MOOCs @ Edinburgh: our approach, experience and outcomes

University of Edinburgh

MOOCs @ EdinburghOur approach, experience & outcomes

Amy Woodgate & Christine SinclairMOOCs central coordination / EDC academic team

www.coursera.org/edinburgh

• 6 courses (wave 1) + 8 courses (wave 2)• Broad subject areas – academic led and short in length (5-7 weeks)• Fully online, free to take, open resources – CC licenses • New as MOOCs, not f2f conversion

Academic proposes new

course idea

Team meeting with MOOC

support

Begin content production Course

liveCourses

end

Courses and the internal process

BoS + CSPC Course approval

Head of School approval sought

Confirm live date

Constant dialogue and review.Training. Community events.

Sign off video content

Standardised content uploaded

Content refresh for next iteration

… Lots of central guidance and resources along the way!

Academic course development• No imposed approach or template• Encouragement to choose an approach suitable for subject delivery

and which the team were comfortable with• Encouragement to experiment with platform

Community and transparency• Talking to peers and asking for feedback• Development of teams – not individuals• Sharing practice, good resources found

Recycle, repurpose, reuse• Use of creative commons as default• Encouragement to think about resources beyond MOOC space• Awareness raising of open content

Ensuring quality – how?

EDC MOOC(… a little different from the rest!)

•Design challenged the mainstream•No videos – learner developed content•Encouraged learners to explore other platforms

Running in parallel to an online MSc Digital Education module: E-learning and Digital Cultures

•Similar topics – different content•Different levels – MSc = PG, MOOC = UG-level•Interesting explicit connection explored – students on the MSc course to interact with MOOC, e.g. forum discussions

• xMOOC• Instructivist• Guru Professors• Content then Quiz

• cMOOC• Constructivist• Connectivist• Networking

Competing Designs

Beyond x and c

1. MOOCs are multiple - cMOOC/xMOOC binary no longer holds2. MOOC pedagogy is not embedded in MOOC platform3. The teacher persists in the MOOC

Adapted from Bayne & Ross 2014Bayne, S., & Ross, J. (2014) The pedagogy of the Massive Open Online Course: the UK view: Higher Education Academy.

How we did it

• Long lead in• Open access films

…and readings• Blogs & social media• Google hangouts• Image competition• Digital artefact

assignment

Twitter feed

Blog feed

Films and Readings

Digital Artefacts

Team – not gurus• Sharing blogging, monitoring,

leading discussions• Hangouts proved popular• Joined by 8 CTAs in 2nd run• More telepresence

Data analysis

Course Sign-up > Active First week > Total Active

Last week > Total Active Sign-up > SoA Active > SoA

AI Planning 001 57% 69% 4% 2% 4%

AI Planning 002 52% 49% 12% 2% 4%

Astrobiology 001 45% 89% 18% 17% 37%

Astrobiology 002 57% 54% 24% 12% 21%

Critical Thinking 001 40% 66% 5% 8% 20%

Critical Thinking 002 49% 39% 22% 6% 11%

EDC 001 55% 79% 5% 4% 8%

EDC 002 50% 35% 8% 2% 3%

Equine Nutrition 001 81% 79% 30% 36% 44%

Equine Nutrition 002 65% 59% 32% … …

Intro to Philosophy 001 47% 73% 20% 8% 18%

Intro to Philosophy 002 59% 38% 11% 6% 11%

Intro to Philosophy 003 64% 37% … … …

Higgs Boson 001 58% 83% … … …

Totals 52% 60% 14% 8% 15%

What sorts of questions might we ask ourselves about those who enrol and those who study our MOOCS?

1. Where do they come from?2. How old are they?3. What is their background, for example educationally?4. Why do they wish to study MOOCs in general and specific MOOCs in

particular?5. How do these features correlate with performance/engagement on

specific MOOCs?

What limitations do we have in addressing these questions? (eg %

response rates, minorities vs majorities)

How much confidence can we have in our answers? (eg veracity, stability

of response over time)

What actions might our answers lead to? (eg targeting, inducements,

patience)

NOTES:

Data in the following slides are from Edinburgh’s 6 Coursera MOOCs (our Futurelearn MOOCs are not yet at this stage)

They are drawn from voluntary entry surveys: the first MOOC iteration surveys (“1st Run”, MOOC_name1)were outside the Coursera platform and the second surveys within it

The same survey questions were posed in the two iterations

Response rates were approx 25% of enrolments at the time of surveying, pre-MOOC start date

3486 active learners accessing the course site from Africa IP addresses

646 learners from Africa completed their enrolled courses and received an SoA19% conversion total

15 > 6 learners from Malawi 40% conversion

Surprising?

Measuring success:“Drop out rates”, retention and perceptions

• Total sign ups:

620,000 approx.• Total active users:

320,000• Total active users week one:

193,000• Total completed (SoA awarded):

46,600

Wave 1 + 2 courses

Did you get out of the MOOC what you wanted?

What did you want to get out of the MOOC?Flipping more than just the classroom…

Beginning to ask ourselves (and our learners)• Did you get what you wanted from the experience?• Did you enjoy the experience?

At least 320,000 new learners engaged with our content – huge success!!

On-campus• Enriching resource for students, signpost MOOC• Datasets within learning activities = research• Repurposing of content, e.g. embedding videos• Sign-posting to others’ courses

Off-campus• Courses for credit, e.g. University of Maryland• Courses within teaching, e.g. Generation Rwanda• Activity in itself with class, e.g. local Schools• Translations, e.g. Portuguese and Chinese• Chinese parallel server scheme

How is content being used and where?

VideosVideos

ImagesImages

Handouts / documentsHandouts / documents AudioAudio

LinksLinks

Discussion Qs

Discussion Qs

The experience

The experience

• Embed• Recycle/reuse• Be inspired• Develop your own• Use the structure• Activities and

assessment• Encourage MOOC use

to enrich understanding• Sign-post• Make CC content• Use as a case study• Ask students for

feedback to inform own development

AssessmentsAssessments

Social MediaSocial Media

All elements of the MOOC can be repurposed in multiple ways

On presidents/SMTs of universities

On governments/agencies

On faculty

On students

On student funders, incl parents

On the media

Varied by region: US UK Europe Oz NZ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ / SE Asia / China / Asia / S & C America

NB: This is very subjective – there are 1000s of universities in the world!!

http://star.arm.ac.uk/

?

What impact have MOOCs had?

Enthusiasm for MOOC engagement is (still) high and we are beginning to see big impact across the institution:

• New applications for fully online MSc programmes, e.g. MSc Philosophy

• ODL programme teams pushing VLEs and improving student experience through MOOC lessons

• Getting non-ODL Schools over the online line• Interdisciplinary courses and collaborations

Building internal capacity – more than just building courses

… Every MOOC gets 90(+)% learner satisfaction – impact is more than these stats.

What impact have our MOOCs had…

Over 700k enrollees, 34k certificates distributed14 courses, 62+ academics, 50+ PhD student TAs,

30 Community TAs involved

3 new textbooks written, journal publications and book chapters, internal student recruitment

increases, new online MSc development, international collaborations

… And this is only a snapshot of the measurable impact!

Plans for the future?

• Internal• Even more enriching, embedding, research etc.• Recognition for engagement, e.g. HEAR transcript• All content accessible, findable and open to share• Portfolios of content that work well as a package

• External• Community outreach post: connection with Schools & Councils,

local community groups and meaningful events, e.g. Science Festival

• Potential for new courses based on local/national needs• Referendum, business, computer science etc.

Strategic developments

• Community connections• Students and University connecting with the community through

MOOC+ activities

• Open Access content• All content will be published openly on open access platforms for

use outwith MOOC space• Full course available for free to other Educational providers• Encouraging reuse of content in on-campus courses

• Educational research• Big data, digital education developments• Use of data for student projects, e.g. dissertations