Why Universities are making MOOCs Hugh Davis Professor of Learning Technologies Director of Education Director of CITE Director of PDU January 2014
This Talk HE Context MOOCs Reason s for making MOOCs What s involved in making a MOOC? Pedagogy? Addressing the Criticisms 2
HE Context Fees going up faster than value of degree Increased demand for flexibility of study (particularly CPD) Need for universities to globalize or specialize Challenge from alternative educational providers (particularly for MSc s/cpd) becoming real All these things imply a greater engagement with on-line Changing Business model for higher education 3
The Napster moment The Avalanche Report Barber, M. Donnelly, K & Rizvi, S. (March 2013). An Avalanche is Coming; Higher Education and the Revolution Ahead. Institute for Public Policy Research. 4
End of the campus...? Clicks not bricks?
MOOCs a quick intro 6
What is a MOOC? Massive - some have 10,000s registered. Open = free anyone can register Short (often 4-8 weeks, 3 hrs /week) No formal assessment and feedback Rely on Social Learning Online although many have a parallel blended incarnation Course - that runs at a given time with a given cohort (but not necessarily accredited for anything) - 7
Most Courses consist of Many short videos Some talking heads Some worked examples Some experiments etc. On-line papers etc. Discussion forums On-line activities Formative assessments Assessment (and feedback) will need to be Objective (multiple choice etc.) Peer review Self evaluation The emphasis must be on the student as a self-motivated learner. 8
Demographics of Edinburgh s MOOCs (MOOCs @ Edinburgh 2013 - Report #1) 9
Completion Rates The literature quotes figures of 7 13% (See Katy Jordan s Blog - http://moocmoocher.wordpress.com/) An interesting observation is the drop off with time. But is completion the correct measure of satisfaction or learning? 10
FutureLearn MOOC platform (Sept 2013) And many IN things TECHNOLOGIES beginning & EDUCATION with British 11
PRODUCT VISION Designed for mobile, tablets and desktop Page 12
Traditional reasons Universities make MOOCs 13
Enhancing our Reputation and Brand Southampton is running Web Science and Oceanography based MOOCs as its first offerings.. 14
New Markets (1) Most Universities don t have this option. The OU does! Informal Learning Non Formal Learning Formal Learning Formal Learning YouTube, itunesu MOOCs OERs Modules Whole Programmes Pulling Students through from the Informal to the Formal 15
New markets (2) There will be many other options than boarding school degrees When employers accept on-line certification then things will really change HE for non-traditional students and for CPD 16
Provide a public service Democratising Education http://iberry.com/cms/oer.htm 17
But there s much more.. 18
MOOCs in campus based learning External non-paying MOOCers MOOC Paying Students 19
Fully accredited programmes offered as MOOCs 20
Articulated Degrees Degree Programme F2F Module MOOC at Stanford OU Module MOOC at Soton Capstone Project The OER University 21
End of the lecture? The flipped MOOC / flipped classroom From www.sophia.org 22
End of the campus...? I don t think so! Challenge is to optimise the campus experience by embracing the digital movement, and freeing up the timetable to allow for higher quality contact time Clicks AND Bricks
MOOCs = more choice & flexibility And meanwhile we are developing our capacity to develop high quality on-line courses
What s Involved? 25
The Cost of Making a MOOC? According to Edinburgh - 30,000 each. There seems to be some consensus around this, although few people are sharing any figures The ScHARR MOOCS Diaries: Part X The cost of developing a MOOC (Chris Blackmore, University of Sheffield) At Southampton we have recorded figures much higher, including costs for Legal, copyright clearance, marketing, travel, film units, steering group time, management time, teaching assistants at runtime etc. 26
Want to be a MOOC Star? We had a team of around 15 academics, 15 research PGs, 6 CITE staff, 2 legal staff and a librarian on WS MOOC 27
Pedagogy? 28
Comparing MOOCs with Degree Courses Degree Courses-including online Pedagogic Plan Learning Resources Teacher/tutor Formative Assessment/Feedback Personal Guidance Support Examination Accreditation MOOCs YES YES ++ x Only if it does not cost so (objective, peer, self evaluation) x X (But plenty from the community)?? Maybe or statements of completion Not yet but watch this space (The QAA certainly are!) 29
FutureLearn MOOC Structure Learning Unit 1 Learning Unit 2 Learning Unit 3 Learning Unit 4 Learning Unit 5 Learning Unit 6 Up to 10 Learning Unit 1 Learning Unit 2 Up to 3 minimoocs have 2 or 3 Learning Units Learning Unit n Weekly Learning Units:, 2-6 hours study time Meaningful title, clear learning goals, end-of-unit assessment 1 2 3 Each with 2 or 3 self-contained Learning Blocks Learning Block Video Text Discuss Quiz Learning Blocks Sequence of elements (This is just one example) 30
An example social learning pattern 31
Examples from our MOOCs 32
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Addressing the Criticisms Criticisms Pedagogically Simplistic No support and feedback Poor Completion rates No accreditation This is going to kill Universities Observation Really? Worse than the lecture? There could be: You d have to pay Retention is not the aim satisfaction is. We are not dealing with paying students. There could be. You would have to pay for it. Only those that are not agile and responsive to new business models 38
Thank you Any Questions? Hugh Davis users.ecs.soton.ac.uk/hcd hcd@soton.ac.uk 39