workshop - open online courses
TRANSCRIPT
Open online coursesa workshop
Michael RoweDepartment of PhysiotherapyUniversity of the Western Cape
How is “online” different?
● Configuration defines behaviour● Default configuration in a physical classroom:
rows of desks, chairs, space at the front, four walls, whiteboard, projector
● Default in an open online course? How you decide to configure the space determines what you can do with it.
● Difficult to change the default in the classroom; online allows us to do better through intentional design.
Professional Ethics
Open online courses
Course objectives
By the end of this workshop, participants should be able to:● Identify some of the major concepts related to
open online courses.● Design a short course, from conception through
to implementation.● Address some of the misconceptions around
open online courses.
Online workspaces
● Twitter stream. Share your thoughts, questions and comments during the session, using the conference hashtag #etinedconf.
● Google Drive. This is a public document for collaborative note taking during the session. We encourage you to work here, either as individuals or in groups, in order to get a feeling for what it is like to work online in a public space. Go to http://ht.ly/Rycom
Introduction
This workshop will be run (partially) as an open line course. By participating in an online space during the workshop, you will not only learn about these kinds of courses but will also get a sense of what it is like to be a part of one.
What is a course?
What do open online courses offer that make them potentially valuable?
IntroductionActivity
● Who are you?● Why did you choose to attend this course?● What did you hope to learn?● How can others from the workshop get in touch
with you later?
IntroductionResources
● How Do Learners Experience Open Online Learning? http://www.hybridpedagogy.com/journal/how-do-learners-experience-open-online-learning/
● Learner Experiences with MOOCs and Open Online Learning https://hybrid-pedagogy.github.io/LearnerExperiencesInMOOCs/
● Designing online learning for the 21st century http://www.tonybates.ca/2012/04/24/designing-online-learning-for-the-21st-century/
What is a MOOC?
● Massive: attractive because they can scale● Open: access and licensing● Online: blending use of materials also common● Course: materials organised into a course
The UK Open University, founded in 1969, has offered inexpensive and flexible learning opportunities to people who were not able to attend a traditional institution.
xMOOC vs cMOOCxMOOC cMOOC
Scalability of provision Massive Community and connections
Open access – Restricted license Open Open access and license
Individual learning in a single platform
Online Networked learning across multiple platforms and services
Acquire a curriculum of knowledge and skills
Course Develop shared practices, knowledge and understanding
xMOOC with cMOOC
MOOCsActivity (make notes in Drive)
Spend a few minutes discussing the relative advantages and disadvantages of MOOCs in the context of higher education.● Does it have a place?● What might it be good for?● Can you think of any courses that could benefit
from being implemented as an open online course?
MOOCsResources● Bates, T. (2014). Comparing xMOOCs and cMOOCs: philosophy and practice.
http://www.tonybates.ca/2014/10/13/comparing-xmoocs-and-cmoocs-philosophy-and-practice/
● Caulfield, M. (2013). xMOOC communities should learn from cMOOCs. https://www.educause.edu/blogs/mcaulfield/xmooc-communities-should-learn-cmoocs
● Downes, S. (2015). Becoming MOOC. http://halfanhour.blogspot.ca/2015/02/becoming-mooc.html
● Mackness, J. (2013). cMOOCs and xMOOCs: Key differences. https://jennymackness.wordpress.com/2013/10/22/cmoocs-and-xmoocs-key-differences/
● Mohamed, A., Yousef, F., Chatti, M. A., & Schroeder, U. (2014). MOOCs: A Review of the State-of-the-Art. CSEDU 2014 - 6th International Conference on Computer Supported Education, 9–20. https://oerknowledgecloud.org/sites/oerknowledgecloud.org/files/MOOCs%20-%20A%20Review%20of%20the%20State-of-the-Art.pdf
● Morrison, D. (2013). The Ultimate Student Guide to xMOOCs and cMOOCs. http://moocnewsandreviews.com/ultimate-guide-to-xmoocs-and-cmoocso/
● The maturing of the MOOC: literature review of massive open online courses and other forms of online distance learning. (2013). London. https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/240193/13-1173-maturing-of-the-mooc.pdf
Audience
Who is your audience?● Undergraduates, postgraduates, professionals● Language● Culture● Geography
What demands will the course place on them?
Course designChoosing a framework (authentic learning)● Real-world relevance: they match real-world tasks ito how participants must
think & behave● Ill-defined: there are multiple interpretations of both the problem and the
solution● Are complex and must be explored over a sustained period of time i.e. days,
weeks or months● Opportunities to examine the task from different perspectives, using a variety of
resources● Opportunities to collaborate that are integral to the task● Opportunities to reflect on choices● Integrated & applied across different subject areas, enable diverse roles &
expertise● Seamlessly integrated with assessment● Result in a finished product, rather than as preparation for something else● Allow for competing solutions and diversity of outcome
Course designCourse activities / participant interaction
● What will your participants need to do (informs choice of platform)?
Read | Write | Watch | Respond | Reflect | Comment
● Are you bringing an existing course into online space, or starting from scratch?
● Avoid simply porting content from analogue to digital.
Course designChoosing a platform
● Don't reinvent the wheel. Open source software has given us many tools.
● The web is the platform.● “Open” means that you can aggregate sources
from around the web, tag them and share with participants.
Course designContent● Will you use existing material or start from scratch? Has
anyone else offered a similar course? How was their course licensed? Do you have permission to reuse some of it?
● Are materials available in a digital format? Do you have access to all of the materials? Can students access from off campus?
● Will the materials be accessible on all devices e.g. flash video?What will your content look like on a small screen?
● Will you create the course so that components are available offline? Are you disadvantaging students who are not connected all the time?
Course designActivity (make notes in Drive)
Who will be on the design team? What strengths do they have?
What benefits does this approach bring? Why open?
What content will you use? How is it licensed? Is it available off campus? What formats is it in? Will you have to find new sources? Will you have to create them?
What T&L frameworks will you use? Will you need to recruit others with more expertise in pedagogy?
How will you encourage interaction among participants? What affordances does your online space have that would facilitate interaction?
Course designResources● Bates, T. (2012). Designing online learning for the 21st century.
http://www.tonybates.ca/2012/04/24/designing-online-learning-for-the-21st-century/
● Czerniewicz, L., Deacon, A., Small, J., & Walji, S. (2014). Developing world MOOCs: A curriculum view of the MOOC landscape. Journal of Global Literacies, Technologies, and Emerging Pedagogies, 2(3), 122–139. http://joglep.com/files/7614/0622/4917/2._Developing_world_MOOCs.pdf
● Reeves, T. C., Herrington, J., & Oliver, R. (2002). Authentic activities and online learning. HERDSA (pp. 562-567). http://www.herdsa.org.au/wp-content/uploads/conference/2002/papers/Reeves.pdf
● Stommel, J. (2013). How to Build an Ethical Online Course. http://www.hybridpedagogy.com/journal/how-to-build-an-ethical-online-course/
● Veletsianos, G. (2014). Success, personal learning plans, and multiple pathways in open courses. http://www.veletsianos.com/2014/08/17/multiple-pathways-personal-leanring-plans-moocs/
Implementation
● Running your course will be time consuming, complex and should probably involve a team.
● A lot of time is spent communicating with participants: email individual, email group, forum, chat, blog comments, video.
● Communication activities: leading, moderating, facilitating, supporting, trouble shooting, administration.
● Managing information overload.
ImplementationActivity (make notes in Drive)
● Who would be in your implementation team and what would their roles be?
● What advice would you give participants regarding information overload?
● What advice would you give facilitators regarding information overload?
ImplementationResources● Ignatia de Waard, Inge, 2014, MOOC YourSelf - Set up your own
MOOC for Business, Non-Profits, and Informal Communities. http://www.amazon.com/MOOC-YourSelf-Business-Non-Profits-Communities-ebook/dp/B00CDVZ2AW
● Kop, R., Fournier, H., & Sui Fai Mak, J. (2014). A Pedagogy of Abundance or a Pedagogy to Support Human Beings? Participant Support on Massive Open Online Courses. International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, 12(7), 1–11. http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/1041/2025
● Ross, J., Sinclair, C., Knox, J., Bayne, S., & Macleod, H. (2014). Teacher Experiences and Academic Identity: The Missing Components of MOOC Pedagogy. MERLOT Journal of Online Learning and Teaching, 10(1), 57–69. http://jolt.merlot.org/vol10no1/ross_0314.pdf
Assessment
Consider the following list of competencies that open online courses develop:● Design research questions, conduct searches, aggregate
results, synthesize and summarise findings, and re-share in new formats
● Connect with others in meaningful ways● Negotiate uncertainty and diversity● Navigate complex topics and online spaces with minimal
structured pathways● Development of digital and critical literacies● Self-directed and lifelong learning skills
AssessmentActivity (make notes in Drive)
Discuss some of the options available for assessment in your courses, taking into account the following:● What are the learning outcomes for your course? Should they be
assessed? Can they be assessed?● Is the course for credit? Are participants required to take the
course? What purpose does the assessment serve?● Will you provide feedback to participants during the course? How
much time do you have available for feedback?● What participant activities will you use as indicators of
competence?● How will you scale the assessment? Will you use peer
assessment? How else could you scale the assessment of larger groups of participants.
AssessmentResources
● Davis, J.E. (2015). The Flaws of Online Course Testing. DML Central. http://dmlcentral.net/blog/jade-e-davis/flaws-online-course-testing
● Kulkarni, C. E., Socher, R., Bernstein, M. S., & Klemmer, S. R. (2014). Scaling short-answer grading by combining peer assessment with algorithmic scoring. https://hci.stanford.edu/publications/2014/PeerStudio/las2008-kulkarni-ScalingShort-answerGrading.pdf
● Suen, H. K. (2014). Peer Assessment for Massive Open Online Courses ( MOOCs). International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, 15(3), 312–327. http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/1680/2904
Feedback and evaluation
● How are you going to get feedback from the course participants? Google Forms or Surveymonkey provide free, easy to use platforms to set up simple questionnaires that allow a variety of responses.
● How long will the evaluation be? The more in-depth your questions are, the richer the responses are likely to be. Or, the fewer people will complete the form.
● Which questions will you ask? Which questions will you omit? What is the purpose of each question?
● Are you thinking of conducting research on your courses (note: you should be)? Have you received ethics clearance? Is the project registered? Have you informed participants that their responses may be published? Do you have their consent?
Sustainability
Suggestions for a sustainable course:● Integrate with existing teaching so costs are already covered.● Promote related conventional courses, sell related text
books.● General adverts, course sponsors and/or funding agencies.● Sell the participant data to potential employers, recruitment
agencies.● Charge students (for extra resources, related apps,
supporting textbooks, extra support, exclusive tutorials, assessment, certification, credits).
● License the course to other educators/companies.
Sustainability3rd party providersedX Coursera Udacity
Certification CertificationSecure assessmentEmployee recruitmentApplicant screeningTutoring and markingEnterprise trainingSponsorshipFees
CertificationEmployee recruitmentJob match servicesSponsorship
There are concerns about how some MOOC providers use participant data. What do you think about this and would this influence your choice of platform?
SustainabilityActivity (make notes in Drive)
Outline a sustainability strategy for your course, taking into account the following:● How much is needed for one implementation of the
course?● Will it cost the same every year?● Where will the funding come from?● Will you need to write a proposal?● Is this realistic?
Critical perspective
MOOCs, as popularized by Udacity and Coursera, have done more harm to the cause of open education than anything else in the history of the movement. They have inflicted this harm by promoting and popularizing an abjectly impoverished understanding of the word “open.”
David Wiley (2014)
Critical perspective (2)
There is a dire need for some healthy skepticism among educators about the idea that MOOCs are a wonderful means to go global in order to do good. For our desire to educate the whole world from the convenience of our laptops to be translated into any meaningful effect, we need more research about how students...from different academic, cultural, social, and national backgrounds fare in such spaces.
Norman (2013)
Critical perspectiveActivity (make notes in Drive)
Develop a set of arguments for why open online courses should NOT be included in your course. If you ever decide to run your own open online course, you need to be prepared to defend your choices.● Spend a few minutes coming up with reasons for why
an open online course may not be a good idea for your students.
● Then, spend a few minutes coming up with solutions for those obstacles.
Critical perspectiveResources
● Dolan, V. L. (2014). Massive Online Obsessive Compulsion: What are They Saying Out There about the Latest Phenomenon in Higher Education? International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, 15(2), 268–281. http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/1553/2849
● Norman, C. (2013). Scaling Education: The Absurd Case of the MOOC. http://censemaking.com/2013/07/19/scaling-education-the-absurd-case-of-the-mooc/
● Popenici, S. (2014). MOOCs – A Tsunami of Promises. http://popenici.com/2014/04/22/moocs2014/
● Sharma, G. (2013). A MOOC Delusion: Why Visions to Educate the World Are Absurd. http://chronicle.com/blogs/worldwise/a-mooc-delusion-why-visions-to-educate-the-world-are-absurd/32599
● Wiley, D. (2014). The MOOC Misstep and the Open Education Infrastructure. http://opencontent.org/blog/archives/3557
