MOOCs:Summiting One Peak and Now Climbing Another

Jonathan SchaefferDean of Faculty of Science

dscience@ualberta.ca

MOOC Reality

Whether you agree or disagree with the idea behind MOOCs, they have already had one

enormous benefit:When else has teaching received as much

attention?

Getting Into MOOCs

• The right reasons– Explore new teaching/learning methods– Be a research/teaching leader– Build national/international reputation– Showcase our research strengths– Set a standard for quality

• The wrong reasons– Make money– Eliminate instructors

What We’ve Learned

• Resistance to Change• Student Experience• Low Completion Rates• If You Build It, Will They Come?• Quality Costs Money• Production Not Core

1. Resistance to Change

• Changing status quo is hard!• Doing it for the money– false, at least for now; but is this bad?

• Online instruction can’t be as good as in-class– false; can even be better

• MOOCs threaten the future of universities– true, but only for those that do not adapt to change

• MOOCs will replace people– some truth to this (but can be used to free time)

2. Student Experience

• One size does not fit all learners– In-class UofA experience (regimented)– Online UofA experience (flexible)

• Excellent student feedback for MOOCs– Very high student evaluations– Very high completion rates– Flexibility appreciated– Students at risk benefitted

3. Low Completion Rates

• Typically in the 4-7% range– Used to argue MOOCs are poor teaching venues

• Are you surprised, given that the course is free and that it requires many hours of work?

• Dino 101: 18% completion rate• Charge a small fee and completion rates go

way up!

4. If You Build it They Will Come

• Getting harder to build a “best seller”– >1,000 MOOCs available (many more coming)– >15 million registered MOOC students (but now

growing slowly)• 2014 and before– One-of courses (#enrollments, 100s of 1000s, free)

• 2015 and going forward– Specializations (#paying, 10s of 1000s, low cost)

5. Quality Costs Money

• Many low/poor quality MOOCs available– Assume the student will simply listen for 50 minutes– PowerPoint; Talking heads; Documentaries

• Must exploit the medium– Multiple forms of media– Interactive learning objects– Filming (on location)– Online assessment– Social media– This can be costly!

6. Production is not Core

• University mission is research and teaching, not producing a MOOC

• Academic: pedagogy, instruction, and assessment

• Non-academic: computing infrastructure, filming, film editing, script editing, illustrations, video production design, graphic design software development, etc.

• Outsource non-academic component

Formula for Success

Pedagogy

+ Gamification+ High-quality filming & editing production+ Formative & summative assessment approaches+ Online consumption/behavior strategy+ Earned and viral media strategy

= New higher standard of rigorous university MOOC

P r oduc t ion

Academic

Onlea

• Not-for-profit University of Alberta spin-off company

• Specializing in high-quality digital learning productions for university or industry

• Onlea.org

Trends (1)

• MOOCs can be “profitable”– Revenue (small so far, but there is potential)– Cost reductions (after investment cost)– Professional development opportunities

• Move a large enrolment course online– Reduced instructor, TA, and space needs– Dino 101 reduces costs by over $100K/year– Frees up professor time

Trends (2)

• There is a move to shorter courses– Students prefer “mini-MOOCs”– Equivalent of 4 weeks instead of 13

• There is a move to on-demand courses– Take the course any time– Self-directed learning– Meet student needs, not institutional rules

Trends (3)

• Escaping the “not invented here” disease• Use MOOC material from other institutions– Use as part of a course (with permission)– For credit (with permission)

• Partnering– Multiple institutions banding together to develop

a joint course– Challenge: can we do this?

Trends (4)

• Electronic textbooks– The biggest disruption could be the overthrow of

the exploitation of publishing houses• Use MOOCs as part of building comprehensive

online resources that replace textbooks?– Assessment/practice is a challenge in some

domains

Coming Soon: New Courses

• Dino 201/2/3 (corner the market)• Arctic 101, 201/2/3 (reputation)• Software Product Management (revenue)• Introductory courses in computing science,

physics, biology (new ideas in pedagogy)

Dino 101 App

• Entire course in a phone application

• $9.99 US for the course (no exams)

• Implications?

Where Is All This Going?

• Once technology disrupts a market, it is relentless in making dramatic changes

• Disruptive change must happen… and soon– Creating rich online learning experiences– Offering courses from other institutions– Changing the in-class experience– Creation of virtual universities

• Exciting opportunities… for teaching and research