We are doing it, too: In order to serve the learning community and to offer flexible learning opportunities, our University now supports the development of all types of online learning material, from podcast to massive open online courses. As we are preparing and designing our courses for a MOOC scenario, I was wondering if teaching online with no interaction between learner(s) and teacher and among learners, is legitimate and can be considered academic. If the golden standard of research and science is critical discussion, reflective discourse, challenging and developing theories, building new empirical evidence to further the development of knowledge, how can any pre-recorded form of knowledge or of a scientific discourse be an acceptable form of teaching and learning?
I am beginning to have some doubts about the validity of what we do. Therefore, I would like to see what others think. What is the experience of others with MOOCs? Any concerns? What are the benefits that you see?
I too have my doubts about their validity. I am not sure who really is supposed to benefit from the additional flexibility that they are supposed to offer. Two journals have recently addressed the topic in special issues and you may find it helpful to explore further through those articles: They are
Distance Education, Vol. 35, No. 2, 2014
International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning (IRRODL), Vol. 15, No. 5, 2014. http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/index
I am biased towards Jon Baggaley's perspective in his article in the Distance Education special issue - MOOCs: Digesting the facts, 35 (2), 159-163.
I believe MOOCS are valuable, but only in moderation. There are important lessons for students to learn about online interaction, and in some cases (such as in the summer, when US students tend to go home--and often very far away) MOOCS fill a void.
However, I do believe students should be limited to a small number of these classes, say no more than one a semester. The college experience cannot be completely replicated in an online environment. Hybrids are more successful in bridging the gap.
MOOCs are simply an incarnation of the types of online learning that have been occuring for decades... applying a little more technology to automate the more mundane aspects of content delivery - but there's no reason a well designed MOOC can't provide high quality learning opportuntiies. Thankfully we've never really embraced a "college experience" mindset in Australia and aren't as hamstrung by the cultural implications that online learning suggests for some. Distance learning has a long tradition in Australia and MOOCs carry that tradition into the digital age. The MOOC can be many things to many people - a opportunity for high quality learning for one person can be the flipping through a journal in the doctor's waiting room for another. Too many discussions seem to assume a ubiquitous purposeful engagement and that's certainly very hard to establish as a valid assumption. As amny MOOC providers are investing in formal assessment and credentialling I think its a safe bet to say that for many this will be a a very valid alternative to sitting in lecture hall (which, thankfully, is almost gone at many institutions anyway) until graduation.
I genegally agree with Kim. MOOCs seem like a new incarnation of distant learning, and i 'd wish to add - mutual learning. In theory we know about so called Lancaster schools which were popular in Britain, Russia, other countries in Europe in 18-early 19 century. In these schools pupils (yet not students) taught each other, and the single teacher acted as a supervisor (in modern terms).
MOOC courses provide vast availability for training materials and. that especially important, to collaboration using chats, forums, knowledge databases, even social nets.
As any other teaching methods MOOC trainings MUST be supported by a teacher/trainer and/or his/her assistant. The collaboration tools, difeent test or peer review tools are MUST as well.
In other case we can't name this as "teaching".
Learning has never been dependent upon teaching. Teachers keep forgetting that.
I hope this scheme may be useful for discussion^ http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/information-culture/files/2014/06/peer-review-ACP.png
http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/information-culture/files/2014/06/peer-review-ACP.png
Good question Margarete, like Kim and Danil, I also believe that MOOCs can provide high quality learning opportunities. Teachers and learners may not meet face to face but that doesn't mean that you don't have meaningful interaction.
Just like traditional teacher-centered methods may be criticized for lack of interaction with the students, the same applies to MOOCs that solely rely on that same broadcasting model. Therefore, we must also have quality assurance processes in e-learning and MOOC production.
Jon Rosewell and Darco Jansen proposed a Quality Label for MOOCs here: "The OpenupEd quality label: benchmarks for MOOCs" at http://efquel.org/innoqual-3/#sthash.ADjnY32v.r3joqNyQ.dpuf.
Quality and Standards are Question for issue specially with Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) an International standards should set for this purpose to overcome this issue.
Larry Cuban, education historian and tech commentator at Stanford, recently commented on the issue of MOOC effectiveness. See http://wp.me/pBm7c-2i7.
As other comments have implied, not all MOOC designs are created equal. Instructional design principles that apply generally to all forms of teaching and learning on all platforms are fairly well defined and supported by two generations of experimental research in learning science. If the MOOC is designed according to these principles, it should work fairly well, if used as designed and if it is appropriate for the learners and the context and the purpose. The kind of interaction-free MOOC design you describe in your initial post probably will be effective for only a tiny percentage of students.
I agree with much of what has already been said by Kim, Wellesley and others. Online and distance education has been around for along time and there is a body of literature about what works and does not work. The UK Open University, The Open University of the Netherlands, Athabasca University in Canada are just a few of many institutions who have a proven record of high quality online and distance education.
So first let us not use the term MOOC and online learning as if they are the same thing, they are not. Then, as has already been stated, there are MOOCs and there are MOOCs. Some attempt has already been made to classify the xMOOC and cMOOC because these provide quite different experiences for the learner.
In the question an assumption is made about interaction that just does not match my experience as a learner with either the UK OU or in the MOOCs in which I have participated - namely, that teaching online involves no interaction between learners and teacher. This simply has not been my experience. Indeed I honestly can say that my online courses with the OU had much more interaction with both the tutor and the other students than my experiences at my face to face university. I would agree that a course or program that did not design in that interaction was an inferior course though.
My advice is to jump in and test the water. Take a number of online courses and as a learner, see what works and does not work and then use that experience in the deign of the courses that your institution is asking you to implement. Also read the literature, some of which has already been referenced here. But please I urge you all, do not add to the confusion that all online and distance learning are MOOCs or that MOOCs are the same as all online courses. Happy days....
@Mark. Great!
We launched 4 different e-based training/learning method during last 5 years, and their improvement process is continuous.
Hello Margarete,
I strongly think that MOOCs would be able to meet scientific standards.
But this holds only with some key factors:
- MOOCs originated from premier institutes are quite obvious to meet standard and scientific benchmarks
- Regular quality control of the MOOCs is necessary
- Regular interaction (though online) could help to bridge the short gaps between the teachers and learners
- Special Interest Groups (SIGs) could be employed to provide Live Support on MOOCs in a specific subject area
In my country (INDIA) the use of MOOCs is not profuse and a common perception holds the campus-based formal university education far superior to Online and Open educational paradigms.
Yet India has the world's largest open university (IGNOU) with more than 3 million students.
Premier institutes of India (like the IITs) have started providing free MOOCs covering different branches of engineering and technical education.
I think MOOCs is a welcome technology in education which when clubbed with our existing educational paradigms would not only enhance the quality and teaching-learning experience, but also extend the domain and reach of education to a larger area.
Regards.....
PARAG ([email protected])
Student of M.Sc. Computer Science,
St. Xavier's College, Kolkata, India
We have exactly addressed this problem in some pulications:
1) https://www.researchgate.net/publication/263348990_MOOCs_Completion_Rates_and_Possible_Methods_to_Improve_Retention_-_A_Literature_Review
2) https://www.scribd.com/doc/134249470/Interaction-Possibilities-in-MOOCs-How-Do-They-Actually-Happen
3) https://www.scribd.com/doc/149967706/How-satisfied-are-you-with-your-MOOC-A-Research-Study-on-Interaction-in-Huge-Online-Courses
Maybe that's from interest for your question
Conference Paper MOOCs Completion Rates and Possible Methods to Improve Reten...
I suggest taking a look at some of the EdX courses. I have audited one, and find that I am overwhelmed with the quantity of contact with instructors and classmates, alike. They put the onus on the student to learn the material on their own, and do not really attempt to access you through tests, but rather by your participation in forums, blogs, etc, and assistant instructors are quick to answer any questions that you might have, as well as having a large audience to discuss things with. It is intense, but I would certainly never say that it lacks in any way, quite the opposite. I also took a Coursera course, and had a rather disappointing experience in comparison.
Elaine, i took a number of courses, and i consider that it depends not on a platform - edX, or Coursera, or Stanford online - but rather on course designers.
I have just finished the Stanford Online MOOC: "OK MOOC", and found it useful for me as a professional, but rather poor in academical point of view.
I just came across this article that I thought others may also find useful.
http://www.educause.edu/ero/article/mooc-completion-and-retention-context-student-intent
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