MOOC experiences at
San Jose State University
Charles W. Davidson!
College of Engineering!
!
One Washington Square!
San José, CA 95192-0080!
www.engr.sjsu.edu!
Ping Hsu
College of Engineering, SJSU
!
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•  SJSU/Udacity Partnership
•  SJSU/edX Partnership
•  Lesson learned
•  Questions to ask
•  Suggestions to department chairs.
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SJSU/Udacity Partnership!
•
•
•
•
Spring 2013—Statistics, Remedial Math, Algebra;
Summer 2013 -- Intro Psychology, CS Java Programming
Jointly developed course materials.
280 SJSU students (SJSU credit) and 10,000 Udacity students (no
credit)
•  Cost--$150 for SJSU students and free for Udacity students
•  Methods:
- 2~3 minutes video,
- a multiple choice question,
- explanation.
•  Exams proctored by ProctorU.
Spring and Summer Results!
Spring Pilot 2013 ! Summer Pilot
2013 !
2013 SJSU OnCampus!
(based on past 6
semesters)!
Elementary
Statistics !
!
50.5% !
83.0% !
76.3%!
!
College Algebra !
25.4% !
72.6% !
64.7%!
!
Entry Level Math !
23.8%!
29.8%!
45.5%!
General
Psychology !
not offered !
67.3% !
83.0%!
!
Intro to
Programming !
not offered !
70.4% !
67.6%!
!
SJSU/edX Partnership!
§  2012 Fall edX 6.002 Circuit Analysis material was
used for teaching a comparable course at SJSU (EE98,
80+ enrollment) using a flipped classroom format.
(a.k.a. SPOC format, Small Private Online Course. )
§  Collaborative and active learning methods were used in
class.
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Fall 2012 EE98 grade distribution　Grade
distribution
typical past aveage 0!
C　edX MOOC　100%!
• Repeat rate (below C) improved from about 35% to 10%.
• We attribute the improvement to the quality online materials
and the flipped classroom teaching format. Lesson Learned
Offering MOOC courses (partnership with Udacity):
§  Many challenges: Contract development, faculty roles in
course development, intellectual property, scale up
enrollments, admission, registration, payment, pre-req …
§  MOOC courses with faculty direct supervision are
essentially the same as online courses. Effectiveness of
such courses should be comparable.
Using MOOC materials (partnership with edX):
§  MOOC materials can substitute classroom lecturing.
§  Use collaborative and active learning in classroom.
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Questions to Ask
Are MOOCs and other online materials a
threat to quality public higher education,
and to our role as professors?
Andrew Valls
May 6, 2013, Chronicle of Higher Education
•  Yes, if we can’t do better than MOOC and other online
materials.
•  No, if we can.
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How do we do better than MOOC and
other online materials?
•  We use MOOC and other online materials in our teaching
and we do more in areas where no online materials can
achieve.
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How do we take advantage of the large
amount of free, low cost, and many high
quality online teaching materials ?
•  Most classroom lectures (large classes, in particular) can be
substituted by high quality online teaching materials
(video, interactive problems, simulation, etc.).
•  Use class time for discussion, problem solving, and
reflection, i,e., collaborative and active learning.
•  Classroom activities must be carefully and strategically
planned and should never be optional or just Q&A session.
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Is “Flipped classroom” a more effective
teaching style?
•  Flipped classroom teaching is more about a more natural
learning style than a good teaching style.
•  Life-long learners learn on their own first and then seek
help for a better understanding.
•  No online materials can replace discussions and answering
individual questions (i.e., in-class activities).
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Would those low cost, high quality online
teaching materials (e.g., MOOC materials)
replace the role of instructors?
•  Yes, if classroom lecturing is all we can do and if our
graduates’ knowledge and skills have reached the level that
there is no room for improvement.
•  Instructors’ role will change from the source of information
to inspiring, mentoring, and helping students to learn. No
online materials can answer individual question or provide
feedback in design.
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Suggestions to department chairs.
•  Identify where in your curriculum where online materials
and flipped classroom can be used most effectively.
Consider taking advantage of MOOC materials, other
online materials, and/or developing your own online
materials.
•  Shifting your resource from for delivering knowledge to
for helping, inspiring, mentoring, and providing
experiential learning to students (e.g., labs, small elective
courses, senior projects).
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Can MOOCs produce more "bang for the
buck": through helping to reduce
dropouts and the time spent in higher
education?
•  MOOC and MOOC materials can be utilized for improving
teaching effectiveness. In that regard, yes, we can get
‘more bang for the buck’. Can this improvement reduce
dropouts and time spent? Possibly. That is a whole
different discussion.
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Are universities ready to commit
themselves to digital democratization?
•  Have universities committed to textbook democratization?
•  The question is “Does this act advance the mission of the
universities?”
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Thank you!
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