Issues in the design of Massive Open Online Course

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Issues in the design of

Massive Open Online Course

Wilfried Admiraal

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ICLON, Leiden University Graduate School of Teaching

Structure

• Taxonomy of MOOCs

• Definition of MOOCs as open online learning • Research on MOOCs

• Rethinking educational variables • Research agenda

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MOOC platforms

• Coursera (www.coursera.org) • EdX (www.edx.org) • Udacity (www.udacity.org) • OpenupEd (www.opened.ed)

• Other national platforms in Europe, Asia and Australia (Futurelearn, iversity, ALISON,

Open2Study, XuetangX.com) • Local university platforms

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Typical (?) MOOC

• Course 4-12 weeks • Video lectures

• Online materials

• Discussion platform

• Quizzes, essay assignments & final MC-exam • Thousands of registrants

• Only a few hundred obtain certificate • Learner commitment wanes

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Taxonomy of MOOCs (1)

cMOOC xMOOC

Socio-constructivist view Behaviorist-cognitive view

Participant driven Subject driven

Student-student, student-teacher, student-environment interaction

Student-environment interaction

Teacher is facilitator/collaborator Teacher is expert/authority Social media, student-created

materials

Lecture videos, text-based readings, assignments

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Taxonomy of MOOCs (2)

• DOCC (Distributed Open Collaborative Course) • POOC (Participatory Open Online Course)

• SPOC (Small Private Online Course) • BOOC (Big Open Online Course)

• HOOC (Hybrid Open Online Course) • gMOOC (game MOOC)

• SMOC (synchronous Massive Online Course • miniMOOC (short version of a MOOC)

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Massiveness and Openness

Open and flexible

Less More Massiveness Smaller SPOC miniMOOC cMOOC DOCC POOC gMOOC Larger BOOC HOOC SMOC xMOOC tMOOC 8

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Diversity

• Openness:

• Flexibility in time,

• Blended or not with campus education, • Adaptivity in pace and tracks,

• Accessibility

• Free or little costs • Massiveness

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Simple definition of MOOC

“MOOCs are online environments that feature

courselike experiences – for example lectures, labs, discussions, and assessments- for little to no cost” (p. 74 DeBoer et al., 2014)

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Review MOOC research

• Thoughts about design

(Creelman et al., 2014; Statey, 2014;Walker & Loch, 2014)

• Course evaluations (students and teachers)

(Hew & Cheung, 2014; Walker & Loch, 2014)

• Descriptive research on student profiles

(Hew & Cheung, 2014)

• Descriptive research on implementation

(DeBoer et al., 2014; Toven-Lindsay et al., 2015)

• Taxonomies of pedagogies

(Conole, 2014; Margaryan et al., 2015; Swan et al., 2015)

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Instruction, interaction & assessment

(Toven-Lindsey et al., 2015); 24 MOOCs

Modes of More Less

Instruction Text, video-taped _instructor Recorded lectures,_{animation/avatars}

Interaction

Student-student:

Discussion board (Q&A, dialogue)

Student-teacher: static posts

Student-student:

Chat, discussion prompts Student-teacher:

Teacher active, live event

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Instructional quality

(Margaryan et al., 2015); 76 MOOCs

Problem centred Real-world, ill-structured problems

Activation Activate prior knowledge & experiences

Demonstration Good & poor examples

Application Apply particular knowledge in context

Integration Integrate knowlede in everyday work

Collective Reciprocal interdepence students

Collaboration Peer interaction

Differentiation Learning options

Authentic resources Real-world materials

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MOOC pedagogy: theory & practice

Organisation Learning materials Peer interaction Guidance Instruction Assessment Assignments Differentiation

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MOOC data:

differences with campus education

• Magnitude of data gathered (numbers of students, observation per student and types of information) • Diversity in student population (reasons for

registration and background) • Non-linear learning paths

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Rethink educational variables

(DeBoer et al. , 2014)

• Enrollment:

• dynamic starts, diversity reasons to register, diversity educational level (and unknown)

• Participation:

• Huge variety in what learners do (watching video, reading, assignments, quizzes, forums)

• Curriculum and teacher:

• Non-linear and large variety in learning routes • Achievement and assessment:

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Research agenda

• Controlled experiments or A/B testing • With in mind:

• Theories of (online) learning

• Reconceptualizing educational variables • Pragmatics of teaching MOOCs

1. Peer interaction 2. Assignments

3. Guidance 4. Assessment

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Research agenda:

1. Peer interaction

• Peer feedback / peer assistance • Reciprocal interdependence

• Discussion groups (focus, moderation, composition) • Social media outside course

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Research agenda:

2. Assignments

• Assignment to create/produce • Ill-structured probems

• Learner regulation / autonomy

• Multiple perspectives (background student) • Follow-up events

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Research agenda:

3. Guidance

• Differentiation in learning paths / tracks • Adaptive instruction (fading scaffolding) • Simulations and games

• Formal and informal learners (blend with campus) • More experts than one expert teacher

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Research agenda:

4. Assessment

• Self, peer en co-assessment

• Quality of automated assessments

• Assessment of what (activities, participation and knowledge)?

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Research agenda:

Make use of student data for

• Peer interaction • Assignments

• Guidance • Assessment

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I would like to thank my colleagues Olga Pilli

and Bart Huisman for their contribution

More information:

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Issues in the design of Massive Open Online Course