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Massive
Open
Online
Courses
A game-changer for cheaper and higher quality education, or a setback
in the evolution of online learning?
(Murphy, 2012)
Free internet courses have been available for
years. However, a relatively new phenomenon
has arrived: the MOOC, or Massive Open
Online Course.
MOOCs are huge online classes, sometimes
with more than 100,000 students, offered free
of charge (mostly) through various
organizations, including some elite universities.
Background
There is no penalty for being a
dropout, or failing the course, when
you are enrolled in a MOOC—
participation in the course is entirely
voluntary.
A diploma does not typically come
with the deal, although some MOOCs
are exploring the possibility of giving
college credit to those who pass the
course.
Was it a big mistake to
take on this student loan?
(Kernohan, 2013)
The new MOOC, or xMOOC, now being
developed emphasizes a more traditional
learning approach through video presentations
and short quizzes and testing.
Some elite US universities are partnering with
educational technology companies, such as
Coursera, to offer xMOOCs.
MOOC Beginnings
(Ailsa'a Mooching, 2013)
The term MOOC originated in Canada in 2008. Dave
Cormier and Bryan Alexander coined the acronym to
describe an open online course at the University of
Manitoba designed by George Siemens and Stephen
Downes. The course was called “Connectivism and
Connective Knowledge.”(Daniel, 2012)
Connectivists advocate a learning organization whereby
there is not a body of knowledge to be transferred from
educator to learner and where learning does not take place
in a single environment; instead, knowledge is distributed
across the Web, and people’s engagement with it
constitutes learning. (Kop, 2011)
MOOCs have already split into two distinct types
of courses: cMOOCs and xMOOCs.
The pedagogical style of the early courses,
which some now call cMOOCs, was based on a
philosophy of connectivism and networking.
George Siemens writes: “Our MOOC model
emphasizes creation, creativity, autonomy, and
social networked learning.”
The Great Divide: cMoocs…
…and xMOOCs
(Michie, 2012)
2012 – The Year of the MOOC
(What's new in Connectivism?, 2013)
Stanford unveiled Class2Go, offering two
MOOCs. Nick McKeown and Philip Levis
are teaching one of them, on computer
networking.
Dr. McKeown typifies the energy of this new
venture when he declares, “We’re both
very excited.”
However, both of the professors also
acknowledge that they are not exactly sure
how this MOOC stuff works.(Pappano, 2012)
Although MOOCs have been around for a
few years, 2012 saw a significant
increase in the number of xMOOCs being
offered.
Elite universities such as Princeton,
Brown, Columbia, Harvard, Berkeley, MIT
and Duke are jumping on the MOOC
bandwagon.
(Schmidt, 2012)
The Future of Education?
(Would MOOCs have empowered Einstein?, 2013)
MOOC Pros
Student POV
The upside of MOOCS:
Free education
No prerequisites
No pressure
Convenience – all hours access,
no commuting
Networking opportunitiesWARNING: Brain may go “pop.” Groupthink may occur.
(What's new in Connectivism?, 2013)
Student POV
MOOC Cons
Downside of MOOCs:
Lack of motivation to finish the course;
no consequences for dropping out
equals a high dropout rate
Lack of interaction with the instructor
Lack of face to face social interaction
Lack of official credit or documented
proof of educational accomplishment
Technical difficulties
Schools may start to charge fees for
certificates, or tuition (Levine, 2013)
Some reasons why they MOOC:
Altruism – increase the worldwide
availability of higher education
Reach more students
Avoid becoming obsolete as the
trend for online education increases
Want to increase their public profile
and reputation
Sell textbooks
The Chronicle for Higher Education
Survey:
103 MOOC professors responded.
Nearly one-third of professors surveyed were
"somewhat" or "very" skeptical about online-
only courses before teaching a MOOC.
Now more than 90 percent are enthusiastic
about online classes.
Faculty POV
MOOC Pros
Survey question: Over all, do you
believe MOOCs are worth the hype?
79%
21%
No
Yes
(Kolowich, The Professors Who Make the MOOCs, 2013)
Perceived MOOC issues:
Low pay or no pay
Lack of prestige (continuing stigma
for online instructors)
Lack of personal interaction with
students
Demands on time: both planning
and teaching
Lack of expertise in designing online
learning
Faculty POV
MOOC Cons
The situation is at least a million billion times worse
than I imagined!
(Cuban, 2012)
University POV
MOOC
Pros
MOOC benefits:
altruism – service to
the community and
public
increase public profile
& prestige
possible profits
stimulate innovations
in teaching and
learning(Ripley, 2012)
MOOC challenges:
Won’t directly generate revenue
(unless you charge for certificates)
Requires investment - faculty time,
resources
Reluctance to hire instructional
designers to develop courses
High student dropout rate
MOOC Cons
University POV
One widely quoted dropout
figure for students in massive
open online courses is 90
percent.
In a bioelectricity MOOC Duke
University offered through
Coursera, only about 350 of the
12,725 users who registered
took the final exam, a dropout
rate of 97 percent.
(Rivard, 2013)
(Benson,
2008)
(Belanger & Thornton, 2013)
Pedagogy Wars: cMOOCs vs. xMOOCs
Speaking about cMOOCs, Marc Bousquet states
that: “Good MOOC’s…foreground and sustain the
social dimension of learning and active practices,
i.e., knowledge production rather than knowledge
consumption.” (Michie, 2012)
Siemens says: ”our cMOOC model emphasizes
creation, creativity, autonomy and social
networking learning. …cMOOCs focus on
knowledge creation and generation whereas
xMOOCs focus on knowledge duplication.”
Critics note that xMOOCs need better learning
design, pointing out that videos & quizzes are not
enough to make a good course. Most institutions
offering xMOOCs do not hire instructional
designers to develop their courses. Some of the
concerns mentioned are:
Lack of personal connection with the instructor.
Limited instruction techniques.
Limited evaluation techniques.
Lack of motivational attributes.
Widespread plagiarism. “My course lacks interactivity and it has no point. I assumed the software would take care of that!”
(Adult learning principles in eLearning, 2013)
(Daniel, 2012)
(Daniel, 2012)
Business POV
Can MOOCs be self-sustaining?
Bill and Melinda Gates(Paustenbaugh, 2006)
(Kolowich, 2012)
8 potential business models have been proposed:
Certification (students pay for a badge or certificate)
Secure assessments (students pay to have their
examinations proctored)
Employee recruitment (companies pay for access to
student performance records)
Applicant screening (employers/universities pay for
access to records to screen applicants)
Human tutoring or assignment marking (for which
students pay)
Selling the MOOC platform to enterprises to use in their
own training courses
Sponsorships (3rd party sponsors of courses)
Tuition fees(Daniel, 2012)
Is it possible to make money offering free
courses? This question has yet to be answered.
There is no standard business model for how
MOOCs will generate revenue.
So far, venture capital and philanthropy have
funded MOOC platform providers such as
Coursera and edX.
(Educause Publications, 2012)
The MOOC movement has been financed and
promoted by organizations such as the Bill and
Melinda Gates Foundation.
(Awarded Grants, 2013)
(Brauner, 2013)
Probably not, according to Doug Holton, Associate Director of the Center for
Teaching and Learning Excellence at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. He
sites the following reasons he believes MOOCs are here to stay:
Millions of dollars invested in MOOCs
Millions of students signing up for MOOCs around globe
Developing & using new and innovative tools to support MOOCs - plagiarism
detection, better discussion forums, sophisticated learner analytics, new MOOC
platforms, Google Apps, etc.
(Holton, 2013)
The Impact of MOOCs
on Current Educational
Practice
Are MOOCs a fad?
To MOOC, or not to MOOC. That
is the question…
The idea of free education, available to anyone with
internet access, is an inherently exciting idea. But
when we stand back and evaluate the idea, some
flaws begin to stand out.
How can this model be sustained? Who wants to
work for free? Do people value what they get for
free?
If MOOCs start to charge students for certain
services, such as providing a certificate of
completion, are they still MOOCs?
So far MOOCs have not shown
themselves to be self-sustaining, let
alone profitable.
Additionally, is apparent from the
high dropout rate that the vast
majority of MOOC students are not
motivated to finish MOOCs. It
cannot be demonstrated that the
majority of registered MOOC
students learn anything at all from
the course.
Should we be excited about MOOCs?
What have MOOCs demonstrated so
far?
Is the MOOC concept pedagogically
sound?
The MOOC concept flies in the face of many
accepted pedagogical principles. A MOOC
course is generally presented as a pre-recorded
lecture divided into segments. A weekly quiz is
corrected by a computer to evaluate student
learning.
The problem with this format is that there are no
student support services available and students
get very little, if any, feedback on their work.
Faculty-student interactions are not part of this
scenario, which is crucial for the success of
online education.
A high level of student engagement and
faculty participation, including a focus on
the quality and immediacy of the faculty
feedback on various assignment
A grading system that is effective in
assessing each student’s true capabilities
Ways to discourage or prevent plagiarism
Ways to authenticate students’ identities
A program of assessment of learning
outcomes (at the course, program, and
institution levels)
What are some key components of
a successful online course?
Effective student orientation into the
online course
Supportive online student advising and
retention services
Availability of a wide variety of learning
activities to attain student learning
outcomes
Technological assistance available
Opportunities for social interaction (Lepervanche, 2008)
Factors to Consider
At the present time, most MOOCs do not have
many, if any, of these components in place.
ConclusionAs a student, having access to free education with no strings attached
seems like a wonderful idea. Last January I signed up for a MOOC
entitled “"Learning Design for a 21st Century Curriculum,“
led by the Open University’s Institute of Educational Technology, in
partnership with the University of Oxford.
Below is a screen shot of the emails sent to me by this MOOC, all of
which went unopened.
As an instructor, I have concerns about further devaluing education,
and the implication that instructors should work for no or minimal
compensation.
The MOOCs are here, but they have yet to live up to their promise.
“In this world, you
get what you pay
for.”
― Kurt Vonnegut, Cat's Cradle