Lerato desiree Ntsimane

201177240Professional studies 3A

MOOCS…

CONTENT

WHAT IS MOOCS

A BRIEF HISTORY OF MOOCS

HOW MOOCS WORK

TYPES OF MOOCS

MOOCS TIMELINE

PROS AND CONS OF MOOCS

MOOCS LANDSCAPE AND PLATFORMS

HOW WILL MOOCS CHANGE EDUCATION?

REFERENCES

What is MOOCS

Massive Open Online Courses are classes that are offered to a large number of students, over the internet, for free with essentially unlimited enrolment.

In a typical MOOC, students watch short video lectures online and complete assignments that are graded either by machines or by their peers.

MOOCs generate massive quantities of data about learner behavior, which can be used to understand cognitive growth and how to improve

instruction.

BRIEF HISTORY OF MOOCS

2004: George Siemens and Stephen Downes develop theory of connectivism, the thesis of that knowledge is distributed across a network of connections, and therefore that learning consists of the ability to construct a traverse those network Downes, 2012, p.9)

2008: first MOOC presented at university of Manitoba with – 2200 learners

2010: Dave Cormier videos about MOOCs added to You Tube (Cormier, 2010)

2011: MOOC for college prep skills helps freshmen prepare for college requirements (Cormier, 2011)

2012: Harvard’s first MOOC has 370,000 registered students (Pappano, 2012)

2012: Coursera launches from Standford; offers first xMOOCs (Chen, 2012)

-new York times calls 2012 “the year of MOOC” pappano,2012

2012: edX by Harvard and MIT; Coursera, a Standford company; and Udacity, which focuses on science and tech

2013: cMOOCs and xMOOCs too numerous to count accurately

How MOOCs Work

MOOCs are online courses where lectures are typically “canned,” quizzes and testing are automated, and student participation is voluntary. They attain large scale by reducing instructor contact with individual students, students often rely on self-organized study and discussion groups.

Types and taxonomy of MOOCs not from the institutional but the pedagogic perspective.[open the link below]

http://donaldclarkplanb.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/moocs-taxonomy-of-8-types-of-mooc.html

MOOCS TIMELINE

These early MOOCs were less about presenting content and more about connecting learners. The term C-MOOC refers to a MOOC designed to emphasize connecting learners. C-MOOC stands for Connectivist MOOC. C-MOOCs are built upon the idea and platform originally envisioned by George Siemens. X-MOOCs have their background in the rise of open course ware. In the image below you

can see a timeline of MOOC development. [NEXT SLIDE]  

MOOCS PROS & CONS

PROS Are free

Force professors to improve lectures.

Are designed to ensure that students keep up.

Bring people together from all over the world.

Allow teachers to make the most of classroom time in blended classes.

Offer interesting business opportunities.

CONS Could cause teachers to become

nothing more than "glorified teaching assistants.“

Make discussion a challenge.

Make it easier for students to drop out.

Grading papers is impossible.

MOOCS LANDSCAPE AND PLATFORMS

http://blogs.curtin.edu.au/odvce/2013/02/curtin-university-moocs-thinking-content-platform-partnership/

HOW WILL MOOCS CHANGE EDUCATION?

MOOCs are already a big hit in rural communities and developing countries where people don’t have as much access to traditional schools. But, they may eventually impact the way people everywhere learn and get an education.

MOOCs will allow people to educate themselves based on what they want to learn. Stay-at-home parents can take real classes in their spare time to stay current, business people can improve their resumes, and high schoolers can get a head start on college.

REFERENCES

Clark, D (2013) MOOCs: taxonomy of 8 types of MOOCs http://donaldclarkplanb.blogspot.com/2013/04/moocs-taxonomy-of-8-types-of-mooc.html

Daniel, J (2012). Making Sense of MOOCs: Musing in a Maze of Myth, Paradox and Possibility. Journal of Interactive Media in Education. [CC-BY].

Reiser, R. A. (2001). A History of Instructional Design and Technology: Part1: A History of Instructional Media. Educational Technology Research and Development, 49(1), 53-64.

Masters, K..,& Qaboos, S.(2011). A Brief Guide To Understand MOOCs. The Internet Journal of Medical Education, 1(2), 2-6. doi: 10.5580/1f21.