Using MOOCs for Developmental Education

Bill Weber@wlweberMontana State University Billings

Problem: Students Are Entering Higher Ed Underprepared

Some Issues Related to Dev Ed

• 35% to 40% of entering freshmen are placed into Remedial Courses (Bettinger, Boatman, & Long, 2013).

• Issues of Cost

http://www.flickr.com/photos/87911811@N03/8673636832/

Solution: Require Minimum Scores For Initial Course Registration

Justifications

• The less time in Dev Ed —> More likely to complete (Bettinger et al, 2013; Edgecombe, 2011)

• “Leakage Points”

• Acceleration (Edgecombe, 2011)

• “Summer Bridge/Learning Communities” (Bettinger et al, 2013)

Multiplication Principle, Myra Snell (Edgecombie, 2011)

Action: Enter The Developmental MOOC

MOOCs

Two Examples From The Bleeding Edge

How Can We Put It Together

How Can We Put It Together

How Can We Put It Together

• Other Educational Resources

• Instructor Created

• Open Educational Resources

How Can We Put It Together

Drawbacks

Completion

Other Issues

• Lack of Research

• Very Early Stages

• Time, Money, Resources

• Especially for Writing

• May not be for all students

Ties To This Course

• Exposure to College Earlier

• Many skills to get through MOOCs align with traditional 100-level lecture courses.

Questions?

Resources

• Bettinger, E., Boatman, A., Long, B. (2013, Spring). “Student Supports: Developmental Education and Other Academic Programs”. The Future of Children. (23:1). pp. 93-115.

• Edgecombe, N. (2011, Feb). “Accelerating the Academic Achievement of Students Referred to Developmental Education”. CCR Working Paper No. 30. Community College Research Center: Teachers College, Columbia University.

• Epper, R., Goodwin, M., Rowenhorst, T., Tirrell, T. (2013, Nov 14). “Finding Integrating, and Understanding OERs”. 2013 WCET Annual Meeting, Denver, CO.

• Kizilcec, R., Piech, C., Schneider, E. (2013). “Deconstructing Disengagement: Analyzing Learner Subpopulations in Massive Open Online Courses”. Third International Conference on Learning Analytics and Knowledge, LAK ’13, Leuven, Belgium.

• Mitchell, J. (2013, Nov 5). “MOOCs and Beyond”. Educause Learning Initiative FOCUS Session 2013, Online.