Charles W. Davidson! College of Engineering!! One Washington Square! San José, CA 95192-0080! www.engr.sjsu.edu! MOOC experiences at San Jose State University Ping Hsu College of Engineering, SJSU! 1
SJSU/Udacity Partnership SJSU/edX Partnership Lesson learned Questions to ask Suggestions to department chairs. 2
SJSU/Udacity Partnership! Spring 2013 Statistics, Remedial Math, Algebra; Summer 2013 -- Intro Psychology, CS Java Programming Jointly developed course materials. 280 SJSU students (SJSU credit) and 10,000 Udacity students (no credit) Cost--$150 for SJSU students and free for Udacity students Methods: - 2~3 minutes video, - a multiple choice question, - explanation. Exams proctored by ProctorU.
Spring and Summer Results! Spring Pilot 2013! Summer Pilot 2013! 2013 SJSU On- Campus! (based on past 6 semesters)! Elementary Statistics!! 50.5%! 83.0%! 76.3%!! College Algebra! 25.4%! 72.6%! 64.7%!! Entry Level Math! 23.8%! 29.8%! 45.5%! General Psychology! Intro to Programming! not offered! 67.3%! 83.0%!! not offered! 70.4%! 67.6%!!
SJSU/edX Partnership! 2012 Fall edx 6.002 Circuit Analysis material was used for teaching a comparable course at SJSU (EE98, 80+ enrollment) using a flipped classroom format. (a.k.a. SPOC format, Small Private Online Course. ) Collaborative and active learning methods were used in class. 5
Fall 2012 EE98 grade distribution Grade distribution typical past aveage edx MOOC 0! C 100%! Repeat rate (below C) improved from about 35% to 10%. We attribute the improvement to the quality online materials and the flipped classroom teaching format.
Lesson Learned Offering MOOC courses (partnership with Udacity): Many challenges: Contract development, faculty roles in course development, intellectual property, scale up enrollments, admission, registration, payment, pre-req MOOC courses with faculty direct supervision are essentially the same as online courses. Effectiveness of such courses should be comparable. Using MOOC materials (partnership with edx): MOOC materials can substitute classroom lecturing. Use collaborative and active learning in classroom. 7
Questions to Ask Are MOOCs and other online materials a threat to quality public higher education, and to our role as professors? Andrew Valls May 6, 2013, Chronicle of Higher Education Yes, if we can t do better than MOOC and other online materials. No, if we can. 8
How do we do better than MOOC and other online materials? We use MOOC and other online materials in our teaching and we do more in areas where no online materials can achieve. 9
How do we take advantage of the large amount of free, low cost, and many high quality online teaching materials? Most classroom lectures (large classes, in particular) can be substituted by high quality online teaching materials (video, interactive problems, simulation, etc.). Use class time for discussion, problem solving, and reflection, i,e., collaborative and active learning. Classroom activities must be carefully and strategically planned and should never be optional or just Q&A session. 10
Is Flipped classroom a more effective teaching style? Flipped classroom teaching is more about a more natural learning style than a good teaching style. Life-long learners learn on their own first and then seek help for a better understanding. No online materials can replace discussions and answering individual questions (i.e., in-class activities). 11
Would those low cost, high quality online teaching materials (e.g., MOOC materials) replace the role of instructors? Yes, if classroom lecturing is all we can do and if our graduates knowledge and skills have reached the level that there is no room for improvement. Instructors role will change from the source of information to inspiring, mentoring, and helping students to learn. No online materials can answer individual question or provide feedback in design. 12
Suggestions to department chairs. Identify where in your curriculum where online materials and flipped classroom can be used most effectively. Consider taking advantage of MOOC materials, other online materials, and/or developing your own online materials. Shifting your resource from for delivering knowledge to for helping, inspiring, mentoring, and providing experiential learning to students (e.g., labs, small elective courses, senior projects). 13
Can MOOCs produce more "bang for the buck": through helping to reduce dropouts and the time spent in higher education? MOOC and MOOC materials can be utilized for improving teaching effectiveness. In that regard, yes, we can get more bang for the buck. Can this improvement reduce dropouts and time spent? Possibly. That is a whole different discussion. 14
Are universities ready to commit themselves to digital democratization? Have universities committed to textbook democratization? The question is Does this act advance the mission of the universities? 15
Thank you! 16