The rise of the MOOC’s From heaven on earth to both feet on the ground

Dr. Arie K. den Boon, University of Amsterdam

Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences University of Amsterdam

Arie den Boon ¢  20 years UvA

£  Psychology, Baschwitz Institute, Communication Science ¢  20 years commercial world

£  Media research, Founder/CEO Daphne CM (2001-2009) ¢  Since 2010: UvA

£  Coaching Master students CS £  Program manager MOOC’s

for FSBS UvA

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Inspiration for the first Dutch MOOC

¢  Online course Artificial Intelligence by Sebastian Thrun and Peter Norvik (Stanford University) in 2011 £  Very inspirational £  Intense participation of students

£  New dimension to education

£  Enrolled: 160.000, Certificate: 23.000

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Plus University of Amsterdam

since September 2013

Back to the first MOOC, 2011. We can and should do that too! ¢  Objectives:

£  Learn what works, why and how by running a MOOC ourselves

£  Feed an ongoing debate with facts

£  Manage reputation (Branding) £  Decrease the number of wrong study choices

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Group discussion 1: what would you do?

¢  What are the most important reasons for you personally to make a MOOC?

¢  What are the most important reasons for your institution to make a MOOC?

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Introduction to Communication Science

¢  Platform: http://mooc.uva.nl £  1e wave: Feb – April 2013 £  2e wave: 12 Sept – 31 Oct £  8 weeks £  56 online videos £  Exam and

certificate

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Didactical model

¢  Follow the example of the first MOOC ¢  Key elements

£  Restructure the existing off line course

£  Facilitate learning by graphical elements that structure the content and provide hooks

£  Enrich the course by facilitating participation

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Timeline

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Lobbying

Feb 2012

May 2012

July 2012

Sep 2012

Nov 2012

Feb 2013

Equipment Filming 1st week ready

3 wks, platform Kick off

Funding

Planning and Budget

¢  Faculty: 40k€ ¢  Communication Science: 20k€ ¢  UvA: 20k€

¢  New MOOC’s cost between 40k€ and 50k€

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Introduction to Communication Science, examples

¢  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QhGPbjxy2F8 ¢  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7CN9Trw43w ¢  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRePffOpdjs ¢  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2QcKwfljSc

Learning 1: Was it worth doing?

¢  Impact on debate on online learning ¢  Lots of learning's ¢  Impact on reputation of CS and UvA ¢  Can be used for study choices of high school

students preparing for higher education

Learning 2: It is different…

¢  Didactical model different ¢  Drop out rate large: 80%-95% ¢  Large number of students have passed the exam ¢  Participation is a good predictor of success ¢  Students enrich course beyond level of in hall

lectures ¢  No formal credits can be given

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Learning 3: Social interaction important

¢  Forum increased quality of the course

£  Rich communication environment needed ¢  Social interaction can work out in a positive or a

negative way

£  No classical teacher student model

£  Moderation needed

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Forum

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§  …chronisch ziek, deels aan huis gebonden, beperkt studie budget. Maar dan wil ik ook vermelden: enthousiast, zeer gemotiveerd, gepassioneerd over het onderwerp, mijn wereldje wordt weer wat groter…

¢  Apologies for adding to your avalanche of emails, but I just wanted to say how much I enjoyed the MOOC. … I worked in radio journalism for nine years with the BBC …

¢  Now, since I'm very interested in the content itself, I'd be happy to enroll in the follow up course! Is it going to happen any time soon (provided I pass the exam, of course)? Congrats again for work well done!

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§   OK.  This  is  just  AMAZING  !  Thanks  guys  !!!!

Learning 4: Help of the audience

¢  Design turned out to be very important ¢  Many small bugs, but lots of recommendations

to improve ¢  Nobody objected to the imperfections, as we

were encouraging suggestions for improvements

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Learning 5: Learn from YouTube, not from Disney ¢  Important:

£  Charisma, engagement, authenticity £  Graphics, design £  Online discussions

¢  Less important: £  Perfection of video and audio £  Talking head of lecturer (is not broadcasting, but

stimulates discussion!) 24

Evaluation 1: Higher appreciation than in offline course

¢  The course fulfilled its promise: 95% ¢  I enjoyed this course: 92% ¢  The course was challenging 70% ¢  The course was interesting 95% ¢  UvA should provide more MOOC’s 97%

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n = 717

Welke didactische methode hanteren we? Voorbeeld: 10 punten Huib Tabbers ¢  Beter Onthouden

£  Niet passief maar actief leren £  Niet stampen maar spreiden £  Niet opnieuw bestuderen maar ophalen uit geheugen

¢  Beter Begrijpen £  Laat uitleggen £  Laat vragen stellen £  Laat het tastbaar maken £  Laat lezen, laat bezinken, laat ophalen

¢  Beter Toepassen £  Focus op aanpak i.p.v. op oplossing £  Afnemende ondersteuning i.p.v. gelijkblijvende ondersteuning £  Variatie i.p.v. eenvormigheid

Wat vinden we tegenwoordig van belang in onderwijs?

¢  Vaardigheden:

£  Kunnen samenwerken in teams

£  Problemen kunnen oplossen

£  Goede interpersoonlijke relaties

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Group Discussion 2: what are the problems of MOOC’s?

¢  What are the most important problems of MOOC’s?

¢  How can we solve these problems?

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Evaluation 2: For whom?

¢  Professionals: 63% ¢  Female: 59% ¢  Age group: 25+

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n=943, MOOC survey

n=943, MOOC survey

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Where do they come from?

n=943, MOOC survey

Reach and activity

¢  About 100.000 cumulative views ¢  17.767 people watched first video ¢  5.467 subscribers ¢  3.424 active participants ¢  717 participated in exam ¢  531 received certificate

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Free publicity: TV news at 8 PM, press, radio, magazines, blogs, social media

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Possitive reactions from students and opinion leaders: Forum, Facebook, Twitter

Group Dicussion 3: Success and failure

¢  What are the most important success and fail factors of MOOC’s?

£  What are the Do’s?

£  What are the Don’ts?

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New MOOC plans within the University of Amsterdam

¢  Use more platforms

£  Coursera, UvA/VU Sakai, iTunes U, etc. ¢  Use MOOC’s for introductory programmes,

deficiencies, “schakel”-programmes ¢  Use other MOOC’s in a flipped classroom ¢  Use MOOC’s for efficiency reasons ¢  Use MOOC’s for branding purposes

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Mooc’s are here to stay change

Thank you

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