We were joined by Director of Online Learning and Educational Technology, Ray Lawson; Dean of Library, Kate Harger; and Instructor of English, Anne Humphrey. We barely scratched the surface of the benefits, the concerns, and the implications of MOOCs (you can see the presentation outline at the bottom of this post), and faculty members brought up some excellent questions.
But the questions didn't stop when the panel discussion ended. Instructor of Art and Art Department Chair, Sarah Ruthven, asked Anne and I some follow-up questions via e-mail, and Anne gave her terrific answers (thankfully Anne answered Sarah's e-mail first; I would have just written, "Der...um...Anne?").
Check out Sarah's Q's:
- What is driving this? Do MOOCs address a population we are missing? Do they provide a service we can’t already provide through a number of other outlets? Do they address completion? Is there data or examples to suggest that MOOCs help something we are working on at MCC?
- If an academic content MOOC is created by MCC faculty members, would it be put through the same process of any other delivery mode including CD&R and Assessment?
- This seems to just have popped up overnight. I woke up in fall semester and there they were, like magic--where did they come from?
- If I require it and grade it, is it still supplemental?
- How is this different from a YouTube Channel or iTunes University?
- If it is a marketing tool how do we get an audience for it?
A short answer is that we are discussing MOOCs because everyone else is discussing them. People are excited about the concept because the current model of higher education is considered to be unsustainable, so any optional methods seem to be worth investigating. People are funding the efforts outside of the classical model, via grants, or via loss-leader type approaches at big and very well-funded universities, or via individual philanthropy – it’s totally outside our current compensation model.
I was glad to hear someone mention CAPC processes yesterday. Yes, I would say a MOOC should go through that process, if it is offered under the auspices of MCC.
MOOCs seem to have popped up overnight because in fact they have only been around a few years. Due to backing from the most prestigious universities in the world and some leading funders and philanthropists, growth has been very, very rapid. Suddenly, the MOOC is the hot topic, and many schools are trying to get into the game.
iTunesU, YouTube, materials in MERLOT and hundreds of other lesson repositories (including Khan Academy), materials for hundreds of thousands of individual teacher and faculty websites, etc. are not MOOCs.
A MOOC is a course, so it has modules, assignments/tests, an overall flow and goals, and interaction. The vast amount of free material online can and should be used to supplement courses, but it isn’t organized as a course, but rather as lessons/handouts, and other artifacts that could be adapted or inserted into a course (observe and licensing or copyright issues noted, though). But a MOOC is a whole course. Now, you can use pieces from a MOOC as individual supplements too, leading to some confusion and overlap in these concepts
Related concepts/methods:
- Online courses and pedagogy (pretty well developed but not necessarily well employed) (some techniques blended in to traditional classes)
- Free online content (use in any course to supplement OR for all the content)
- Development of your own content and hosting publicly for other teachers to use (one of my videos is at 47,233 views this morning)
- Digital publisher content (usually given in connection with purchase or adoption of the textbook or etextbook)
- Open online courses (not accredited, some for a fee, offered through several existing platforms)
- Flipped classroom (for use in a traditional classroom course or blended course, but using online materials)
- Massive open online course (MOOC) (may grant some certificate on completion, credit being discussed in some cases, primary assessment is peer-to-peer or computer graded, generally free but some may include fees, open enrollment, traditional-ish online course structure)
