Final Thoughts on MOOCs

Returning to my first post of the semester was a thought-provoking experience for me.  While I can’t say that I disagree with my definitions of MOOCs, I believe in the time of the semester both my knowledge of MOOCs and the entire MOOC phenomenon has changed in a way that my post would definitely be substantially expanded.  I still look to the future of MOOCs with guarded optimism, for both the MOOC experience and any sort of “disruption” they may cause in the education sphere.  As MOOCs continue to permeate society (hey, even my mom knows what a MOOC is now!), I still tend to believe that they may contribute to some change within education, but will not be a driving force.  However, even several months later, I think the jury is still out on that question.  MOOCs will continue to evolve, and hopefully those built with sound pedagogical principles can thrive rather than the monotonous lecture format some MOOC providers seem to embrace.  We can hope, right?

Reflecting on my personal effort, I have found this course to be both interesting and challenging in content matter and format.  I enjoyed my virtual interactions with my classmates and feel I got as much out of that as a face to face weekly course.  I did find twitter challenging for discussion, though I am becoming better at condensing my verbose nature into 140 characters.  I had not been on twitter seriously before this course, but started following a number of interesting people (beings? institutions?) related to the course and also in my general professional interests of ed tech and prospect research, so I will likely continue using twitter for keeping up with news and trends professionally.  At the beginning of the course I was excited about my impending MOOC experience, but it ended up being a bit of a dud.  The workload was too much for me with my other (for credit!) studies, and so I did not get as much out of it as I would have liked.  I do now know a number of MOOC resources, and I will continue to explore MOOCs in the future.  I thought that Dr. Major and the class had a great chemistry, and it was especially interesting to hear the thoughts of the diverse group of students.  Hopefully the instructional technology folks were not too overwhelming.
After this semester, I look forward to staying abreast on the developments surrounding MOOCs and how they shape the future of education.

MOOC Review

In my search for a MOOC to take, I was originally drawn to Big Data in Education, taught by Dr. Ryan Baker, offered by Coursera in conjunction with Columbia University.  Both professionally and academically I have been doing work with data analytics and thought this would be an excellent use of my time pursuing a MOOC class.  Unfortunately, the class kept getting pushed back.  It was originally supposed to start around the beginning of the semester, and finally had a start date of October 24.  Since I needed to get started earlier, I made other plans and enrolled in Web Intelligence and Big Data taught by Dr. Gautam Shroff also through Coursera in conjunction with the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi.

Immediately upon exploring the course I knew it was going to be a challenge.  While I have an undergraduate minor in computer science, I was intimidated by the deep down technical nature of the course and the amount of programming knowledge involved.  The course consisted of video lectures, homework assignments, and quizzes, in the typical style of an xMOOC (Siemens, 2012).  As I began to watch the lectures, the instructor did make the complex material interesting and as easy as possible to understand.  His teaching technique helped me grasp concepts with which I was slightly familiar, but did not know in depth beforehand.   Despite the complexity of the material, the lectures were broken down in such a way that they could easily be rewatched for clarity.  No lecture segment was beyond ten minutes.  This greatly helped me fit the lectures into my already busy schedule.  Daphne Koller of Coursera (2012) details that these lengths and design are optimized for student learning.  Due to outside demands, I did not complete the programming assignments, but I did read over them.  As the course progressed, it became clear that while the material was interesting, it was really far too technical and geared towards truly “big” data (google, etc) for me to get a lot of use out of it.

A couple of weeks ago, the original course I was interested in finally started.  After much consternation rather to stick with the current course, or switch to a more relevant and less intensive course, I made the switch.  Now I am just another MOOC non-completer statistic, as taking too much time, and assuming too much knowledge are the top two reasons students don’t complete MOOCs (Coleman, 2013).  The new course has a very similar format, but the content is more relevant to my position as I will be using education specific data, rather than the huge data sets that exist in the online world.  The course is a series of video lectures, with quizzes and problems to work each week.  Since this is my second round with Coursera, I am quickly recognizing a theme!  I would imagine this is useful to learners taking multiple MOOCs as they can easily develop a routine once they are familiar with the Coursera setup.

One difference in the courses is the level of “massiveness.”  I do not have numbers of the enrollments, but the difference in the traffic on the discussion boards leads me to believe that the more general course, Web Intelligence and Big Data, has many more enrollments.  In some ways, this has been both positive and negative.  With more discussions come more student questions and interaction, however, in the first week of the course I was a bit overwhelmed.  I contributed to a thread to share your Linkedin info, and was inundated!  The thread now has 315 posts and I believe I have gotten even more connection requests.  While I do appreciate making connections and network with other learners, it was too much for me.  Since the other course, Big Data in Education, only appeals to a limited demographic, there is less traffic on the discussion boards, but it has been more mentally manageable for me personally.

In what has been a common critique of xMOOCS, both of these courses have not been especially cutting edge pedagogically speaking (Morris, 2012).  The lecture/assignment/quiz format is essentially an independent study course taken alongside thousands of others.  However, that said, I do believe they have been effective.  My foray into the Web Intelligence and Big Data course has allowed me to talk to the statistician in my office about data in different ways.  I believe the Big Data in Education course will enable me to generate new ideas in using data that is available from my institution in furthering the mission of my office and also in my studies.  While the completion rate for MOOCs is very low, I hope to stick with my second MOOC through the end.  In the future I would love to explore additional MOOCs, although I am not likely to become a “hard core learner” (Young, 2013).

Colman, D. (2013). MOOC interrupted. Top 10 reasons our readers didn’t finish a massive open online class. Retrieved from http://www.openculture.com/2013/04/10_reasons_you_didnt_complete_a_mooc.html

 

Morris, S. M. (2012). Broadcast Education: A response to Coursera. Open Education. Retrieved from http://www.hybridpedagogy.com/Journal/files/Broadcast_Education.html

 

Koller, D. (2012, June). Daphne Koller: What we're learning from online education [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.ted.com/talks/daphne_koller_what_we_re_learning_from_online_education.html

Siemens, G. (2012). MOOCs are really a platform. Retrieved from http://www.elearnspace.org/blog/2012/07/25/moocs-are-really-a-platform/

 

Young, J. (2013). What Professors can learn from hard core Mooc students. Retrieved from http://chronicle.com/article/What-Professors-Can-Learn-From/139367/

Micro MOOC survey:

Grading and MOOCs

MOOCs present a number of issues when it comes to student assessment.  While the online component adds a wrinkle to traditional grading techniques for face to face coursework, the sheer enrollment numbers of many MOOCs make even commonly used online grading techniques impossible.  A number of techniques, including peer grading, crowdsourcing, multiple choice quizzes, among others, are all being experimented with in a variety of ways in MOOC courses.  Each MOOC presents a unique challenge due to these factors, so different grading techniques may be appropriate in different situations.

In my MOOC, which centers around personal finance, the concepts and material are important, but overall this is an experience that learners will integrate into their future habits, rather than a traditional grading/testing scenario.  The MOOC includes exercises for learners to apply with their own figures and situations and also questions to ask themselves.  Depending on the direction I take, I may ask learners to share these answers with others via an online community, but discussion will not be critical, but rather open between class participants and hopefully have an encouraging nature.  I may also include questions with multiple choice answers within the coursework so that learners can be sure they grasp core concepts before moving forward.  Since there is no "grade" in the course, they will be able to answer these multiple times until correct, rather than be penalized for an incorrect answer.

My video was captured with Camtasia.  It is my favorite screen capture program, but alas, it is not free.  Its free, no frills cousin is a software called Jing, and it is a great little product!  I highly recommend Jing if you can live without the editing capabilities of Camtasia (and the cost).

In this video, I detail the first exercise in my MOOC, creating a Lifetime Income Worksheet.

MOOCs and Pedagogy

In discussions of pedagogy, I tend to be a relativist.  To answer the questions…” Does it depend upon the content? the objectives? The professor? The students?” I say all of the above.  Sometimes, I think also, the most effective way to learn may not involve a trendy technology or an en vogue model.  Reading Sean Morris’ depiction of true pedagogues blindfolding students, or having them hopscotch to stir memories to write, in contrast to pulling essays out like pulling teeth (2013) made me laugh a little inside.  In my high school there were two freshman English teachers.  One pulled essays out like teeth, the other tried lots of fluffy feel good assignments.  As a student in the former class, I loathed every minute of it.  Each class was spent grinding out essays in a ridiculously rigidly defined format and sentence structure, then critiquing our classmates’ essays.  As an adult writer I can honestly say that all writing I have produced since that course has been built upon the skills learned, and with much success.  In contrast, it became obviously apparent as we progressed into AP English and then on to college, the students in the other section were woefully unprepared to write...maybe too much hopscotch and blindfolds, and not enough actual writing?

While I may not always agree with Morris on what good pedagogy “is”, I do agree with his and Strommel’s (2013) assessment that good pedagogy is not dependent on small class size, and can occur even in MOOC environments.  We’ve all had courses with small, intimate environments where the instructor squandered the opportunity for true learning with poor teaching.  Being conscious of the content and the student motivation in the course can drive instructors to develop courses, whether they be online or offline, that truly maximize the learning experience for the student.

Despite my example to the contrary, I don’t believe that rote, behavioristic course experiences generally contribute to the most optimal learning.  Both in face to face courses, and in the MOOC environment, it is “easy” for an instructor to fall back on a good ole lecture format.  Incorporating social constructivist elements into courses allows for learners to collaborate and push the boundaries of their learning beyond what may be possible alone.  While online learning is just beginning to incorporate more constructivist elements, I believe that as the field progresses, we will learn from other’s successes and move virtual courses out of the LMS/video lecture/discussion board paradigm and begin to utilize technology in less one directional way.

With regards to my MOOC, I believe it will be a challenge to develop these types of elements into the course.  So much of my content is driven from independent study, yet I know from personal experience, that interacting with others and bouncing personal finance ideas off each other, sharing successes and failures, all leads to more commitment and increased awareness.  Overall, I hope to create a positive experience for the learner where they believe their time spent in the course was a valuable learning experience.

Micro MOOC Slideshare

Ahe602 slideshare from Jennifer Watson

Micro-MOOC Details

The micro-MOOC I am creating will be based on the personal finance book Your Money or Your Life by Vicki Robin and Joe Dominguez.  It may sound hokey, but this book set myself and my husband on a financial track ten years ago that has allowed us to achieve immense financial goals (paying off $60,000 student loan debt, paying off our house) while still living a lifestyle we enjoy that is (for the most part) in line with our values...and all that on two decent but regular salaries (no publishers clearing house or inheritances here).  To be fair though, we had been looking to move for some time and have now regained a mortgage as we struggle with the mammoth undertaking of a fixer-upper.

The book has a very straightforward format, which has also been supplemented to accompany small, in person groups.  The challenge of my micro-MOOC will be taking this format and harnessing the tools technology has to offer, while still staying true to the curriculum and provide a cohesive learning environment for learners.  Since my MOOC is not a clear skill to be learned, or a credential one can put on a resume, I envision much exploration and not necessarily an orderly or timely progression through the material.  The book set up in a series of steps which I plan to keep as the backbone of the course.  There are exercises in each step to be completed away from the course.  In addition I plan to have step by step tutorial videos to help learners complete each step.  I am also exploring collaborative elements where learners can communicate and bond with each other as they work through the program.

Below is my mind map of the first step in depth, along with steps two through four at a high level:

Rock Star Professors...and the rest of us

One issue that has recently come to the forefront in the short evolution of MOOCs is the possibility of traditional institutions using courses from MOOCs instead of using on-campus professors.  One school experimenting with this is San Jose State, which under current president Mohammed H. Qayoumi has been pushing to implement MOOC courses from edX and Udacity.  The San Jose State faculty responded to a proposal to implement an edX Philosophy course with fierce resistance, opposing what they say is a potential movement to "replace professors, dismantle departments, and provide a diminished education for students in public universities," (Kolowich, 2013).  

Will MOOCs position select professors from elite universities as "rock stars" while learning at strapped for cash public institutions is relegated to watching these instructors through MOOC video?  The US is already turning out thousands more PhD grads each year than available jobs in academia.  Will MOOCs contribute even more to an already shrinking career field?  I can only imagine what will be lost in areas of competing ideas and research should this MOOC prediction come to fruition.  However, I still am wary of both the MOOC hype and "sky is falling" predictions.  San Jose State recently suspended their partnership with Udacity after the first six months of courses brought far too high of rates of course non-completion and failure (Oremus, 2013).  The San Jose State faculty who wrote, "we believe that having a scholar teach and engage with his or her own students is far superior to having those students watch a video of another scholar engaging his or her students," in protest to the edX collaboration are likely feeling vindicated after the results of the Udacity experiment.

It is my opinion that students can learn a lot of leaders in the field, in mediums such as MOOCs, however, this cannot replace real time engagement with other students and instructors on a personal level...even if they're not "rock stars." This may be a tangential issue, but one that immediately came to mind...the long term societal effects of professors being replaced by teaching assistants.  Do we want to live in a society with only rock star professors?  While there are plenty of negative aspects to our state's expansive community college system, how would those communities be affected without the local faculty involved with both students and the local area at large?  To me, this seems to be one of the larger negative points of the potential MOOC explosion that is not yet being discussed.  

Video on Micro MOOC (of course youtube is being persnickety)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rAG3FT1YBHY

What it Means to be Open

Until this week's readings, I have to admit I was fairly ignorant to the OER (open educational resources) movement.  I was aware of MIT courseware, but many of the other resources and publications are new to me.  OER materials, which include textbooks among other resources, are freely available for educational use and require attribution only (Carr, 2013).  Several private foundations have been involved in the creation of OpenStax textbooks in number of core college subjects, which are rigorously reviewed and available free digitally and at a substantially reduced print cost from traditional textbooks.

Existing MOOCs have used a number of different strategies when it comes to reading material to get content to students.  Some have content entirely contained within the course, others use OER textbooks, or traditional textbooks.  Often MOOCs too are only available within a certain timeframe within the course site.  In that respect, Carr argues that many MOOCs are not truly "open" since the content is not accessible any time, to anyone, for free. 

If MOOCs were truly about accessibility of education, it seems they would embrace the OER resources available to ensure that all students were able to participate in the learning process fully.  Call me a cynic, and I am the first to admit I am not particularity well versed in college textbook finances, but it seems highly suspect for an instructor to recommend a book in which they were the author, to a MOOC course of 100,000 students.  While they may be an expert in the field, there seems to be substantial profit motive driving that decision.  While I don't disagree with using textbooks, or with instructors profiting from the work creating a textbook, some of the true nature of MOOCs seem to be at odds with their altruistic image.