Massive Open

Online CoursesLearning together in digital

modes

What is a mooc?

MOOCs are topic based and support network learning in which Internet plays a vital role in daily activities.

Participants all over the world

Discussions are held in the online media and Outcome determined by involvement and participation

This means you learn in your own space, time and how ever you want, therefore learning what interests you.

It Provides experiences that prepare future teachers for education in the digital age and for work in the knowledge of the economy.

Connectivism is the combined effect of three components: chaos theory, networks, and the interplay of complexity and self-organization

What is a mooc?

The term MOOC was coined by Dave Cormier or Bryan Alexander (Alexander, 2008; Cormier, 2008; Daniel, 2012; Masters & Qaboos, 2011; G. Siemens, 2012a) to describe a course on Connectivism (CCK08) organized by George Siemens and Stephen Downers in 2008, which attracted 2,200 participants (Downes, 2010).

A brief history of moocs

2004: George Siemens & Stephen Downes develop theory of Connectivism, “the thesis that knowledge is distributed across a network of connections, and therefore that learning consists of the ability to construct and traverse those networks (Downes, 2012, p.9).

Massive Open Online courses were created to help students learn and stay connected, The first course - “Connectivism and Connective Knowledge.

SO ………..WHY MOOC?

MOOC

MOOCs can profile an

institution as a leading 21st

Century educational institution.

MOOCs provide an opportunity

for an institution to experiment

with teaching practices

and to engage with

new pedagogical approaches

An institution can make knowledge

more accessible to the general

public through offering a

range of MOOInstitutions have a range of subject areas that are

specific to their region e.g. HK SAR / China

context and HKU can showcase these subjects

through offering MOOC courses.

mooc

The MOOC LANGUAGE’

M O O C s

Massive, focus and commitment.

open registration, open content

Scripted assessments and feedback

.

Local cohorts

real time interactio

n

Self passed, role of the instructor

Courses available online

Advantages and disadvantages of mooc

Pros Free unless college credit is

offered

Learning is informal and at student’s own pace

Computer and internet access are only resources needed

Students can share work, critique others and receive feedback

Great instructors without high tuition of host school

Cons moocs involve costs,

sometimes significant

Limited real-world engagement (face time)

Technical difficulties

Academic dishonesty possible

Students must learn to be responsible for their own learning

4 types of MOOC activities

Aggregate – read, watch and play with various resources

Remix – keep track of it all, using various (web) technologies of one’s choice

Repurpose – constructing personal accounts, composing own thoughts, creating new understandings of the course subject

Feed Forward – share the learning with others, when and where each person chooses to do so

Higher Education - Broader audience, Better informed students

Tertiary institutions will have to follow

Challenge in Africa

Types of moocs

.

Cmooc Multiple technologies – 12 in this first MOOC – are used

to connect people participating in the course. Based on a Connectivist Learning Theory On the fringes but cutting edge in terms of pedagogy

and technologies

Students working collaboratively both in classroom and online

sMooc

Founded in the fall of 2011 by Daphne Koller (Stanford) and Andrew Ng (Stanford) and was launched in April 2012 after significant venture capital funding was secured (MarketWire, 2012).

Grounded in behaviorist learning theory with some cognitive components and some constructivist components.

This means transmission style teaching with drill and practice, problem sets and e.g. discussion forums.

Uses a limited range of technologies and could be thought of in terms of LMS as platform.

Very much in the mainstream with monetization a key component.

There is a lack of pedagogical focus which may have to do with the fact that Coursera institutions consider MOOCs to be a side line activity rather than a way to explore new / better teaching and learning models (Armstrong, 2012; Daniel, 2012).

xMOOC the X signifying excellence, external outreach, exploration,

experimentation and expansion (Rodrick & Sun, 2012) – holds for edX which has grown out of a tradition of exploring online teaching and learning (Daniel, 2012).

At the time of writing edX has 33 courses (edX, 2013a) offered by HarvardX, MITx and BerkeleyX.

Beginning in fall 2013, edX will offer courses from another 11 universities. In 2014, edX will expand further through offering courses from an additional 9 universities

Much more selective than Coursera and will cap when they have recruited the best universities in the world.

EdX is making statements about courses designed specifically for the web

Underlying pedagogies / technologies may not be that different at the moment but there seems to be an ongoing commitment to quality content creation / exploring technologies for effective teaching.

My fields of interestThe cMooc

I would like to get to know the c Moose course because it is interesting to be able to connect to other people globally.

As I will so like to pursue this field I will be able to get answer on these following questions.

What are the pedagogies that underpin the MOOC? What use is being made of technologies in the MOOC? What is the underlying philosophy / ethos of the

MOOC? All these are what a moose is all about and what it is

all for.

Refferences

Wiley, David. "The MOOC Misnomer". July 2012

Jump up ^ Cheverie, Joan. "MOOCs an Intellectual Property: Ownership and Use Rights". Retrieved 18 April 2013.

Jump up ^ David F Carr (20 August 2013). "Udacity hedges on open licensing for MOOCs". Information Week. Retrieved 21 August 2013

Saettler, L. Paul (1968). A History of Instructional Technology. New York: McGraw Hill. ISBN 0070544107.

Jump up ^ J.J. Clark, "The Correspondence School—Its Relation to Technical Education and Some of Its Results," Science (1906) 24#611 pp. 327–334 in JSTOR

Jump up ^ Joseph F. Kett, Pursuit of Knowledge Under Difficulties: From Self-Improvement to Adult Education in America (1996) pp 236–8