Experiences of virtual classrooms and

MOOCsLessons for online educators

Sarah CorneliusUniversity of Aberdeen, UK

Oulu University of Applied Sciences, December 2015

@sarahcorneliuss.cornelius@abdn.ac.uk

www.slideshare.net/sarahcornelius

Tutor: H802 Applications of Information Technology in Open and Distance Education, first online web-based course in the OU

Tutor: T171 You, your computer and the net first large-scale undergraduate course - 12,000 students in 2000.

Student: e.g. language courses – first users of web conferencing

Images from https://www.facebook.com and www.abdn.ac.uk

• Investigating teachers’ and learners’ experiences• What are the wider impacts

of these technologies?

Teaching with web conferencing

DISCUSSIONINTERACTION

LEARNER-CENTRED

Statement(n=16)Using Elluminate Live! has…

Mean(5 = strongly agree – 1 = strongly disagree

SD

… allowed flexibility in my learning 4.27 1.01… allowed me to communicate effectively with tutors

4.13 1.06

… allowed me to communicate effectively with peers 4.0 0.97

… made me feel part of a community of learners 3.81 0.98… allowed me to collaborate effectively with peers 3.75 1.06

… reduced my isolation as a distance learner 3.6 0.99

‘I think it encouraged a higher level of engagement than I might have had without it’

I hope you never use the ‘team captains’ approach.. That

would dredge up memories of the gym class

I remember being in a breakout room and no-one

else being there…feels lonely

Sub-recommendation 2: Select optimum numbers for breakout rooms and allow learners to move in and out of rooms as appropriate

It is fairly easy to get into the breakout rooms although …I

sometimes wait until the rush is over and then drag my name into

the room

I think [allowing participants to move themselves to rooms] gives participants autonomy as well, to

know that you can do that yourself, instead of someone

taking you

www.slideshare.net/sarahcornelius

What are your best/worst experiences of teaching with web conferencing?

TQFE tutors’ experiences

• ‘Teaching with a blindfold on’ • Everything takes longer• Importance of collaboration• Reflections on practice

Other teachers’ experiences4 experienced online teachers from across the UKInterviewed in Elluminate Interpretative phenomenological analysisNov 2010 – Feb 2011

it’s quite exhausting

its’ extremely demanding, for me and

everyone else

it’s quite intense

A demanding environment

In David’s words“There is so much going on […]. Obviously you have the verbal

communication, you have the written communication of the text chat … we’re monitoring who’s in the session, some people come in and out, some people come in late, some go out early … sometimes they lose connection because something goes wrong … monitoring who’s got good connections and who’s not …

In David’s words (2)“if it’s very interactive monitoring who’s speaking, when they’re

speaking, … the order in which things happen and just trying to manage [that] …

“Then of course you’ve got the slides. Sometimes they’re writing on there, you’re writing on there … monitoring the discussion […], so there’s so much…

In David’s words (3)“and obviously you’re moving between windows – it’s not just [the

web conferencing software] you’re working with, you’re working on … word documents to get information…

“So in terms of level of concentration, in terms of the things you’ve got to pay attention to, it’s extremely demanding, for me and everyone else.”

Limited feedback

‘No idea’ what the experience is like for learners ‘teaching to a wall’ - ‘into the ether’ Tools ‘provide limited information’

Needs strategies for e.g.– Bringing people into discussion– Ensuring everyone (who wants to be) is heard– Silences– Interrupting those who ‘hog the floor’– Facilitating small group discussions– Giving learners responsibility

Competence &Confidence

Cognition & Multimodality

Strategies &Experience

Technology Media

Teaching

Challenges of teaching

and learningwith web

conferencing

from Cornelius and Neumann, 2012

Wider impacts on teaching and learning

• Improved and more interactive presentations • Visual impact, clarity, engagement

• Providing increased flexibility for distance learners• Using recorded sessions, student meeting spaces, community engagement

• Collaboration• Co-design and co-teaching, innovation, exchange of practice, dialogue

• Impacts on other practice• Meetings, research collaboration, PhD supervision, professional development

• Resilience, resistance

What have been the impacts of engaging with web conferencing for your own practice?

MOOCs

“various examples show how […] instructors changed their teaching approach in both MOOCs and traditional courses, including by improving classroom materials and activities, crafting better measures of student learning, and experimenting with new pedagogies to increase engagement and learning.”

Duke University http://er.educause.edu/articles/2015/8/on-campus-impacts-of-moocs-at-duke-university

http://www.futurelearn.com

http://www.abdn.ac.uk/study/moocs-1406.php

Our learnersOver 35,000 registrations• >30,000 + Nutrition and Health• >5,000 Africa: Sustainable Development for All?

Over 60 contributors:• Lead academics• Academic

contributors• Moderators• Elearning team• Audio visual

team• External

Relations• Recruitment/

Alumni• Project

managementplus international experts and external organisations

Features Rich video presentationHigh levels of social learningIntegration into on-campus provision

Are there any aspects of a MOOC approach that you could use in your own practice?

Wider impacts on teaching and learning

Academics improving and developing skills e.g. media and presentation skills, digital skills

Academics rethinking delivery approaches e.g. new course structures and designs

Driving open approaches and facilitating collaboration and sharing

e.g. new collaborations, MOOCs on teaching

Sources: Kerr et al. (2015); Universities UK (2013); Yuan and Powell (2013)

At the University of Aberdeen

• FutureLearn platform statistics• Narratives – academics’ stories• Processes to build and deliver MOOCs• Emergent outcomes• Developing research questions

At the University of Aberdeen

Quality vs Production Values

Engagement

Effort, Costs, Recognition

Constraints, Pedagogies, and Course Design

Academic credit

IPR and Copyright

External Validation

Research Platform

Still converging?

• Engaging with digital and online learning provides a learning opportunity for educators, which generates reflection on practice and has impacts in wider contexts:

• Improved skills• Enhanced collaboration• Unanticipated impacts• Relevance to all learning contexts

Thanks• Members of the TQFE and MOOC teams and students who

participated in the research

• Co-researchers and authors: • Carole Gordon, Jan Schyma (University of Aberdeen)• Tim Neumann (Institute of Education, University of London)• MOOC team and Colin Calder (University of Aberdeen)

Web Conferencing

Cornelius S and Gordon C (2013) Facilitating learning with web conferencing: recommendations based on learners’ experiences. Education and Information Technologies. 18(2) 275-285

Cornelius S (2014) Facilitating in a demanding environment: experiences of teaching with web conferencing. British Journal of Educational Technology 42(2) 260-271

Cornelius S and Neumann T (2012) The realities of teaching and learning with web conferencing: challenges and issues. Workshop for ALT-C 2012, Manchester, UK, Sept 2012 Resources available from http://altc2012.alt.ac.uk/talks/28046

Cornelius S, Gordon C and Schyma J (2014) Live online learning: strategies for the web conferencing classroom. Baisingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan

MOOCs

Kerr et al. (2015) University of Glasgow: Building and Executing MOOCs: a practical review of Glasgow’s first two MOOCs http://www.gla.ac.uk/media/media_395337_en.pdf

Universities UK (2013) Massive open online courses: higher education’s digital moment? http://www.universitiesuk.ac.uk/highereducation/Documents/2013/MassiveOpenOnlineCourses.pdf

Yuan L and Powell S (2013) MOOCs and open education: implications for higher education. JISC CETIS White Paper. http://publications.cetis.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/MOOCs-and-Open-Education.pdf

University of Aberdeen © 2015Experiences of web conferencing and MOOCS; lessons for the design of online learning by Sarah Corneliusis licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License