Who Learns What, When, and
How? Parsing the 2.5 Million
Registrants in HarvardX MOOCs
Peter K. Bol
Vice Provost for Advances in Learning
Online Learning as Distance Education
Babson Research, US higher ed only
Massive Open Online Courses
MOOCs versus Online Learning at Harvard
• The percent of higher education institutions
that currently have a MOOC increased from
2.6% in 2012 to 5.0% in 2013, and to 8.0% this
year.
• 46% have no plans to create MOOCs, the rest
are unsure
MOOCs are more interesting to talk
about because:
• They are controversial
– Will they disrupt higher ed? Take away our jobs?
Dumb down education? Undermine the liberal arts?
• They are time-consuming and expensive
– And we don’t know how to make them pay for
themselves
• They have found an audience
– But we don’t understand the audience well enough
(MOOCs: no tuition, unlimited open enrollment,
highly automated)
Examples of HarvardX “Learning Opportunities”
• "The Einstein Revolution" with Peter Galison
• https://www.edx.org/course/einstein-revolutionharvardx-emc2x#.VM-r4lptAWS
• —rigorous, 5 to 7 hours per week (1.5 hours of video
segments per week, plus readings, mini essays. . .)
• —creative use of animations, film clips, poetry. . .to
investigate the philosophical roots and philosophical
consequences of Einstein's work.
• —”…changing role of physics in the 20th and
21stcenturies… Einstein's engagement with relativity,
quantum mechanics, Nazism, nuclear weapons, etc…
raises basic questions about what it means to understand
physics in its broader history."
Visualizing Japan
• https://courses.edx.org/courses/VJx/VJx/3T2014/cours
eware/6467e15783a04a0888b68ce1dd4d45bf/f458ba
37f8554e989bd5086cad4d59af/
• —example of Harvard collaborating with another
university (MIT). At the end of this course, the
University of Tokyo continues with their version which
picks up (historically) where our course leaves off.
• —covers events from 1850 to 1920: Black Ships,
Samurai, Perry to Hibiya Riot of 1905 to Modernity in
Interwar Japan: Sheisedo & Consumer Culture.
VIDEO, ILLUSTRATIONS, CLAYMATION
• "Fundamentals of Neuroscience" with Prof David Cox (FAS)
• http://www.mcb80x.org/course/neurons_and_networks/the_
synapse/synapse_overview
• --- Review of course animations and additional animations can
be found at:
• http://www.itsnicethat.com/articles/fundamentals-ofneuroscience?utm_content=buffer3fb4f&utm_medium=social
&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer
• "Contracts" with Prof Charles Fried (HLS) trailer
• https://www.edx.org/node/3911#.VFeYsVxtAWQ
INTERACTIVE MEDIA
• "ChinaX" with Professors Peter Bol and Bill Kirby
(FAS, HBS)
• "Saving Schools: History and Politics of US
Education" with Prof Paul Peterson (HKS)
• https://courses.edx.org/courses/HarvardX/1368.
1x/3T2014/courseware/ec76ed5aed994b438de4
9626d787a8d3/d9a41ec9208f4f4186b52f9a0a56
da31/
Challenges
• CHALLENGING, LESSONS LEARNED
• "First Nights" with Prof Tom Kelly (FAS)
• Hector Berlioz: excerpt from Harvard Radcliffe
Orchestra
• http://youtu.be/1jie3u5Moe8
TRANSFORMATIVE FAIR USE
• "Human Health and Global Environmental
Change," with Prof. Aaron Bernstein (HMS,
course presented by HSPH).
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4YZnvbRs
gmA
• --- Start at 4min:15sec TO 5min:50sec
HarvardX Portfolio: An Evergrowing Collection of Clips
• http://vimeopro.com/user34050843/harvardx
-portfolio
The little we know about the audience
• Survey of Year 2 HarvardX and MITX registered
learners
• 260K/950K completed the survey
The Big Conclusion: the 260k who filled out
the survey were motivated by:
LIFE-LONG LEARNING 82%
LEARNING ABOUT THE CONTENT 82%
ACCESSING LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES NOT AVAILABLE
TO ME 74%
Life-long learning versus other
possibilities
• Serve my community 34% (but 50% said not at
all)
• Advance my career 33% (5% for religion, 39%
for public health)
• Advancing my formal education 40%
• Earning a certificate 21% (50% said not at all)
• Join online community 16% (49% said not at
all)
So what? Consider:
• 76% want to learn from the “best professors
at the best universities”
• 66% are not in school but 50% have identified
as teachers at some point
• 80% already have some familiarity with the
course content (15% none, 5% extreme)
OUR PRIMARY AUDIENCE IS PEOPLE WHO ARE
WELL EDUCATED AND CARE ABOUT LEARNING
The Challenge : aligning HarvardX with
the core mission of the university
Research & Teaching = Learning
Teaching now goes the distance
Leading in a global world
Leading through Learning
The common ground of HarvardX
learners and the University