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