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MOOCs Behind the ScenesBrenda Cecilia Padilla Rodríguez*Alejandro Armellini**Viviana Carolina Cáceres Villalba*
* Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León (Mexico)** University of Northamtpon (United Kingdom)
Massive Open Online Courses
The technological infrastructure has the potential to support large-scale use (Steward, 2013).
Any person with Internet access can participate for free, without having to meet any strict pre-requisites (Anderson, 2013).
Delivery is via the Internet.
MOOCs are coherent academic interventions with a defined set of learning outcomes (Youell, 2011), and (usually) start and end dates.
M
O
O
C
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The MOOC Process (I)
Global Learn, 28-29 April 2016
Conceptualisation
• Marketing strategy
• Academic purposes
Development
• Challenge of desgining for a wide audience
• Teams of academics
(Allen & Seaman, 2014; Arnold et al., 2014; Hollands & Tirthali, 2014; Ross et al., 2014; Sharples et al., 2014)
4
The MOOC Process (II)
Global Learn, 28-29 April 2016
Delivery
• Little personalised support
• Automated “teaching”
• Community of learners as main source of guidance
Evaluation
• Low completion rates (approx. 15%)
• Evaluations focused on learners’ perceptions
(Bayne & Ross, 2014; Jordan, 2015; Milligan & Littlejohn, 2014; Padilla Rodriguez et al., 2015)
6
Participants
10 participants, 4 universities
in the UK
MOOC coordinato
rLearning designer
Learning technologi
stCourse builder
Facilitator
Global Learn, 28-29 April 2016
7
Procedure• Initial contact via email
• One hour semi-structured interviewso Conceptualisation: reasons for offering MOOCso Design, creation and deliveryo Course evaluationo Challenges and recommendations for the future
• Interviews audio recorded
• Inductive thematic analysisGlobal Learn, 28-29 April 2016
8
Reasons for offering MOOCs• Pressure to join other institutions on the MOOC stage
o “We felt we had to do it; others were doing it” [P7])
• Using MOOCs as a marketing strategy (Allen & Seaman, 2014; Hollands & Tirthali, 2014)
• Taking advantage of existing learning materials by repurposing them o Example: converting a book or a face-to-face module into
a MOOC
• Reaching an international audience
Global Learn, 28-29 April 2016
9
Reasons for offering MOOCs
The overarching strategy is…
Global Learn, 28-29 April 2016
“There is no strategy.” [P9]
10
Design and Creation• Team-based approach for MOOC design
• Heavy reliance on videoso PowerPoint presentations with audioo Animationso Filmed discussions between content experts
• Limited use of open educational resources (OERs)o Time required to find and repurpose suitable
resources might exceed the time needed to create themGlobal Learn, 28-29 April 2016
11
Design and Creation• Only three participants mentioned
conducting a pilot before launching MOOCs
• Promotion through the Marketing Department of participants’ universities
Global Learn, 28-29 April 2016
Main reasons to fail to conduct a pilot of the MOOC: Not enough time
Not enough funding
12
Delivery• Communication mostly in unstructured
discussions
• Conversations on social mediao For example: Twitter hashtags, Google Hangouts,
Flickr
• The assumption that knowledge is within the community of learners might be flawed.
• MOOC learners sometimes offer incorrect advice.
Global Learn, 28-29 April 2016
13
Delivery• Relevant role of the teacher
o Keeping conversations on tracko Clarifying confusionso Student ambassadors
• Making MOOCs self-sustainable by automating processes and requiring little support from teachers
Global Learn, 28-29 April 2016
Challenge: Not enough time
Not enough funding
14
Evaluation
• Some MOOCs offered non-credit bearing completion certificates.
• Only one interviewee [P4] was involved in a MOOC which offered academic credits (for a fee) after a formal assessment.
Global Learn, 28-29 April 2016
Learning Evaluation• Quizzes with multiple-
choice questions• Self-assessments
General Evaluation• Satisfaction surveys• Data from learning
platforms
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Evaluation
• Information on learners’ sociodemographic profile, engagement indicators (eg, clicks or page views) and perceptions of improvement
• Lots of data available but not enough time to analyse it
• MOOC considered a success for being innovative, before it was even launched. --- No interest to check later!
Global Learn, 28-29 April 2016
Was your MOOC effective?We are not sure.
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Evaluation
Global Learn, 28-29 April 2016
Clear goals help us know if we are successful.
Goal: Increase student
enrolments
Three MOOC
participants
converted to fee-paying stdents
SUCCESS
17
Challenges
Global Learn, 28-29 April 2016
Obtaining enough funding
Managing time
Creating and sustaining a large and active community of
learners
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Benefits for Academics
• Academics develop a learning design skill set. o “We've learned a lot about e-learning-type
teaching” [P9]
• Academics feel empowered.o “If they had told us years ago that we would be
able to do something like this [developing and delivering a MOOC], we wouldn’t have believed it” [P2]
Global Learn, 28-29 April 2016
19
Recommendations• Plan well in advance before implementation [P1]
• Design the MOOC to be platform-independent [P7]
• Consider how the MOOC works for learners from different nationalities [P7, P10]
• Focus on the students’ perspective, on how the MOOC benefits them [P1, P10]
Global Learn, 28-29 April 2016
20
What have we learned?• The emergence of MOOCs is sometimes driven by a
desire to “follow the trend”.
• MOOCs often fail to benefit from existing OERs.
• MOOC facilitators can prevent conversations from going off track and intervene if learners share incorrect ideas.
• Claims of MOOC effectiveness usually lack agreed indicators of success, critical analysis or are based on a very limited evidence base. Global Learn, 28-29 April 2016
Thank you.