Canary in a Coalmine: The Future of Higher Ed?

The Future of Higher Ed?

A Canary in the Coal Mine of Online Learning

Lori PackerHighEdWeb New England

March 18, 2013

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Monday, March 18, 13

“Online” learning isn’t new

Walter Lewin, “Electricity and Magnetism” http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/physics/8-02-electricity-and-magnetism-spring-2002/ License: Creative Commons BY-NC-SA


http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/physics/8-02-electricity-and-magnetism-spring-2002/












Walter LewinMIT Physics professor

His courses have been on MIT CableTV for almost 20 years.

Broadcast on PBS stations in the 1990s.







Technology has changed.

Business models have changed.

Expectations have changed.

Commitment to open learning and teaching is the same.

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Case Study #1: Traditional

Online degree in Library and Information Sciences from Syracuse University’s iSchool

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Case Study #2: MOOC

Gamification course offered by University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School through Coursera

Taught by Kevin Werbach (@kwerb)

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What is a MOOC, you ask?

• Massively Open Online Course

• Free, open to anyone who signs up, all online (no classroom component)

• Udacity (Stanford), edX (MIT and Harvard, Berkeley), Coursera (now up to 62 partner schools in 16 countries)

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What is Coursera, you ask?• Consortium founded by Penn, Michigan,

Princeton

• Major expansions in September 2012 (17 new schools added) and February 2013 (29 new schools added)

• For-profit, venture capital funded

• 313 courses, 2.8 million students

• Costs universities ~$30,000 to produce a Coursea MOOC


Students



• Students apply to the graduate program, are accepted or rejected

• 20-30 students per class

• Mix of students who need the MLS credential and students changing, expanding careers

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Case Study #2: MOOC

• 80,000 students enrolled

• 43,000 have watched 1st lecture video

• 12,800 submitted 1st written assignment

• 10,700 submitted 2nd written assignment

• 8,280 completed course & earned certificate

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Case Study #2: MOOC

• Students were STILL signing up with only one week left in the course -- Why?

• For future access to video lectures, maybe?

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Faculty


Personal Takeaway #1

Faculty are HUGELY important to the online learning experience ...

... maybe even more so than in an in-person classroom experience.

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• Create syllabi

• Prepare lectures (usually)

• Moderate discussions forums (usually)

• Devise assignments

• Grade assignments

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Case Study #2: MOOC

• Prepare lectures

• Devise assignments

• ... and that’s pretty much it.

• Grading = online quizzes, peer grading

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More on Peer Grading

• Must complete 3 written assignments

• Must evaluate essays from 3 students

• BUT ... why would a student in this class know more than me on this topic?

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Lectures






Case Study #2: MOOC


Case Study #2: MOOC


Personal Takeaway #2 The lecture isn’t going away.

The lecture -- as a format, as content -- is what binds the students together in an online class, more so than “discussions.”

It’s what we have in common. It provides structure.

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Collaboration


Personal Takeaway #3

“Discussions” are not discussions.

Discuss.

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• Discussions are treated as homework

• Effectiveness depends on the role taken by the professor

• Blackboard makes following discussion threads difficult

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• Other “collaboration” tools in Blackboard:

• Blogs• Wikis• Messaging• File sharing

• However, real collaboration took place on Google Docs, Facebook



Case Study #2: MOOC

• Discussion forums actually didn’t play a role in the class for me at all

• Real discussions were on Twitter, mostly with friends outside the class

• Discussion platform in Coursera more user-friendly

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Technology


Personal Takeaway #4 Less is more with educational technology.

I don’t need a Swiss-army-knife kitchen-sink LMS.

Make it easy to use, easy to collaborate.

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http://goddessofclarity.com/2011/07/18/blackboard-is-not-awesome/

“Blackboard is not awesome.”

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Case Study #2: MOOC

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The Future of Higher Ed?


“The world is simply moving too fast.”

-- University of Virginia Board of Visitors Rector Helen Dragas

http://www.cavalierdaily.com/article/2012/06/sullivan-resignation-spotlights-long-running-debate-about-online-education/

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“Rarely is the question asked, ‘Is our children learning?’”

http://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/hack-higher-education/dropping-out-moocs-it-really-okay




“MIT and Harvard will use the jointly operated edX platform to research how students learn and how technologies can facilitate effective teaching both on-campus and online. The edX platform will enable the study of which teaching methods and tools are most successful. ”

http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2012/mit-harvard-edx-announcement-050212.html

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•Coursera courses approved for college credit by ACEhttp://www.informationweek.com/education/online-learning/coursera-courses-approved-for-college-cr/240148119

•Legislation would require all CA systems schools to accept ACE courseshttp://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/03/13/california-bill-encourage-mooc-credit-public-colleges

•“Signature Track” offers potential for for-credit courses for a feehttp://chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/coursera-announces-details-for-selling-certificates-and-verifying-identities/41519

Credentialling


http://www.informationweek.com/education/online-learning/coursera-courses-approved-for-college-cr/240148119




http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/03/13/california-bill-encourage-mooc-credit-public-colleges




http://chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/coursera-announces-details-for-selling-certificates-and-verifying-identities/41519




Credentialling•Colorado State’s Global Campus offers

transfer credits for Udacity’s “Intro to Computer Science” coursehttp://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/07/education/colorado-state-to-offer-credits-for-online-class.html

•EdX offers students option to take proctored examshttp://www.insidehighered.com/news/2012/09/07/site-based-testing-deals-strengthen-case-granting-credit-mooc-students

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http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2012/09/07/site-based-testing-deals-strengthen-case-granting-credit-mooc-students




Adding value: Education or Prestige?

“Think about how impressed you’d be if your cousin got into Harvard. Then think about how impressed you’d be if your cousin told you she was going to enroll in Harvard’s free online course. Then subtract those two. The difference is the value of a Harvard education.”

--University of Rochester professor Ben Haydenhttp://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-decision-tree/201205/how-harvard-and-mit-can-give-away-their-only-product-free

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http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-decision-tree/201205/how-harvard-and-mit-can-give-away-their-only-product-free






“In five to 10 years, people are going to look back and wonder why universities ever crammed 500 students into an auditorium to listen to a lecture for an hour and a half.”

-- Coursera co-founder Daphne Koller

http://www.npr.org/2012/09/30/162053927/online-education-grows-up-and-for-now-its-free

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Questions?

I’m all ears.< do canaries have ears? >

@LoriPA
