Paper LTAS20.5 is submitted to the LTAS to provide an update on the recent MOOC activities overseen by the University of London International Academy.

Transcription

1 Digest of MOOC (Massive Open Online Courses) related activities Purpose Paper LTAS20.5 is submitted to the LTAS to provide an update on the recent MOOC activities overseen by the University of London International Academy. Background and context The University of London (initiated by the University of London International Academy) signed a partnership agreement with Coursera, the US MOOC platform provider in To date, 11 MOOCs have been launched, with a further 6 MOOCs planned for development in 2015 in addition to the development of the first UK MOOC Specialisation. Discussion Members are invited to receive and consider the digest of University of London MOOC activities. Recommended Action No further action required. Educational Innovation and Development Directorate University of London International Academy May 2015 Secretary s note: Hardcopies of the University of London International Programmes MOOC Report 2014 will be provided at the meeting. The report is also available online:

2 Digest of University of London MOOC activity This paper provides a brief digest on activities relating to the University of London MOOCs developed in collaboration by the University of London International Academy and various Lead Colleges. University of London International Programmes MOOC Report As a follow up to the University of London International Programmes MOOC Report 2013, a new report on the University of London s MOOC development was published in early June This report considers the MOOCs developed and run in 2014 and also includes an analysis of the impact MOOCs have had on the student recruitment figures for the fee paying short courses and degree programmes offered through the University of London International Programmes. In addition, the report reflects on the objectives of the University of London International Programmes MOOC initiative (agreed in 2012) and maps progress against these goals. 3. Online copies of both the 2013 and 2014 MOOC reports can be found on the University of London International Programmes website: or at the following URLs: MOOC Report MOOC Report MOOC Development 2015 (Phase 3) 4. In February 2015, an invitation to propose new MOOCs for development in collaboration with the University of London International Academy in 2015 was issued to all Colleges within the University of London. 5. This year, 2015, marks the third phase of MOOCs offered by the University of London International Academy. Four MOOCs launched in phase one in 2013 and seven MOOCs launched in phase two in Five MOOC proposals were selected with planned launch dates in early In addition, seven MOOCs from phases one and two are re-running as session-based courses in 2015 with an additional three courses from these phases migrating to OnDemand to launch in summer The schedule of MOOCs being launched and re-run in 2015/6 can be found in Appendix A. 2

3 Specialisations 9. In 2014 Coursera launched specialisations: multi-course sequences completed by a capstone project. To date, Coursera has launched 29 specialisations. 10. Coursera s most successful specialisation to date is John Hopkins University s Data Science. This specialisation has over 40,000 active learners and is receiving, on average, $500,000 a month in signature track revenue. 11. In April 2015 Coursera announced a request for proposals in a number of highdemand topic area specialisations for launch in September University of London Lead College MOOC course teams were invited to express interest in these developments. 12. Coursera defines high-demand topic areas as subjects receiving high learner interest and areas where learners master a skill and learn expertise in a career relevant subject and, therefore, can demonstrate valuable, applied skills to employers. Examples of these high-demand topic areas are: Accounting, finance, strategy, leadership and data architecture, to name a few. 13. The Creative Programming team from Goldsmiths has been selected to develop a specialisation in Full Stack Web Development following a competitive interview round. This will be the first specialisation launched on Coursera by a UK university. The first course of this specialisation will launch on the 15 September 2015 with the full specialisation available in December Coursera are providing $150,000 upfront for the development costs of this specialisation which they will recover from signature track revenue. 15. The specialisation will contain five MOOCs and a capstone project and will focus on supporting novice programmers to develop skills in front end user experience design moving to client side scripting. 16. In addition, a specialisation in accountancy will be developed as part of the MSc in Professional Accountancy. This specialisation is due to launch in early Coursera s new OnDemand platform 17. Coursera launched the OnDemand platform in 2014 and has invested significant development and resource into the platform. By the end of quarter 2 (July 2015) Coursera expect to have completed all initial development on the platform which will allow course teams to build courses directly for OnDemand rather than creating a session-based course and migrating it to the OnDemand platform at a later stage. 18. The OnDemand platform offers online, open and flexible courses to students with no set start or completion date. These courses allow students to fit the course around 3

4 their own lifestyle and work commitments and has proved very popular as an alternative to the session based courses. 19. Several current course teams have agreed to migrate their courses on to the new platform and offer them in the OnDemand mode only. The first University of London course to do so will be the Understanding Research Methods MOOC which will launch on this new platform in July This migration will also allow the Understanding Research Methods course to be included as an alternate course as part of the University of Amsterdam s specialisation, How to be a social scientist. 20. In addition, The What Future for Education? MOOC by UCL- IoE and Supporting Children with Difficulties in Reading and Writing MOOC by UCL-IoE and Dyslexia International will launch on OnDemand shortly afterwards. 21. Coursera are encouraging course teams to migrate to the OnDemand platform with the anticipation that the session based platform will become obsolete as investment is focused on the new platform. 22. The Academic Development Directorate has taken the decision that, from now on, all new course teams may run MOOCs for one session and then they must be prepared to migrate their course to the OnDemand platform. This will enable course teams to evaluate the course after a first run and make any necessary amendments before launching on OnDemand. 23. The University of London International Academy s Corporate Performance and Quality directorate are currently devising a MOOC annual monitoring process. Part of this process will be to assure the currency of course materials on OnDemand. 24. A report on the process for migration onto this new model and feedback from the Course teams involved will be available at the next LTAS meeting. 4

5 Appendix A: 2015/6 University of London MOOC schedule New MOOCs 2015/6 University of London MOOC schedule MOOC Lead College Launch date Full Stack Web Development Goldsmiths 15 September 2015 MOOC 1 Full Stack Web Development Goldsmiths October 2015 MOOC 2 Full Stack Web Development Goldsmiths November 2015 MOOC 3 Full Stack Web Development Goldsmiths December 2015 MOOC 4 Full Stack Web Development Goldsmiths December 2015 MOOC 5 Full Stack Web Development Goldsmiths December 2015 Capstone Advertising and Branding (working title) London Business School October 2015 Accountancy 1 (linked to the UCL December 2015 MSc Professional Accountancy) part of Accounting specialisation Understanding Individual and Queen Mary January 2016 Population Health in a Post Genomic Era (working title) Air Pollution RHUL January 2016 Global Diplomacy- Diplomacy SOAS February 2016 in the Modern World (working title) Human Resource Management Birkbeck March 2016 Task-based Approach to Teaching L2 Reading (working title) UCL-IoE March

6 MOOC re-runs MOOC Mode Lead College Launch date Malicious Software 003 Session Royal Holloway 27 April 2015 ICT in Primary Education Session UCL-IoE 26 May 2015 Enhance Your Career Session Careers Group 1 June 2015 and Employability Skills Freedom and Protest: Session Royal Holloway 15 June 2015 Magna Carta and its Legacies (previously known as The Magna Carta and its Legacy) Camera Never Lies 003 Session Royal Holloway 22 June 2015 English Common Law Session Laws Consortium 6 July Understanding Research OnDemand SOAS July 2015 Methods What Future for OnDemand UCL-IoE July 2015 Education? Supporting Children with Difficulties in Reading and Writing Managing the Company of the Future 002 OnDemand Session UCL-IoE and Dyslexia International London Business School July 2015 October