might do better if there was a mechanism in place to reward students for
their achievements.”(2012)
This should be kept in mind when it comes to creating a MOOC for Howard University.
Students who live off campus, that have to find a way to create a secure connection to the
Howard network. A lot of students who work and go to school don’t really have the
luxury some nights to come onto Howard’s campus to connect to the network.
Another example is, the University of California after opening their first set up MOOCs
they ran into a slight snag. The article by Nanette Asimov entitled UC
Online Courses Fails To Attract More Than A Few Students makes a good point about
starting a MOOC. According to the Associated Press, about 1,700 UC students have
signed up for one of the 14 courses offered, but they've attracted a grand total of five nonUC students, despite $4.3 million spent on marketing. That much money could have
been put into the full functioning and operation like coursera. They have students pay
about 1,400 to almost 3,000 dollars for a class. What if this is not in the tuition and fees
part of the student’s bill?
The article in the Star Tribune, Minneapolis entitled: Should College be a Remote
Experience gave a good point that I believe is pressing for professors:
“MOOCs could eventually reduce opportunities for college professors, marginalize
smaller or lesser colleges, lower the overall quality of learning and eliminate the
experience of college life for many.” (Dec 2012)
No one teacher can teach a whole section to 500+ students using MOOCs. It not
academically reasonable and cheating other experienced professors to do what they love
and that is to teach. Would you allow a professor, one professor to teach a class only
using MOOC? Would you want to limit the teacher student communication gap even
further? Who wants to live a college life on a computer for 4 years of college?
There are many flaws and disadvantages but what about advantages?
Advantages:
Students in this generation always have their smartphones, tablets, and Laptops with them
everywhere they go. They can access MOOCs right from their devices anywhere at
anytime.
Some students don’t have the opportunity to take a class which wasn’t and isn’t available
because the classroom cap is filled. A MOOCs course would solve this. As Cited in,
Higher Education; Open Online classes transform colleges by Laura Diamond of the
Atlanta-Journal Constitution, “These online courses are revolutionizing higher education
as they give students free access worldwide to content and faculty offered by elite
colleges.” (Dec. 2012).
The slideshow on http://www.slideshare.net/gsiemens/designing-and-running-a-mooc
made a great point on slide 14 of 41: that learners expected to create, grow, expand
domain and share personal sense making through artifact-creation. (Sept. 2012).
Meaning people learn by sharing what they have done, and express themselves through
digital creation that they can’t say in face-to-face atmospheres.
MOOCs are intended to instruct and help the students, who sign up to learn on their own.
The videos depending on who you’ve signed up with udacity, Edx, etc, have different
formats in which they provide information.
For example, I signed up for Khan Academy last year (2012). The website first showed
Sal Khan, the creator giving an intro video. Within this short introductory video he shared
that a pre-test will be taken to customize around the student’s needs. I wanted to learn
about computer coding and sequencing. I looked at the first video or course they provided
on coding a circle and square. This is similar to a math course where they introduce
something new to you and give you a way to work it out on your own. This still gives the
students the learning part of the course and builds around the students needs
(Khanacademy.org)
With access to the information students will never have the excuse that they didn't have it
or get the information. The MOOCS to students is like a extra life in Super Mario Bros.
on the Super Nintendo console. Even if they were late to class they still have a way to get
the information in on time with some points off depending on the teacher.
In Laura Diamond’s article, stood out as a great advantage not just to students but to
professors alike. The article states,
“Students could go to a location for a proctored exam. Or, when students take tests on
their computers they must show ID and keep the system's video camera running.”
(Higher Education: Open Online Classes transform college, Dec 2012)
This is a secure way for professors to use the integrity policy on students using Moocs
exams. On each laptop is a webcam. This webcam when taking an exam is on the whole
time during the exam. This advantage for professors is to put the name and ID with the
face of the student.
This is a great way for:

Students to get recognition for their work

Teacher being able to put face to names

Avoid plagiarism
Many courses at Howard University are hybrid courses. Classes that are both online and
face-to-face. The advantages to this style of courses allow the student to learn on their
own while the teacher can prepare for the next class accordingly via the online
assignments and in class exercises.
For example, Grammar Review for Japanese Minor was a Hybrid Course. In this course
some days were in class others were online assignments from the previous class. For
online quizzes the students have to sign in with their student login.
From what the students have said that class was a challenge and was also a new
experience. (Johnson)
As Laura Diamond’s article states, “Tech and Emory are part of Coursera, a forprofit company that offers more than 200 courses from more than 30 universities. Two
other large players are Udacity, also a private company, and edX, a nonprofit started by
Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.” (“Higher Education
2012). Howard University could benefit from a partnership with one of the leading
MOOCs or start their own. Beneficial to the students could drop the tuition fees down by
a couple thousand depending on investors and those who sign up for classes. It's a
partnership with other schools as well. Georgia Tech and Emory University in the South
have partnered with Coursera to build a very workable relationship in sharing resources.
Building this relationship with our own consortium members could benefit students from
traveling long distances, if they don’t have to. With the exception of exams and finals of
course.
Recommendation
I recommend that Howard University create their own MOOCs network. Students who
study together grow together. Here are the basic recommendations:

Form a secure accessible network

Accessible sections and courses

Build a hybrid curriculum

Open to change the way you teach

Don’t cut faculty

Give accessible sources via the Web

Give real life scenarios in the examples
Conclusion
All of these recommendations will give the MOOCs at Howard University the edge it
needs to build and lead the students into a new wave of learning. Allowing them to be
tech savvy and learn critical skills as this world head towards a new age of academic
learning. This will be bring Howard’s Information Technology program a boost in a
hands on experience dealing with online learning and online sharing of ideas among the
top IT specialist in the United States. I’m sure that MOOCs will be very influential to
the campuses growth.
References
Lewin, Tamar: A rush to reinvent learning; Students flock to Web, but a model that pays
the bills remains elusive, The International Herald Tribune, January 8, 2012.
Head, Karen: For Whom is College Being Reinvented?; ‘Disruptions’ have the buzz but
may put higher education out of reach for those students likely to benefit the most. The
Chronicle of Higher Education, Dec. 17, 2012.
Diamond, Laura: Higher Education; Open online classes transform colleges. The Atlanta
Journal-Constitution, Laura Diamond, Dec. 27, 2012.
Host Simon, Scott and Prof. Devlin Keith
Math En Masse: Teaching Online for Free, National Public Radio, November 24, 21012
Ross, Jenna
Should college be a remote experience? Star Tribune, Minneapolis, Dec. 19, 2012.
Asimov, Nanette: UC’s online course fail test luring outsiders; EDUCATION, The San
Francisco Chronicle, Nanette Asimov, January 8, 2013.
Khan Academy www.Khanacademy.org November 20, 2013
Udacity www.udacity.org Novermber 23, 2013
Marques, Juliana, A Short History of MOOCs and Distance
Learning: http://moocnewsandreviews.com/a-short-history-of-moocs-and-distancelearning/#ixzz2lgHZ2Xe1 April 17, 2013
Rooney ,Jill, DR : 4 Biggest Problems with MOOCs
http://www.onlinecolleges.net/2012/10/17/the-4-biggest-problems-withmoocs/(2013)
Holton, Doug: What’s the “problem” with MOOCs?
http://edtechdev.wordpress.com/2012/05/04/whats-the-problem-withmoocs/ May 4th 2012