2. What is a MOOC?
http://youtube.com/watch?v=eW3gMGqcZQc
Cormier, D (2010) What is a MOOC? [CC-
BY]
3. What is a MOOC?
MASSIVE
Uses the Internet to connect with others on a global scale
OPEN
– No charge for students
ONLINE
Learning together in digital modes
COURSE
– A MOOC Covers a single topic
4. Really, its the rise of Openness…
“The real revolution is that universities, with
scarcity at the heart of their business models,
are embracing openness”
Sir John Daniel (2012)
5. The brief history of
MOOCs 2004: George Siemens & Stephen Downes develop theory of
Connectivism, “the thesis that knowledge is distributed across a
network of connections, and therefore that learning consists of the
ability to construct and traverse those networks (Downes, 2012,
p.9).
2008: First MOOC presented at University of Manitoba with ~ 2200
learners
2010: Dave Cormier videos about MOOCs added to YouTube
(Cormier, 2010)
2011: MOOC for college prep skills helps freshmen prepare for
college requirements (Cormier, 2011)
2012:
Harvard’s first MOOC has 370,000 registered students
(Pappano, 2012)
2012: Coursera launches from Stanford; offers first xMOOCs
(Chen, 2012)
New York Times calls 2012 “The Year of the MOOC” Pappano,
2012)
2013: cMOOCs and xMOOCs too numerous to count accurately
6. Brief History of MOOCs cont.
Open Education Movement
Open content, open knowledge, open content
Connectivism
learning is successful if we connect and build relevant
networks
CCK08
Connectivism and Connective Knowledge Course run in
2008
Standford MOOCs (2012)
Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Databases
Platforms
Coursera
8. MOOC Types
C X
Academics, Non profits,
Individuals
Major Universities
Constructivist, Connectivist
approach
Behaviourist, Cognitvist approach
Many-to-many (Dialogue,
Peer2Peer interactions)
One-to-many (Student/Content,
Teacher/Student interactions)
Informal learning More formal learning
Collaborative, peer
assessment
Coordinated assessments and
quizzes (often automated)
Rich social media Social media used
Drive towards openness Open to join, but not all content
Network building,
collaboration
Organised group work
Ad hoc learner space Fixed Platform
De Waard, I (2013)
9. Why use MOOCs?
Networked learning offers opportunities to share ideas,
exchange knowledge, and work in collaborative teams
Learning takes place through interaction, questioning,
searching for information, and discussing what has
been discovered
Collaborative work prepares students for real-world
employment
Diverse learners bring fresh experiences from their varied
backgrounds
“Rhizomatic” learning: just as rhizomes in plant roots
propagate new plants, networked learning creates new
nodes of information and higher levels of interaction
among participants (Cormier, 2012.
10. Benefits and Downsides
Benefits Downsides
• Able to organise a
MOOC in any setting with
connectivity
• Use any online tools that
are relevant
• Use your own devices
• Work across timezones
and boundaries
• Connect across
disciplines and institutions
• Do not need a degree to
enter
• Improve lifelong learning
skills
• Feeling of chaos
• Demands digital literacy
• Demands self-directed
learning capacity
• Requires time and effort (often
more than expected)
• Possible steep learning curve
• Technology can distract from
learning purpose and content
11. Principles for Open Learning
Provide opportunities and capacity for lifelong learning
Learner-centred processes and encourage active
engagement leading to independent and critical
thinking
Flexible provision, allowing learners to increasingly
determine where, when, what and how they learn, as
well as the pace
Prior learning and experience is recognised
Conditions created for a fair chance of learner success
through learner support, contextually appropriate
resources and sound pedagogical practices
Saide (2012)
12. Quality and Completion
University brand does not equal teaching and
learning quality
Elite institutions gained reputations in research
Importance of Quality Assurance criteria
Improving rate of course and degree completion
Require not just access but access to success
Example: MIT’s Circuits and Electronics Course
155 000 registrations, 23 000 did the first problem set, 7157
passed
MOOC <10% completion is disastrous
But includes the curious and the tourists
13. Certification
Mostly, success in a MOOC does not lead to
credit but to a certificate
Elite institutions define quality by numbers of
applicants that they exclude, not after
admission
Certificates can be traded for credit but
very expensive
14. Local Impact
MOOCs may encourage development of
elearning and use of OER
BUT
MOOCs will not address the challenge of
expanding higher education in the
developing world
Access to technology
Independent learning and study skills
16. MY Field of Interest
Basically, my field of interest is Education.
Since ‘m doing bachelor of education, I
have chosen this field because it is
relevant to my field of study at the
University Of Johannesburg.
17. My MOOC Topic.
My MOOC Topic is “Teaching
adult learners”.
I have chosen this topic because
is relevant to my current studies
and it will help me when I enter
the world of work.
Notas del editor
MOOC = Massive amounts of people register for a course situated in an open and online environment
MOOC stands for Massive Open Online Course. It’s massive because it can have an unlimited number of learners working together. It’s open because anyone can participate. Traditional MOOCs are offered free of charge, unless they are taken for university credit. The work all takes place online, through a combination of social networking, wiki creation, real-time meeting in venues like Skype, and through audio and video podcasts. It’s a single-topic course, lasting from a few weeks to an entire semester.
Salmon (2013) - learners demanding their own choices and pathways, following their own motivations not those of providers
MOOCs have a brief history, but the concept has become so popular that its use has spread throughout the world, both within academic circles and among independent learner groups. The MOOC model is based on the Connectivist learning theory, which demonstrates how learning occurs through connections with others. MOOCs throughout the Internet world have grown from the first in 2008 to a place five years later where there are MOOCs or facsimiles of MOOCs available on nearly every topic imaginable, with participants from around the globe. Last year the New York Times pronounced 2012 as the “Year of the MOOC” in education.
Connectivism – network itself is important, success is result of creation and cultivation of learning network
CCK08 – Term coined by Dave Cormier and Bryan Alexander in a course led by George Siemens and Stephen Downes, consisted of 25 fee-paying students at University of Manitoba and 2300 non fee-paying public participants (Daniel, 2012). Content available through RSS feeds, threaded discussions, blogs, online meetings.
Stanford AI – 2012 – 58000 participants – facilitator Sebastian Thrun later founded Udacity.
Since the beginning of MOOCs, there have been many iterations of the model, with large universities offering what is now called an xMOOC, which is more closely aligned with traditional courses in its structure. These often use the more common professorial lecture in a larger scale than can be achieved in a classroom setting.
cMOOCs, on the other hand, are open to knowledge sharing from ordinary participants as well as the course facilitators. Anyone with knowledge to share is welcome to do so.
As you can see by the illustration, each letter in the acronym MOOC has been defined in different ways by different MOOC designers and users. We will look at the specifics of how MOOCs would work in the high school setting in a few minutes.
Smith “in an xMOOC you watch videos, in a cMOOC you make videos”
Reality is many more types of MOOCs
Others (Donald Clark): transfer Moocs (take existing course and moocify it where focus is transferring knowledge from teacher to students); synchMOOCs with defined timeframes/deadlines, where asynchMOOCs are looser in terms of deadlines; adaptiveMOOCs – aim to personalise epxeriences driven by analytics; groupMOOCs or projectMOOCs: add small collaborative (sometimes physical) groups
MOOCs can be valuable to high school students, who can benefit from the larger exchange of ideas and knowledge available when networking expands beyond the school walls. Students learn through interactions, discussions, questioning what is found, and discovering new information. Collaborative teams are becoming more prevalent in the business world, so the MOOC level of interaction helps prepare students for real-world employment situations.
Since MOOCs bring together learners from a wide variety of backgrounds and experiences, learning diversifies and provides fresh insight into the subject matter.
The concept of “rhizomatic learning” illustrates the nature of MOOCs; just as plants often propagate through rhizomes in their root systems, networked learning provides fresh nodes of connection and encourages further exploration beyond the classroom.
MOOCs require a higher level of independent learning than traditional lecture-test instruction. Students learn that the knowledge they acquire is their own responsibility: if they want to understand a concept, they need to seek out answers and experience the learning for themselves.
Is it still open if you have to pay for it? Even a nominal fee would reduce interest dramatically
How do MOOCs stack up against these principles?
Who owns the data?
People already had the content knowledge = successful
Learner support is required for success - remain on the course
Learner expectations matching what is promised in the course
Is the issue of certification important now and will it be in the future?
Bates (2012) Formal education should be “developing and fostering such abilities so that learners can participate meaningfully in MOOCs and other forms of self-learning.”
Sink or swim / flexible offering may suit the 1st world, and a small proportion of people in Africa, but not the average developing country learner for whom access to education is very precious
Like most innovations, MOOCs have gone through various stages to reach their current rate of adoption. However, the sequence of events usually sees persuasion as the second stage. In the case of MOOCs, a decision to go forward with the model was made when the first MOOC was presented. Dave Cormier’s videos worked to persuade more development of MOOCs for the wider world. By 2012, MOOCs were offered in high enough numbers that it can be said confirmation stage has been achieved.