Massive

Open

Online

Courses

A game-changer for cheaper and higher quality education, or a setback

in the evolution of online learning?

(Murphy, 2012)

Free internet courses have been available for

years. However, a relatively new phenomenon

has arrived: the MOOC, or Massive Open

Online Course.

MOOCs are huge online classes, sometimes

with more than 100,000 students, offered free

of charge (mostly) through various

organizations, including some elite universities.

Background

There is no penalty for being a

dropout, or failing the course, when

you are enrolled in a MOOC—

participation in the course is entirely

voluntary.

A diploma does not typically come

with the deal, although some MOOCs

are exploring the possibility of giving

college credit to those who pass the

course.

Was it a big mistake to

take on this student loan?

(Kernohan, 2013)

The new MOOC, or xMOOC, now being

developed emphasizes a more traditional

learning approach through video presentations

and short quizzes and testing.

Some elite US universities are partnering with

educational technology companies, such as

Coursera, to offer xMOOCs.

MOOC Beginnings

(Ailsa'a Mooching, 2013)

The term MOOC originated in Canada in 2008. Dave

Cormier and Bryan Alexander coined the acronym to

describe an open online course at the University of

Manitoba designed by George Siemens and Stephen

Downes. The course was called “Connectivism and

Connective Knowledge.”(Daniel, 2012)

Connectivists advocate a learning organization whereby

there is not a body of knowledge to be transferred from

educator to learner and where learning does not take place

in a single environment; instead, knowledge is distributed

across the Web, and people’s engagement with it

constitutes learning. (Kop, 2011)

MOOCs have already split into two distinct types

of courses: cMOOCs and xMOOCs.

The pedagogical style of the early courses,

which some now call cMOOCs, was based on a

philosophy of connectivism and networking.

George Siemens writes: “Our MOOC model

emphasizes creation, creativity, autonomy, and

social networked learning.”

The Great Divide: cMoocs…

…and xMOOCs

(Michie, 2012)

2012 – The Year of the MOOC

(What's new in Connectivism?, 2013)

Stanford unveiled Class2Go, offering two

MOOCs. Nick McKeown and Philip Levis

are teaching one of them, on computer

networking.

Dr. McKeown typifies the energy of this new

venture when he declares, “We’re both

very excited.”

However, both of the professors also

acknowledge that they are not exactly sure

how this MOOC stuff works.(Pappano, 2012)

Although MOOCs have been around for a

few years, 2012 saw a significant

increase in the number of xMOOCs being

offered.

Elite universities such as Princeton,

Brown, Columbia, Harvard, Berkeley, MIT

and Duke are jumping on the MOOC

bandwagon.

(Schmidt, 2012)

The Future of Education?

(Would MOOCs have empowered Einstein?, 2013)

MOOC Pros

Student POV

The upside of MOOCS:

Free education

No prerequisites

No pressure

Convenience – all hours access,

no commuting

Networking opportunitiesWARNING: Brain may go “pop.” Groupthink may occur.

(What's new in Connectivism?, 2013)

Student POV

MOOC Cons

Downside of MOOCs:

Lack of motivation to finish the course;

no consequences for dropping out

equals a high dropout rate

Lack of interaction with the instructor

Lack of face to face social interaction

Lack of official credit or documented

proof of educational accomplishment

Technical difficulties

Schools may start to charge fees for

certificates, or tuition (Levine, 2013)

Some reasons why they MOOC:

Altruism – increase the worldwide

availability of higher education

Reach more students

Avoid becoming obsolete as the

trend for online education increases

Want to increase their public profile

and reputation

Sell textbooks

The Chronicle for Higher Education

Survey:

103 MOOC professors responded.

Nearly one-third of professors surveyed were

"somewhat" or "very" skeptical about online-

only courses before teaching a MOOC.

Now more than 90 percent are enthusiastic

about online classes.

Faculty POV

MOOC Pros

Survey question: Over all, do you

believe MOOCs are worth the hype?

79%

21%

No

Yes

(Kolowich, The Professors Who Make the MOOCs, 2013)

Perceived MOOC issues:

Low pay or no pay

Lack of prestige (continuing stigma

for online instructors)

Lack of personal interaction with

students

Demands on time: both planning

and teaching

Lack of expertise in designing online

learning

Faculty POV

MOOC Cons

The situation is at least a million billion times worse

than I imagined!

(Cuban, 2012)

University POV

MOOC

Pros

MOOC benefits:

altruism – service to

the community and

public

increase public profile

& prestige

possible profits

stimulate innovations

in teaching and

learning(Ripley, 2012)

MOOC challenges:

Won’t directly generate revenue

(unless you charge for certificates)

Requires investment - faculty time,

resources

Reluctance to hire instructional

designers to develop courses

High student dropout rate

MOOC Cons

University POV

One widely quoted dropout

figure for students in massive

open online courses is 90

percent.

In a bioelectricity MOOC Duke

University offered through

Coursera, only about 350 of the

12,725 users who registered

took the final exam, a dropout

rate of 97 percent.

(Rivard, 2013)

(Benson,

2008)

(Belanger & Thornton, 2013)

Pedagogy Wars: cMOOCs vs. xMOOCs

Speaking about cMOOCs, Marc Bousquet states

that: “Good MOOC’s…foreground and sustain the

social dimension of learning and active practices,

i.e., knowledge production rather than knowledge

consumption.” (Michie, 2012)

Siemens says: ”our cMOOC model emphasizes

creation, creativity, autonomy and social

networking learning. …cMOOCs focus on

knowledge creation and generation whereas

xMOOCs focus on knowledge duplication.”

Critics note that xMOOCs need better learning

design, pointing out that videos & quizzes are not

enough to make a good course. Most institutions

offering xMOOCs do not hire instructional

designers to develop their courses. Some of the

concerns mentioned are:

Lack of personal connection with the instructor.

Limited instruction techniques.

Limited evaluation techniques.

Lack of motivational attributes.

Widespread plagiarism. “My course lacks interactivity and it has no point. I assumed the software would take care of that!”

(Adult learning principles in eLearning, 2013)

(Daniel, 2012)

(Daniel, 2012)

Business POV

Can MOOCs be self-sustaining?

Bill and Melinda Gates(Paustenbaugh, 2006)

(Kolowich, 2012)

8 potential business models have been proposed:

Certification (students pay for a badge or certificate)

Secure assessments (students pay to have their

examinations proctored)

Employee recruitment (companies pay for access to

student performance records)

Applicant screening (employers/universities pay for

access to records to screen applicants)

Human tutoring or assignment marking (for which

students pay)

Selling the MOOC platform to enterprises to use in their

own training courses

Sponsorships (3rd party sponsors of courses)

Tuition fees(Daniel, 2012)

Is it possible to make money offering free

courses? This question has yet to be answered.

There is no standard business model for how

MOOCs will generate revenue.

So far, venture capital and philanthropy have

funded MOOC platform providers such as

Coursera and edX.

(Educause Publications, 2012)

The MOOC movement has been financed and

promoted by organizations such as the Bill and

Melinda Gates Foundation.

(Awarded Grants, 2013)

(Brauner, 2013)

Probably not, according to Doug Holton, Associate Director of the Center for

Teaching and Learning Excellence at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. He

sites the following reasons he believes MOOCs are here to stay:

Millions of dollars invested in MOOCs

Millions of students signing up for MOOCs around globe

Developing & using new and innovative tools to support MOOCs - plagiarism

detection, better discussion forums, sophisticated learner analytics, new MOOC

platforms, Google Apps, etc.

(Holton, 2013)

The Impact of MOOCs

on Current Educational

Practice

Are MOOCs a fad?

To MOOC, or not to MOOC. That

is the question…

The idea of free education, available to anyone with

internet access, is an inherently exciting idea. But

when we stand back and evaluate the idea, some

flaws begin to stand out.

How can this model be sustained? Who wants to

work for free? Do people value what they get for

free?

If MOOCs start to charge students for certain

services, such as providing a certificate of

completion, are they still MOOCs?

So far MOOCs have not shown

themselves to be self-sustaining, let

alone profitable.

Additionally, is apparent from the

high dropout rate that the vast

majority of MOOC students are not

motivated to finish MOOCs. It

cannot be demonstrated that the

majority of registered MOOC

students learn anything at all from

the course.

Should we be excited about MOOCs?

What have MOOCs demonstrated so

far?

Is the MOOC concept pedagogically

sound?

The MOOC concept flies in the face of many

accepted pedagogical principles. A MOOC

course is generally presented as a pre-recorded

lecture divided into segments. A weekly quiz is

corrected by a computer to evaluate student

learning.

The problem with this format is that there are no

student support services available and students

get very little, if any, feedback on their work.

Faculty-student interactions are not part of this

scenario, which is crucial for the success of

online education.

A high level of student engagement and

faculty participation, including a focus on

the quality and immediacy of the faculty

feedback on various assignment

A grading system that is effective in

assessing each student’s true capabilities

Ways to discourage or prevent plagiarism

Ways to authenticate students’ identities

A program of assessment of learning

outcomes (at the course, program, and

institution levels)

What are some key components of

a successful online course?

Effective student orientation into the

online course

Supportive online student advising and

retention services

Availability of a wide variety of learning

activities to attain student learning

outcomes

Technological assistance available

Opportunities for social interaction (Lepervanche, 2008)

Factors to Consider

At the present time, most MOOCs do not have

many, if any, of these components in place.

ConclusionAs a student, having access to free education with no strings attached

seems like a wonderful idea. Last January I signed up for a MOOC

entitled “"Learning Design for a 21st Century Curriculum,“

led by the Open University’s Institute of Educational Technology, in

partnership with the University of Oxford.

Below is a screen shot of the emails sent to me by this MOOC, all of

which went unopened.

As an instructor, I have concerns about further devaluing education,

and the implication that instructors should work for no or minimal

compensation.

The MOOCs are here, but they have yet to live up to their promise.

“In this world, you

get what you pay

for.”

― Kurt Vonnegut, Cat's Cradle