Hi Dan-Christian, I have only recently become familiar with the MOOC approach to on line learning, and think that while it has a lot to offer, there are some drawbacks as well. I have enrolled in three MOOCs with different experiences for each - the first I did not complete, after having my inbox jammed with e-mails and conversation from participants - these did not go to a central point where they could be accessed, but rather seemed to be coming to everyone enrolled - over 700 people. The second course (different provider) was more structured in terms of being able to manage communications and engagement with the material, but to be honest I just didnt have time to meet the set deadlines. The third time (again, a different provider) I found the process very user friendly, relevant content and definetly manageable within the time frame. My only concern would be that (necessarily) the assessments seemed quite simplistic, but given the open access this is understandable. It has been enough to make me recommend this particular course to others, and to consider the options for establishing a similar on line option within my setting.

Hi Dan-Christian, I am currently enrolled in a MOOC and there are components of the course that are tied to psychology. I have noticed in the discussion forums that some students are bring up personal mental health issues and with over 1,200 participants I am sure that some of these posts will be overlooked by the moderators. In some instances the students are engaging with one another around these issues, but it is evident that professional help is likely needed. This leads to me to wonder if the effectiveness of a MOOC might be content specific? Are there certain subjects and topics that are better suited for the learning environment? I think that there is great promise in the MOOC model, but we must move forward carefully with its implementation.

[BTW, I am from Yale-NUS College in Singapore - there is no option for me to choose that - so I have put Yale University as we are affiliated.]

I have signed up for many MOOC courses - intention is not to complete them all, but to learn about what people are doing with MOOC.

Here are some of my observations:

1) The discussion forums do not work as it intend, not technically, but academically - as 10,000 individual sign up for a MOOC course, and each post a comment to the forum, it is near impossible to read them all.

2) The issue of quality, as Michael Evans and Sandra Richardson clearly pointed out. Schools are asked if they can give exemptions to students who come up to them with a certificate from MOOCs.

The Business Models of MOOC:

1) Sell Platform

2) Sell Content

3) Sell Data (for analytics)

4) Tutoring within MOOC

5) Job offerings with MOOC

These are some of the things I am seeing that is happening for MOOCs.

But there is a silver lining to it: Many institutions use courses in MOOCs to augment their actual course. For instance, a Data Analytic course can advise students to take a R Programming course with MOOCs to know about programming in R prior to attending the Data Analytic module. This helps in course saving, and piggy-backing on whatever is available - which I feel, the kind of indirect cooperation among institutions can be enhanced.

In future, will we see Universities adopt a MOOC module, use it as the content basis, and have their own online/in-class sessions to further enhance learning, e.g. via Team-Based Learning or Problem-Based Learning, etc.

Hope what I wrote make sense. :)

Dear Sergio

There are 2 type of certificates: one that is peer reviewed n the other is graded by the professors of the course (with a fee).

For the former, I do not recommend exemption from a module or consideration in a employment situation as we cannot guarantee the quality of the evaluation. The latter is better, but do have an interview with the candidate to test them verbally or even a small test to see if they know the area of knowledge.

Just my recommendation. Hope it makes sense.

Hello Dan and Colleagues,

Good morning.

I am now venturing into the area of E-learning. In fact, I am doing a second Master's degree, this time in Education, on Elearning. I have only been exposed to Elearning just over 14 months, since the courses for my previous postgraduate diploma was fully online, all of them.

In relation to MOOCs, from the little knowledge that I have of it, I would have to say that it is quickly become a trend, and that is expected, given the current revolution of technologies in education. As the future of education, I would hope not.

I still fail to see how such massive classes can really induce deep approaches to learning (Biggs & Tang, 2011). The thought, to me, is just bone-chilling. Many Universities are already employing MOOCs, however at whose expense? Do students really 'learn'? Are creativity, application and life-long learning promoted? Isn't that the purpose of education, in whatever form it may come? How can instructors attend to the individual needs of each student? Is this possible with MOOCs? Has research in that specific area been done?

These are some of the questions still lingering in my mind regarding MOOCs.

Any thoughts?

Warm Wishes,

Kerwin.

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Biggs, J. & Tang, C. (2011). Teaching for Quality Learning at University (4th ed.). Maidenhead: McGraw –Hill/Open University Press/Society for Research into Higher Education. Retrieved April 11, 2014, from http://docencia.etsit.urjc.es/moodle/pluginfile.php/18073/mod_resource/content/0/49657968-Teaching-for-Quality-Learning-at-University.pdf

Hi there

I signed up to a MOOC course out of curiosity and because it sounded so interesting. I too wanted to see how it worked and see if it was something I would want to get involved in. I wasn't really interested in getting a qualification or assessment certificate as I don't really understand how this would have any credibility in my country. I thought it was well organised, easy to navigate my way around. The only drawback i found was the readings were limited to the professor taking the course which seemed very narrow to me. I don't see how the forums could have any real meanings with so many participants. I think it's value is in accessing free information on a topic online. I don't see these courses being designed to encourage deep learning but as someone has suggested more of a taster to follow up on and enrol in a qualification if interested.

Thanks to all for the answers. I am interested to see if this could be a suitable business model for a university. Especially if the university has distant learning capabilities

In my opinion, Massive Open Online Courses is not a trend or the future education, is a trend of distance and online education (learning) section. The offer of distance (online) learning courses, including MOOC, is great today, and growing, yet the highest percent of education is face to face, even more in the early ages.

MOOCS is a reality....During 2011-14, it is estimated that more than 10 million learners globally attended MOOCs courses, a conservative count considering this refers to only the top 3-4 providers like edX, Coursera, Udemy, and Udacity. Of this, two million-plus or one-fifth students were from India, making the second largest pool amongst all countries (FICCI, 2014). In the domain of management education, MOOCs has emerged as a disruptive force, altering established assumptions on accessibility, affordability, and exclusivity of learning.