MOOCs – the way forward or passing fad?Celia Popovic

York University, Toronto, Canada

April 4th 2013

What are they?• Massive open online course• Massive – from a few dozen to 50,000 plus• Open – free of charge, usually asynchronous• Online – delivered over the internet• May be combined with traditional online delivery for fee-

paying students• Claim to disaggregate learning – separates out content,

support, routes through, accreditation

Product of Canada• University of Manitoba – Connectivism and Connective

Knowledge was first MOOC in 2008 – 25 fee paying students and 2,300 others

• University of Athabasca – George Siemens coined the phrase MOOC 2009

What do they look like?• May mirror an existing course, or be specially developed• Likely to include activities that lend themselves to

asynchronous engagement• Typically hosted on an open site such as a wiki or blog

rather than an institution’s (closed) LMS

Monetarizing MOOCs• Free content • Charge for accreditation• Some universities starting to recognize course

completion – or saying they will

Commercial partners• Coursera - Stanford• edX – Harvard, MIT and Berkley• Udacity – exStanford Prof• Udemy

• Knewton and Khan Academy – not MOOCs but provide online materials on wide range of topics

• But also growth in OER movement

How it works• Platform providers work with a University to host a

popular course, or one they hope will be popular• Instructor provides the content and students work alone

or in self-arranged study groups• Free access to the materials

Type of course• Initially led by computer related and science heavy

courses, perceived to have ‘right’ answers• More recently have seen emergence of MOOCs on

many topics, any that have potential to attract a large audience

Which Universities?• Initially the big names, especially in US, jumped in with

big name professors• Would-be big institutions now wondering if they should

join in

Who are the students• Some traditional college enrolled students• Many professionals• Many international students• 5% completion/pass rates typically reported

Behaviourist vs Connectivist• Something of a paradigm war going on – with some

arguing for the style of MOOC typified in the earliest offering – where students work together and the value is in the community

• Vs individualized behaviourist approach of mass marketing

Potential – short to medium term• Provide cheap easy access to education for the

developing world• Provide back up assistance for in person enrolled

students• Raise the profile of an individual institution

• Coursera for instance will only accept top institutions

Potential – longer term• Replace common large survey style courses with

MOOCs• Charge for an accreditation (test), successful completion

of the MOOC prepares students for the test but is no guarantee

• Data mining – sell the data generated by thousands of online students

• Advertising by co-sponsors

Possible effects on pedagogy• MOOC is the ultimate in opening the classroom door• Sharing of resources, may lead to greater choice but

could also lead to homogenisation• Potential to challenge classroom power, increase

chance to distribute responsibility for learning, peer to peer, student led

Challenges/dangers• Huge potential to damage reputation if have a high

profile failure (eg Coursera and Georgia Institute of Technology – Fundamentals of Online Education: Planning and Application)

• Learning reduced to memorisation, isolation and confusion

• Issue of proving identity if move to give credit for MOOCs

Personal story• Enrolled on a course to find out what it was like to take a

MOOC• Low motivation• Insufficient time allocation• Isolation

Resources• www.mooc-list.com – claims to list all MOOCs• Educause briefing ‘What campus leaders need to know about MOOCs’

http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/PUB4005.pdf • ‘7 things you should know about MOOCs’ – ELI briefing

http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ELI7078.pdf • Light relief -

http://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/welcome-to-my-massive-open-online-cult#.UVIMCIWnNZo.twitter

Discussion topics• What is gained and lost in a MOOC compared with the

traditional format or a small online course?• Who seeks to take part in a MOOC – is it direct

competition?• Are MOOCs a threat to contemporary University life?