Responding to Disruptive Forces:
MOOCs and Their Consequences
Overview
MOOC Basics
The Origins of MOOC-fatigue
Status of MOOC-hype
MOOC Mysteries
Do MOOCs have a place in
California’s community colleges?
The Early Year(s)…
MOOC
Massive
Open
Online
Course
MOOC Basics
 Much of the grading is automated or is done by
peers, and predictive analytics are used to help
students learn material .
 Massive discussion boards allow students to ask
questions of their classmates.
 Free?
 “Standard” MOOC – not eligible for financial
aid, apportionment, credit (no regular effective
contact).
Focus on “scale”
The Major Players
Company
Coursera
EdX
Udacity
Credentials
Founded by
Stanford CS
faculty
Collaboration
Classes
190+ courses, in
diverse subjects
15 courses
currently,
expanding in
2013-4
Connections
Stanford (sort of)
Michigan,
Princeton,
Edinburgh
Harvard, MIT,
Google,
Cal, University of Stanford, Silicon
Texas, and now Valley employers
Stanford
Founded by
between Harvard Stanford faculty
and MIT
and Google
employees
15 classes,
primarily in skills
and computer
science
What are the origins
of MOOC-fatigue?
Headlines
The Year of the MOOC
Innovation forces higher ed's hand
Massive free online teaching the next big thing in
China
Thousands Sign Up for UT-Austin's First EdX
Courses
Can an international online course get you a job?:
Massively Open Online Courses may help you land
a job in the near future, predict educationists
Headlines
Outsourcing Public Higher Ed (SB 520)
MOOCs: The future of education or mere
marketing?
Public universities use MOOCs to steers
students to traditional credit
pathways/Mainstreaming MOOCs
Earning college credit for MOOCs though
prior learning assessment/Making It Count
SB 520 (Steinberg)
 Proposes outside private vendor to provide on-line
the most in-demand courses that students have
difficulty getting.
 Intersegmental Committee of the Academic Senates
of California (ICAS) comprised of representatives
from the UCs, CSUs, and CCCs are opposed.
Sacramento’s Interests
“Efficiency”
 End of waitlists (“access”)
Remediation for students
prior to enrollment
Status of MOOChype
Will it ever end?
MOOCs Near the Peak of
Inflated Expectations?
Learning Vs Education
Many universities now consider offering MOOCs,
but they don’t do it for educational reasons. There
is no intention to improve society, inclusion or
retention, there is no quality consideration or
recognition of achievement. It’s the latest
marketing move, nothing more.
…once we see MOOCs as a way to offering
learning, but not as a system to provide education,
these two can happily live together and be even a
part of each other.
Remember These?
MOOC Mysteries
How do you sustain a
MOOC?
Will MOOCs always be
free?
Are MOOCs inherently
evil?
Do MOOCs have a place
in the CCCs?
Some things to consider as we move on…
 Do MOOCs call for additional rethinking of
expectations of teaching and learning - beyond
current conversations?
 Today’s MOOCs offer:
 Alternative delivery of instruction - noncredit
offerings to a mass, potentially world wide, audience.
 Alternative approaches to instruction - a more modest
faculty role, expanded reliance on students and peerto-peer grading and auto-grading.
 Alternative evaluation of learning - use of data
analytics.
Alternative evaluation of learning - use of data analytics. Council for
Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA)
the NY Times--2 November 2012
http://tinyurl.com/moocCCC
“Because anyone with an Internet connection
can enroll, faculty can’t possibly respond to
students individually. So the course design
— how material is presented and the
interactivity — counts for a lot. As do fellow
students. Classmates may lean on one
another in study groups organized in their
towns, in online forums or, the prickly part,
for grading work.”
So, What’s the Big Deal?
 160,000+ students! In one class!
 Taught by Stanford, Michigan, Harvard, MIT
professors, many of the classes are advertised as being
essentially the same as the courses offered at the major
universities in the US
 There is no cost to enroll in a MOOC
 The subjects vary from practical skills (accounting) to
advanced courses in medicine and everything in
between.
MOOCs by the Numbers
Impact on the CCCs
 Credit for MOOCs?
 Certification in subject areas or
workforce?
 Preparation for placement exams?
 Bridge to more advanced courses?
 Other Opportunities?
Concerns about MOOCs?
 Plagiarism
 Lack of motivation
 Faculty primacy over curriculum
 Reporting of competencies
 Authentication
 Scalability
Going Forward--One CCC’s plan
How can we make MOOCs
work for us?
Questions?