got MOOCs?
What IS a MOOC?
A. A small version of a moose.
B. A character out of the Three
Stooges
C. A massive open online course
D. All of the above
E. None of the above
Hopefully, You Guessed “C”
A MOOC is a “massive, open, online course”
So, you might be thinking…define massive.
Udacity (more about them in a bit) has a class
with an enrollment of 160,000 student
Coursera (the Stanford project—even more…)
Whoa….Did
you say
160,000+?
Hilda begins to think she
should have attended that
panel on “minimal marking” at
last month’s conference of
writing teachers.
So, how is this even
possible?
MOOCs are not for credit (except….)
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
Classes are generally open entry, open exit
At any one time, attendance varies and has
a different connotation
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 peer-to-peer grading and autograding.
Alternative evaluation of learning - use of data
analytics.
Alternative evaluation of learning - use of data analytics. Council
for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA)
Ask a MOOC Participant
http://highlighter.com/2012/07/how-we-learned-to-stand-out-in-a-class-of-100000-people/
Getting more content to more people as cheaply as
possible allows for more students and users to learn.
Colleges should not just be for the elite and extremely
smart.
Distributed learning and an open-ended, flipped
classroom model. What’s wrong with a course being
taken a direction not expected, and not on the syllabus?
Can’t students learn even more when they are not
checking off a list of requirements and learning rubrics and
instead are actually asking (and answering) some the the
questions around the content itself?
Using learning networks, learning data, and student
engagement to help more students succeed in college
and beyond. Isn’t this the goal of institutions, student, AND
educational technology companies?
Introduction to Sustainability
Jonathan Tomkin
Unversity of Illinois
8 weeks
Model Thinking
Scott Page
University of Michigan
10 Weeks
Securing a Digital Democracy
Alex Halderman
University of Michigan
5 Weeks
Modern Contemporary American Poetry
Al Filreis
University of Pennsylvania 10 Weeks
A History of the World Since 1300
Jeremy Adelmen
Princeton University
12 Weeks
Let’s look at one….
Video link
Lecture
Recently in the NY Times…
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.
The Major Players
Company
Coursera
EdX
Udacity
Credentials
Founded by
Stanford CS
faculty
Collaboration
Classes
190+ courses, in
diverse subjects
8 courses
currently,
expanding in
2013
Connections
Stanford,
Michigan,
Princeton,
Edinburgh
Harvard, MIT,
Google,
Cal, University of Stanford, Silicon
Texas
Valley employers
Founded by
between Harvard Stanford faculty
and MIT
and Google
employees
15 classes,
primarily in skills
and computer
science
Impact on the CCCs
Credit for MOOCs?
Certification in subject areas or
workforce?
Preparation for placement exams?
Bridge to more advanced courses?
Other Opportunities?
Going Forward…
Concerns about MOOCs?
Plagiarism
Lack of motivation
Faculty primacy over curriculum
Reporting of competencies
Authentication
Scalability
Recently in the NY Times…
http://tinyurl.com/moocCCC
“The shimmery hope is that free
courses can bring the best
education in the world to the most
remote corners of the planet, help
people in their careers, and
expand intellectual and personal
networks. .”
Let’s avoid……