Download - Mentors roles JTEL 11th Summer School Ischia
Emerging Roles of MOOC Mentors
Choose your own adventure
In this workshop you will
• Consider some established e-learning theories• Apply them to MOOC facilitation• Familiarise yourself with the Futurelearn Platform• Coordinate the facilitation of a MOOC• Consider the roles of facilitators
Some e-learning theories
● Roles of Facilitator (Berge, 1996)● Stages of online learning (Salmon, 2003)● Comunity of Enquiry (Garrison & Anderson,
2000)
Berge (1996)
Salmon´s 5 Stage Model (2003)
Garrison & Anderson´s CoI (2000)
The FutureLearn Platform: weeks
The FutureLearn Platform: steps
The Futurelearn Platform: a step
The FutureLearn Platform: Discussion Board
Task context
• A4 week MOOC of your choice• 5-10000 participants• 100 hours mentor time
Hours distributionIt is online The whole team can access and comment
Easy for shift swapping
Comments by day
Busy Mondays! End of Course (last mentoring day)
ReportingTo be completed each shift. It usually takes some 5 minutes.
Also online, of course!
Familiarising with content...… and testing usability
...and proofreading
...and reviewing
The Mentoring Team Roles
Berge, (1995)
Extended role: Mentors as Connectors
● Communication and interaction are the main affordances of the Web for education (Anderson, 2008)
● Social isolation as barrier to student retention and integration (Gasevic, 2014)
● Need to enhance sense of presence (social, cognitive, teaching) - of participants and mentors (Kop, 2011)
Mentors as connectors:
1. Use forum tools to connect the learning community
Gasevic (2014) - learner position in socialnetwork positively influences learning outcomes
Using “likes”
Linking comments
Using “follow”
could lead to Networked Learning Community
2. Link to content / external resources
3. Foster learning as conversation
Learner Y
LearnerZ
“conversational learning can and does scale”
Sharples and Ferguson (2014:108)
Learner X
4. Encourage external networks
Anderson & Ponti (2014); Gasevic, (2014); Stewart (2014)
Mentoring Challenges
● Maintaining communication between mentors
● Identifying key issues among learners
● Choosing learner contributions to address
● Linking learner contributions
● Confidence with content knowledge
Mentors as researchers:
Using MOOCs to improve online and face-to-face education in HE (Fischer, 2014; Waldrop, 2014; White, 2014; Yuan et al., 2014)
Conclusion
● Mentor interventions align with platform design, course design and content
● Mentors encourage and promote the affordances of the platform
● Planning is required
ReferencesBerge, Z.L. (1995). Facilitating Computer Conferencing: Recommendations From the Field. Educational Technology. 35(1) 22-30.Anderson, T. (2008). Towards a theory of online learning. Theory and practice of online learning,, 45-74.Andersen, R., & Ponti, M. (2014). Participatory pedagogy in an open educational course: challenges and opportunities. Distance Education, 35(2), 234–249. doi:10.1080/01587919.2014.917703Ferguson, R. and Sharples, M. (2014). Innovative pedagogy at massive scale: teaching and learning in MOOCs.In: 9th European Conference on Technology Enhanced Learning (EC-TEL 2014): Open Learning and Teaching in Educational Communities , 16-19 September 2014, Graz, Austria (Forthcoming), Springer International Publishing, pp. 98–111.Fischer, G. (2014). Beyond hype and underestimation: identifying research challenges for the future of MOOCs. Distance Education, (ahead-of-print), 1–10. Retrieved from http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01587919.2014.920752Garrison, D. R., Anderson, T., & Archer, W. (1999). Critical inquiry in a text-based environment: Computer conferencing in higher education. The internet and higher education, 2(2), 87-105.Gasevic, D., Kovanovic, V., Joksimovic, S., & Siemens, G. (2014, October 3). Where is research on massive open online courses headed? A data analysis of the MOOC Research Initiative. The International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning. Retrieved from http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/1954/3101Kop, R. (2011). The challenges to connectivist learning on open online networks: learning experiences during a massive open online course. … Learning, Special Issue-Connectivism: …, 12, 19–38. Retrieved from http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/882\nhttp://nparc.cisti-icist.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca/npsi/ctrl?action=rtdoc&an=18150443Stewart, B. (2013). Massiveness+ openness= new literacies of participation. MERLOT Journal of Online Learning and Teaching, 9(2). Retrieved from http://jolt.merlot.org/vol9no2/stewart_bonnie_0613.htmWaldrop, M. (2014). Massive open online courses, aka MOOCs, transform higher education and science. Scientific American, 9. Retrieved from http://er.dut.ac.za/handle/123456789/70Yuan, L., Powell, S., & Olivier, B. (2014). Beyond-MOOCs-Sustainable-Online-Learning-in-Institutions.pdf. Retrieved from http://publications.cetis.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Beyond-MOOCs-Sustainable Online-Learning-in-Institutions.pdfWhite, S. (2014) Exploring stakeholder perspectives on the development of MOOCs in higher education – a case study of the University of Southampton. Masters Dissertation. University of Southampton: UK