MOOCs and the Hubble Telescope: The Big Leap for

Higher Education Research

Presented by Gary W. Matkin, Ph.D., Dean2014 OCW Consortium Global Conference, Ljublijana,

SloveniaApril 23-25, 2014

slideshare.net/garymatkin/ocwc2014

Purposes of this Presentation

• Describe state of research related to

MOOCs

• Describe issues raised by MOOC

research

• Describe the potential of MOOC

research

How is Universal Higher Education Happening and What Will It Mean?

The UCI Experience: UCI MOOCs Enrollments 2013

UCI Course YouTube Views and Minutes Watched 2014

YouTube views are beginning to exceed 100,000 and minutes watched are approaching 1 million per

month

The Purposes of MOOC-Related Research

• Who engages in MOOCs and why?

– Participation rates

• How do MOOCs help people learn?

Findings From MOOC Research

• Most enrollees are educated and are

not seeking a degree

• Around 50% of MOOC enrollees are

not in the U.S.

• Most enrollees are engaging in MOOCS

out of interest in the subject matter

UCI Coursera MOOCs: Log-ons

The Coursera Dashboard

• Levels of Participation:

– Visitors (those who simply visit the site

but take no action)

– Auditors (those who watch lectures and

view pages but take no action)

– Participants (those who submit an

exercise or join a discussion)

Persistence Stats for 11 Coursera Courses

Can MOOCs Help Students Prepare for College Level Work?

MOOC Research Problems and Their Consequences: Too Many Variables

MOOC Research Problems and Their Consequences: Personally Identifiable

Information (PII)

MOOC Research Problems and Their Consequences: Data Ownership

Advantages of MOOC Related Research

• Large numbers

• Easily collectable data

• Rapid sharing of results

• Impulse for replication tied to metrics

slideshare.net/garymatkin/upcea2014

gmatkin@uci.edu, 949-824-5525