What is Necessary and what is Contingent in Design for Massive

Open Online Courses?

George RobertsMarion Waite

Jenny MacknessElizabeth Lovegrove

20/07/2012

HEA/JISC OER Phase 3 – OERs for PGCERTs strand project: “OpenLine”

OutlineThe higher ed buzzword of the year… (Bon Stewart)

• Questions• MOOC background– Old MOOCs, New MOOCs– Our MOOC

• First Steps into Learning and Teaching in Higher Education (FSLT12)

• Design considerations

• Evaluation• Discussion

Questions

• What do you need (platform – and other -components) to conduct a MOOC?– And, what is nice-to-have but not necessary?

• How are those aspects related to the subject of the course?

• What guidance can be offered about appropriate design for conducting MOOCs?

Can we arrange the room for discussion

MOOC BACKGROUND

Old MOOCs, New MOOCsOur MOOC

First Steps into Learning and Teaching in Higher Education (FSLT12)Design considerations

… the key difference between the two kinds of MOOCs is one of underlying of ideology (Peter Sloep http://bit.ly/LBwImp )

Old MOOCs from 2008MOOCs were … were intended to be a challenge to

the traditional notion of a course (Jenny Mackness)

• Explicit pedagogical perspective– Social constructivist, dialogic, actor networks

• Distributed, open source platform components– Wikis, WordPress, Moodle

• Intentional social media conversations– Twitter, Facebook, Blogs

• Open challenge to institutions– Access, environment, IPR, assessment

New MOOCs from 2011When the cavalry charge is being led by the most

prestigious higher ed institutions … it is hard to imagine it will all blow over… (Bon Stewart)

• Tacit pedagogical perspective– Instructivist, cognitivist, pragmatic, realist, – Authentic: employment oriented

• Consolidated platforms– Incidental social media

• Institutional counter-position– Elite, neo-colonial (?)

The other kind of MOOC embraces a simple business ideology, and as such is almost the antithesis to the first kind.Peter Sloep http://bit.ly/LBwImp

Recipient-design Learner centred focus

• Social-constructivist “old” MOOCs–Focus on the process of learning itself–Take a radical, recipient-design

approach based on • Autonomy, diversity,

openness, networks, interactivity, connectivity

Learning processes

• Aggregate– Filter, select and gather information meaningful to the

individual,• Remix– Interpret this information bringing one’s own perspective

and insights,• Repurpose– Refashion it to suit individual purposes, and then

• Feed forward– Share it with other participants, to learn from each other

Referee design Topic focus

• Instructivist “new” MOOCs–Certain approach to subject-area knowledge–Characterised by

referee design focus on • Learning outcomes,

Subject knowledge, Codified by authorities, Interpreted by the instructor

Learning processes

• Didactic – Exposition through video, audio and text

• Structured– Guided discussion with facilitation

• Practical – Exercises simulations, laboratories– Work-based

• Assessed– Multiple choice, short answer

Two kinds of platform

But what about the technology? (Audry Watters)

• Instructivist MOOCs– Consolidated or unified approach presents all the

course elements in a single “wrapper”

• Constructivist MOOCs– Distributed approach uses a selection of available

tools in their “native” guise.

Our MOOC• First Steps into Learning and Teaching in Higher

Education (FSLT12)

Some Data

• 160 Registered• 60 active participants– 20 assessed places– 12/14 completed assessment

• 19 participants consented for ‘research & evaluation

Three topic areas

We learn from each other, in conversation

• First steps curriculum

• UK Professional Standards Framework (UKPSF)

• Open Academic Practice

First Steps Curriculum

• Open content (http://bit.ly/NC7pPu )• Asynchronous discussion forums

• Derived from New Lecturers Programme– 6 topics

• Supporting Learning• Reflective Practice• Teaching Groups• Feedback• Lecturing• Evaluation

http://bit.ly/NC7pPu

UKPSF

• Descriptor Level 1 (Associate Fellow)– Threaded throughout

• Areas of Activity– Design and plan learning activities– Teach and support learning– Engage in continuing professional

development• Core Knowledge

– Subject knowledge– Teaching methods– Use and value of appropriate learning technology

Open Academic Practice

• Programme of guest speakers• Live synchronous (and recorded) audiographic

sessions– Introduction to open

academic practice– Role of openness in

transforming practice– Theory pedagogy

and community– Open educational resources

(OER) and their impact on teachers

Assessment Activities

• Diagnostic/formative• Summative

1. Initial reflective statement aligned with UKPSF

2. Collaborative annotated bibliography3. Microteaching

Learning outcomes

• Were not specified at the course level!– “The course aims to develop and extend your

knowledge, understanding and skills of teaching and learning in higher education.”

– “A key principle of the course is learner autonomy”

– “… encourage participant interaction and open sharing of resources, learning, thoughts and ideas.”

Platform elements

• WordPress• Moodle– With a tabbed interface thanks to Joe Rosa

• Collaborate– Thanks to Sylvia Currie and the SCOPE community

• Blog aggregator– With bespoke CSS - Also thanks to Joe

Questions

• What do you need (platform – and other -components) to conduct a MOOC?– And, what is nice-to-have but not necessary?

• How are those aspects related to the subject of the course?

• What guidance can be offered about appropriate design for conducting MOOCs?

Can we arrange the room for discussion

EVALUATION

Evaluation purpose

• Feedback to funders– Development of OERs– Adoption of open academic practice by

participants– Professional development for new lecturers

• Course Evaluation– What worked well?– What could be improved?

Evaluation methodology

• UREC approval• Online course evaluation questionnaire• Online synchronous focus groups• Face-to-face/online semi-structured individual

interviews for target group• Other (tbc) e-mail interviews, blog, twitter,

discussion forum analysis

Some commentsI thought the

organization of the MOOC was excellent, clear schedules, and

great support.

This MOOC surpassed my expectations in terms of

content and engagement. The "live virtual classrooms" really made the difference.

It was a challenging as much as enriching experience. Challenging because it was the first time for me to engage with a MOOC…; enriching because I learnt a lot

from the experience on a number of different levels

It was illuminating and empowering at the

same time to learn in such a clear way the

value of CPD, reflection and what

professionalism means.

Some more commentsAs I am very new to the

MOOC learning, I was at first a bit lost as it was such an

multi-channel learning, incorporating listening,

reading, discussion, thinking etc all most at the same time

Exhausting and quite stressful to enjoyable

and rewarding in equal measure

Having initially felt overwhelmed by the 'on-line' learning experience, I

feel that I have gained new knowledge and

understanding in relation to the benefits of collaboration and

interactive learning.

Having taken a number of MOOCs

this one encouraged my participation at a

more thoughtful level than previous

sessions.

And more…I don't like

the use of different sites - it is very

confusing. I missed three days posts because I did not

realise that I had to sign up to all forums.

assessed students

were the real students and we other on the border

The micro teach was not clear

and the organisation

was a little late

somehow it was strangely difficult to find what I was looking for on the

course pages.

In retrospect it all worked well

but I remember

feeling at the time a bit lost as regards the Moodle site.

#FSLT 12 Focus Groups• Organization of MOOC

– How to support navigation thorough and across the platforms

• Assessment– How can we best meet the needs of assessed & non-assessed participants?– Equity & Criteria

• Use of technology/activities– Balance of synchronous & asynchronous activities & best use of each

• Inclusive Practice– Common phenomenon in MOOCs for participants to feel ‘lost’ and

‘unsupported’. – Intended audience of #FSLT12 was ‘the novice’. How could we have been more

inclusive throughout?

Focus Group

Organisation of MOOC/ Navigation

• ‘getting over that initial concern’• ‘personal efforts’• ‘establish participant audience’• ‘becoming part of the community’• ‘extends beyond a normal course’

Assessment

• ‘more clarity’ about link with pedagogy of MOOC and Microteach’

• ‘Rich peer feedback’• ‘Microteach requires thought & preparation’• ‘opportunity to practice with new technologies’• ‘lots of new skills developed’• ‘high quality outputs’• ‘chance to observe varied examples of online teaching’• ‘illuminated diversity of other participants’• ‘vets’ very impressed with ‘newbie's’

Inclusivity

• Openness not an immediate concern for ‘newbie's’• Pragmatic approach to sharing & collaboration• Convenient and flexible way to learn about teaching and

learning in HE• Good challenge to prepare Microteach for diverse audience• New literacies required for active participation• Informal networks established for buddying• Future potential for ‘vets/alumni’ as volunteers to support a

cohort

Other outcomes

• OERs• RADAR• YouTube http://bit.ly/Q9fEqO • Other resources (Jenny’s table)

Limits of navigation

Questions

• What do you need (platform – and other -components) to conduct a MOOC?– And, what is nice-to-have but not necessary?

• How are those aspects related to the subject of the course?

• What guidance can be offered about appropriate design for conducting MOOCs?

Can we arrange the room for discussion

Thoughts & reflectionsA controlled classroom environment isn’t a bad thing (Krauss)

• Overall ‘an evaluation success’‘FSLT12 combined best aspects of a closed online course with

the best aspects of openness in a MOOC and put them together’(Jenny Mackness)

– Assessment created a common focus– What aspects of the course might have exemplified

open academic practice?– How does this impact on new lecturers courses?– What about the 75% of participant views that have

yet to be captured?

Thank you

George RobertsMarion Waite

Jenny MacknessOCSLD, Oxford Brookes University

June 2012groberts@brookes.ac.uk