These days, we saw the impressive number of 30,000 registration to a map-making course [1], but also a rather negative evaluation of massive open online courses (MOOCs) [2]. What if your opinion, is this teaching concept a thread to well established learning practices or an opportunity to deliver (higher) education?
[1] http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2013/07/anthony-robinson-mooc/?goback=.npv_38319449_*1_*1_*1_*1_*1_*1_*1_*1_*1_*1_*1_*1_*1_*1_*1_*1_*1_*1_*1_*1_*1_*1_*1_*1_*1_*1_*1_*1_*1_*1_*1_*1_*1_*1
[2] http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/San-Jose-State-suspends-online-courses-4672870.php
Well the courses delivered by the San Jose State University are not MOOCs because they are not open! What is more, as i understood from the article is that they delivered online a whole semester and that the main problem appeared in the final exams. So this course should be created like an e-learning course with a facilitator and supportive activities and material if exams are so important. The exams are not high as a priority in the scope of MOOCs. In conclusion i think they created an e-learning course with final exams based on the "philosophy of MOOCs" where the scopes or the scopes' priorities of the 2 concepts are different.
Good observation. I have to admit that I am new to this whole MOOC story, but curious to learn when the principles might be applied - and when not. Your separation already helps in this respect. Thanks, Alexandros!
Yes, the notion of a MOOC is extremely flexible. I tend to see it as a generic concept that tries to accommodate today's technical possibilities for any form of education. Concrete realizations might then look very different, depending on the topic, aim, available resources and - last but not least - intended audience.
As far as I understand this today, one MOOC might be targeted at the general public in order to educate about some notion of socio-economic relevance - say e.g. green economy - and could run for a longer time - e.g. several years - with repeated webinars, but mainly providing more classical material for self studies.
Another could address people that are interested in map making, as the example used initially.
Another might address the inhabitants of a certain city that is facing a particular challenge and might be a repeated every few month, as long as the challenge remains.
Another...
All in all, the real opportunity might be indeed outside 'formal' education. Do we need to compensate for this in our formal educational contexts at all?
In my biased interpretation of what MOOCs are achieving for universities is:
1) Granting access to people who do not have the resources or are geographically displaced.
2) It gives the universities that belong to the program huge amounts of statistical information on what problem areas are in a specific subject to better address them. This is more of a tailored tutoring for the masses.
3) For a professor that likes research and does not like teaching it provides a pre-screening of students so that the when the students show to the "advanced" course it is all about hands on research
4) By catering to the masses, it is a big advertisement to come to that campus to study and complete number 3 of this list
This will definitely impact the universities traditional business model and advertisement.
Interesting view on the possible opportunities of using MOOCs in a university context. #3 and #4 seem very reasonable to me. Could you elaborate a bit more on #2? How can a MOOC be used to exploit a particular research area? Do you have an example?
Sven,
Point 2 pertains to the use of data to better identify wrong answers in tests that are statistically significant. By having huge amounts of statistical data on questions they can track how students understand the underlying concepts. This is more focused on teaching (sorry for the confusion should have clarified the point).
Thanks for the clarification Artuto. At the first glance, this seems relatively specific to MOOCs in the context of formal education, i.e. in a setting in which exams and tests are mandatory to provide final grades. However, this might be generalized to surveys that could be part of any MOOC.
Still, in any case, the M in MOOC can certainly be interpreted in a way that educational material is available to masses. It does not per se imply that many people attend - and thereby fill in tests, surveys, etc.
BTW, I do not necessarily agree on how MOOCs are being implemented, just pointing some possible benefits. You are totally correct in your last statement. One has to also look that there are potential catastrophic outcomes from MOOCs without proper user validation, impersonal relationship between professor and student, etc. MOOCs still need to be treated with caution but I think they will become part of the institutions, how is the big question.
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