Presentation for the EMOOCs conferences 2019, Naples, Italy. I describe why and how we created a Study Skills MOOC, and how we plan to maintain it now that our funding is over.
1. How to run a massive open
online course once the
funding is over
BRENDA CECILIA PADILLA RODRIGUEZ
MA CONCEPCION RODRIGUEZ NIETO
MAY 21ST 2019
2. How it all started
EMOOCS 2019, NAPLES, ITALY 2
3. Our problem
About 50% of students who start university drop out
before completing their degree.
Many reasons:
Financial and personal problems
Low entry academic level + difficulties to understand university-level courses
+ deficient study skills
(Domínguez Pérez et al., 2013; López Villafaña et al., 2014;
OECD, 2010; Torres Balcázar et al., 2011)
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4. Our goal (Year 1)
Design, implement and evaluate a MOOC on Study
Skills that could help first-year students transition to
higher education, improve their study skills and
develop their self-efficacy.
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5. What we needed
MOOC platform
Learning design
Educational content
MOOC facilitators
Tech support
Research
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6. What we needed
MOOC platform
Learning design
Educational content
MOOC facilitators
Tech support
Research
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Estimated costs for creating and
delivering a MOOC range from
39,000 to 325,000 USD.
(Hollands & Tirthali, 2014)
8. What we had
…the salary of a full-
time postdoc
researcher…
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9. What we had
Supervision time from a senior lecturer
University’s infrastructure (computers, wifi)
Moral support from managers
Open Educational Resources
Public domain images
Freeware
Enthusiasm
…and…
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10. What we had
Network of wonderful people passionate about openness
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11. And that’s how we got things rolling…
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13. MOOC de Habilidades de Estudio
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1. Managing time efficiently
2. Taking effective notes
3. Searching for reliable information
4. Understanding academic texts
5. Using the APA referencing format
6. Writing academically.
Topics: Study Skills
14. Main characteristics
Constructivist approach
Activities reliant on social interactions
Few multiple choice questions with
automated feedback
29 discussion forums!
E-tivity framework (Salmon, 2013)
Strategies to foster self-efficacy
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Objective
Task
• Step1
• Step2
• Step3
Response
SPARK
15. Main characteristics
Two staff facilitators & three student moderators (volunteers)
Weekly follow-up emails & tweets
Overarching assignment for each lesson
Non-credit bearing certificates of participation
Manual process!
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16. Results
Positive comments
Benefits for non-traditional students
Statistically significant increases in self-efficacy
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(Padilla Rodriguez & Armellini, 2017;
Padilla Rodriguez, Armellini & Rodriguez Nieto, in press)
17. But we had a problem…
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18. The MOOC was not
sustainable
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19. Our goal (Year 2)
Identify strategies to make the Study Skills MOOC
sustainable (and keep it useful) past its funding
period.
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22. What the literature says
Initiatives to create MOOCs on a budget
Cheaper to re-run a MOOC than to develop it, but not
free.
Philanthropy to support ongoing MOOCs (people donating
their time)
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(Hollands & Tirthali, 2014; Nissenson & Shih, 2016; Oyo &Kalema, 2014)
23. What academics say
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(Padilla Rodriguez,
Armellini, & de la
Garza Escamilla,
2018)
25. What we needed
Ensure the MOOC could work once the funding ended
and support became inconsistent.
Modify the MOOC in such a way that we could leave it as
reference materials, without having to incur into new
administrative tasks.
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26. The Redesign
Only one discussion forum per lesson
Open space for comments, not e-tivities
Multiple-choice questions with automated feedback
Sample tweets
Multimedia resources
No completion certificates
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27. Focus of the Redesign
More learner-content
interactions
Less moderated social
interactions
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Automate
teaching
functions
28. How to run a MOOC once the
funding is over
EMOOCS 2019, NAPLES, ITALY 28
Business model that
generates the required
revenues to maintain
materials up to date and
help pay facilitators for their
work.
Content-based course
design with learning
materials that require little
updating
29. Final Reflections
By shifting the focus from the learning community to interactions
with the content, the Study Skills MOOC is losing its original
essence.
The course is becoming a set of massive open online resources, a
MOOR.
While its spirit is different, it still offers a structured sequence of
materials that can help learners interested in developing their
study skills and self-efficacy.
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30. How to run a massive open
online course once the
funding is over
BRENDA CECILIA PADILLA RODRIGUEZ (@BRENDAPADILLA)
MA CONCEPCION RODRIGUEZ NIETO