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| Too Much or Not Enough? TV.McKin cc: a-nc-sa |
MOOCs have not only entered into my own personal development world but they are having an influence on my thoughts and practice with respect to online learning. At the moment I am writing an online course for librarians on "Digital Leadership and Collection Management" which I want to turn into a MOOC, I am also designing a course on digital leadership skills for students, which I also want to MOOCise. This has entailed me not only pulling out my eLearning design skills out their digital box, but also reflecting on the things I like about MOOCs and what puts me off. So here we go.
What I like
- Simplicity of the MOOC platforms, they tend to clearly designed with clear about learning expectations
- Courses are free and open access
- There is the possibility to link up with people all over the world (even if you do not always do this)
- You can do as much and as little as you want
- The combination of text and video material
- Notifications of what I need to do
What I don't like
- They are addictive, so many to do so little time
- Overly long videos, 20 minute videos, overly short videos, 2 minute videos
- Completion rate very low
- Too long 10 weeks, overly short 2 weeks
- Not enough written material to consolidate the video material
- Notifications they make me feel guilty
In my previous professional life, when I was involved in eLearning design, I regularly said to academic colleagues if you are putting together an online course you need to have a go at being an online student yourself. Before MOOCs this was a bit of a challenge now there is no excuse. As a result of me being MOOCer all my above observations can be added to my eLearning design toolkit.
The difference between the MOOC and the traditional online course according to Jeff Hayward (2016), at the University Edinburgh, whose research has focused on MOOC engagement, is the scale. On a medium sized MOOC there are about 30,000 students. There are not the norms of having to complete the course, and participate in all the activities and assessments, as learners can start and leave whenever. Research has also found that individuals enroll onto MOOCs not only to learn new things but also to experience what it is like to be an online learner. For those involved in teaching, Haywood claims that MOOCs "offer a testbed for experiments in teaching at large scale through technology", discovering, for example, that video is an efficient teaching tool and there are opportunities for peer review assessment, rather than just reverting to multiple choice tests.
Furthermore, the University of Edinburgh's involvement in MOOCs has influenced their mainstream education provision and they have extended their ambitions with respect to student engagement with online learning. Their aim, now, is to provide all their students with one fully online course to choose in their degree by 2025. This will give students the graduate skills for the future, as the University has observed that once students have completed their degree they often return to learning in an online format.
The difference between the MOOC and the traditional online course according to Jeff Hayward (2016), at the University Edinburgh, whose research has focused on MOOC engagement, is the scale. On a medium sized MOOC there are about 30,000 students. There are not the norms of having to complete the course, and participate in all the activities and assessments, as learners can start and leave whenever. Research has also found that individuals enroll onto MOOCs not only to learn new things but also to experience what it is like to be an online learner. For those involved in teaching, Haywood claims that MOOCs "offer a testbed for experiments in teaching at large scale through technology", discovering, for example, that video is an efficient teaching tool and there are opportunities for peer review assessment, rather than just reverting to multiple choice tests.
Furthermore, the University of Edinburgh's involvement in MOOCs has influenced their mainstream education provision and they have extended their ambitions with respect to student engagement with online learning. Their aim, now, is to provide all their students with one fully online course to choose in their degree by 2025. This will give students the graduate skills for the future, as the University has observed that once students have completed their degree they often return to learning in an online format.
