...information, even online learning is possible. It is not just possible; the buzzword MOOC indicates that this “learning” is about to be taken to a whole new level. Will MOOCs change the way approach higher education? Firstly, what is a MOOC? This acronym is defined in various ways; let’s just focus on the following one. According to the Macmillan English Dictionary a MOOC is a “massive open online course: a course of study offered over the Internet which is free and has a very large number of participants” (cf. Macmillan, 2013). Within the past 2 years, several open learning platforms have been set up, some founded by institutions such as Harvard University to establish a non-profit MOOC platform like EdX. Others, for example Coursera, are created by investors who are trying to capitalize on this innovation with for-profit companies (cf. Coursera, 2013). Signing up for a MOOC is done in less than 5 minutes, all it takes is a valid email address, a password and everyone with an Internet connection can do so. However, looking at MOOC completion rates, it shows that “although thousands enroll for courses, a very small proportion actually complete the course” (cf. Oreilly, 2013) as educational researcher Katy Jordan noted in her recent enrollment statistic. Underlying this statement is the fact that the completion rate of MOOCs is less than 10 % on average (cf. Oreilly, 2013). With this in mind, are MOOCs likely to disrupt anything? The term disruptive innovation was coined by Clayton...
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...Massive Open Online Courses, or MOOCs, has brought change to higher education. MOOCs are online courses that are provided by some of the world’s prestigious universities, such as Stanford and Harvard, and that offer high quality learning at no cost. MOOCs classes are available for anyone around the globe with an access to the internet and a smart phone, tablet, or a computer. This phenomenon has spread in the virtual world and found success, and like any new concept, it will have side effects in which will be positive, such as spreading education, and negative, such as posing a threat to other education institutes. Internet revolution is the major cause of the expansion of the MOOCs. Tim Todd, education editor at the Financial Review, stated that “The internet revolution has moved to education as top universities worldwide rush to put free courses online, setting up so-called massive open online courses or MOOCs.” The internet is the median that is facilitating the access to MOOCs by students that are located anywhere on the planet. The barriers of time zone, geographical distant, and financial status have been reduced in the way of education. The way MOOCs are presented and accessed caused thousands of students worldwide to sign up and join the education train. Some of the top universities in the US realized the potential power of online education so they cooperated be the first sponsors of the MOOCs. Without the power of the internet, MOOCs would have never been possible...
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...INTRODUCCCION MOOC, acrónimo en inglés de Massive Open Online Course y traducido al castellano como Cursos en Línea Masivos y Abiertos; es una modalidad de educación abierta, la cual se observa en cursos de pre grado ofrecidos gratuitamente a través de plataformas educativas en Internet; cuya filosofía es la liberación del conocimiento para que este llegue a un público más amplio. El término MOOC fue acuñado en el año 2008 por Dave Cormier cuando el número de inscritos a su curso Connectivism and Connective Knowledge aumentó a casi dos mil trescientos estudiantes. David Wiley puede ser considerado el autor del primer MOOC conceptual, o proto-MOOC, iniciado en la Universidad Estatal de Utah en agosto de 2007. Se trataba de un curso de educación abierta. Esta iniciativa tuvo continuidad en numerosos proyectos impulsados desde diferentes centro universitarios dentro y fuera de los Estados Unidos. Un hito en la historia de MOOC viene ligado en el otoño de 2011 cuando más de 160.000 personas se matricularon en un curso de Inteligencia artificial ofrecido por Sebastian Thrun y Peter Norvig en la Universidad de Stanford a través de una compañía startup llamada Know Labs. Dado el éxito y el elevado número de matriculados, Daphne Koller y Andrew Ng crearon Coursera. Basada en una tecnología desarrollada en Stanford, Coursera se ha ido convirtiendo en una plataforma apoyada por numerosas universidades de prestigio (Yale, Princeton, Michigan, Penn). En la costa este por su parte, el...
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...Liudmyla Chystukh ESL 130 Position Paper Online Education /MOOCs With the rapid development of technology, the world began to change. Technology has affected all areas of our lives and also is changing the education system. Technological development has changed the teaching methods and the way of obtaining information. We all now use the Internet, interactive whiteboards, online tasks, and more. Online education interests me. I want to know more about how you can get an education via the Internet or develop skills without leaving home. At the moment, I do not know much about online education except this is a new direction in education. Many universities have switched to online learning. Most use IT technology, but only as an auxiliary resources. Also, there are many different online courses for learning different subjects. One of the new areas of online education are MOOCs. MOOC means a massive open online course. It is a website where you can find free online courses from different universities. MOOCs were first introduced in 2008 and emerged as a popular mode of learning in 2012 (https://community.brightspace.com). MOOCs make available university-level education to anyone, anywhere, with the Internet. I think online education is a good step in learning. The rapid development of technology has changed work methods. Skills which we learned a few years ago may already be outdated, so I think online education can help keep skills relevant. 1. How does online learning...
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...“massive open online course” or MOOC, which has garnered the attention of lots of folks, from VC investors to big name universities. Lots of people are talking about how the new technology is going to change the education dramatically. And this article is aimed to give a quick review and reflection upon this massive trend. 1. What is it? As its name suggests, massive open online course (MOOC) is an online course aimed at unlimited participation and open access via the web . In addition to traditional course materials such as videos, readings and problem sets, MOOCs provide interactive various ways that help the students and instructors more easily engaged in an active learning experience. The instructors relied on computer-graded quizzes, exercises, and examinations to assess participants, eliminating the need for an army of teaching assistants and endless hours of manual grading. A thriving discussion forum and virtual study groups arose around the content, allowing students from around the world to ask and answer questions, post links to related resources, and submit new ideas. Students even added new, interactive exercises and platforms to the course and volunteers translated video dialogue and course materials into different languages. 2. Why it matters? Education is economically important yet appears inefficient and static with respect to technology, it’s often cited as the next industry ripe for a major “disruption.” Now the MOOC with its associated data-crunching...
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...International Journal of Information and Education Technology, Vol. 5, No. 6, June 2015 Towards a Model of Engaging Online Students: Lessons from MOOCs and Four Policy Documents Khe Foon Hew Abstract—The paper describes a model of engaging students in fully online or blended learning environments. To do this, I first discuss the notion of student engagement and how it relates to the Self-Determination Theory of motivation. Next, I reviewed a number of online learning policy guidelines from four professional councils around the world in order to elicit specific guidelines related to the design of online learning courses, and student engagement. Following that, I analyzed two most highly-rated MOOCs. I analyzed the structural features of the two MOOCs and the comments of both participants who completed the courses, and who partially completed or dropped out. Altogether, comments from 839 participants were examined. Finally, using these empirical data and the policy guidelines from the four professional organizations, I outline a rudimentary model of engaging students in online learning courses, based on six major instructional design elements. Index Terms—Online learning, blended learning, massive open online learning, MOOCs, e-learning, instructional design, engagement, motivation, self-determination theory. I. INTRODUCTION Online learning for both students and teachers has become one of the fastest growing trends in educational uses of technology [1]. Essentially, the main...
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...Strategic Thinking Assignment Word Count: 1,500 | It is argued that the provision of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) is becoming a new disruptive innovation that will radically change the scene of higher education. This report will analyse the external environment for MOOC provider Udacity, evaluate their competitive strategy and then discuss the future outlook for them and the industry. | Contents Introduction 2 The External Environment 2 Udacity’s competitive strategy 4 The future of the industry and how Udacity can sustain competitive advantage 6 References 7 Appendix 1 – PEST Analysis Table 11 Appendix 2 – PEST Analysis Graph 12 Appendix 3 – Product Life Cycle 13 Appendix 4 – MOOC Industry Life Cycle 14 Appendix 5 – Strategic Groups 1 15 Appendix 6 – Strategic Groups 2 16 Appendix 7 – Porter’s Five Forces (Current) 17 Appendix 8 – Porter’s Five Forces (Future) 18 Appendix 9 – SWOT Analysis 19 Appendix 10 – New Strategies 20 Appendix 11 – Commonly Required Skills and Resources 21 Introduction Udacity is a massive open online course (MOOC) provider based in Silicon Valley, offering career-focused education. They are partnered with tech-giants Google and Facebook and their mission is to “bring accessible, affordable, engaging, and highly effective higher education to the world” (Udacity, 2015). The External Environment Udacity’s macro environment (appendix 1) shows increasing numbers of mature and part-time learners...
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...levels beyond stay-at-home learning in recent years. In order to fully understand the potential of eLearning, one also has to take a look at the different tools being used and the emerging trends which will shape the future of both teaching and learning. In particular, this paper will take a look at the two eLearning trends MOOCs and educational games. Only after becoming familiar with these technologies and approaches can we explore the issue of whether ‘traditional’ teaching will become obsolete in the face of eLearning in the years to come. CBT and MOOCs Computer Based Trainig (short: CBT) is the most well-known eLearning approach and has been around for more than 20 years. It refers to offline training with media like CD-ROMs or DVDs as well as Web Based Training (WBT) which requires the user to be connected to the internet in order to download eLearning content. Computer Based Training includes all kinds of virtual learning approaches, for example audio-based courses (podcasts), educational games or learning communities. Especially the latter ones are promising training options with the potential of becoming the teaching methods of the 21st century. MOOCs stands for Massive Open Online Courses, which describes free online courses and lectures with a large number of participants. They provide a great opportunity for educational institutions, enabling them to reach people of all...
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...Response to Friedman It would seem academia's view of the Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) is split. There are some that would like to believe MOOCs are the next revolution in education. One such person is Thomas Friedman, an author and columnist for the New York Times. Friedman has high expectations of MOOCs and states, "I can see a day soon where you'll create your own college degree by taking the best online courses from the best professors from around the world."1 On the other hand Karen Head, an assistant professor for Georgia Institute of Technology, initially wanted nothing to do with them. She stated, "I wondered how anyone could possibly teach writing in a massive open online course--a question that many of my colleagues are still asking."3 Friedman posits that innovation will come because of demand from the market, parents, students and even the federal government.2 Karen is part of that innovation not only as a professor but as a planner in the program. Her experience in preparing the MOOC for Georgia Tech will certainly challenge Friedman's idea of cheap. Perhaps if Friedman expanded on the idea of initial cost vs. maintenance cost of a MOOC it wouldn't appear cheap in the short term. In this case of start-up costs for a university it would have to be seen as an investment. In the long term gains would be seen, provided their program is a successful one. In the end Friedman holds on to his idea of a revolutionary new way to educate the world...
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...In the recent past, MOOCs; i.e., Massive Open On-line Courses have become popular as a novel method of open learning. MOOCs can be classified roughly, into two groups, xMOOC, or eXtended MOOCs, such as Coursera, edX and MITx, and cMOOC, or Connectivist MOOC, such as Siemens CCK. Although they gathered a lot of attention initially, it has been found that they are just a large-scale replication of the orthodox learning management systems (LMS). They continue to remain as closed, structured, centralized, and teacher-oriented courses, which lay major emphasis on assignments and video...
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...great professors must be multifaceted; what good can their research do if they cannot communicate their ideas adequately? The MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) is quickly becoming a popular alternative to conventional schooling (MOOCNewsAndReviews). As this transformation occurs, MOOCs’ professors are becoming more akin to performers. With the growth of MOOCs, the shift in a professor’s duties and required skills will rapidly evolve. Professors have traditionally been the high ranking academics at universities. Professors act partially as instructors who are responsible for educating undergraduate...
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...created more than supportive environment for massive open online courses (MOOCs). They are earning praise for bringing outstanding college teaching to vast number of students who otherwise wouldn’t have access to it, including those in remote places and those in the middle of their careers. The online classes are also being promoted as a way to bolster the quality and productivity of teaching in general. If we consider this question from perspective of expenses then MOOCs could considerably save costs for education since average prices to get a bachelor’s degree are quite high in different countries. Ukraine is not an exception despite the fact that mostly high education is free here. And many people worry that even as the cost of higher education has risen, its quality has fallen. Dropout rates are not that high, but many graduates don’t show much of evidence that college improved their critical-thinking skills. In Ukrainian IT sector usually it is not enough to graduate from a University with Master Degree in Computer Science to get a job. As usual such specialists need additional education or courses in order to extent their knowledge to meet the minimal requirements for junior software engineer. Internship could also be a case here. Very often MOOC could be a simple solution to get lacking knowledge. Naturally there are people who have different opinions about MOOC phenomenon - proponents of MOOCs say the efficiency and flexibility of online instruction will offer a timely...
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...MOOCs as the Remedy for Higher Education Abstract Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) have recently developed into a popular topic of discussion in higher education forum. Undeniably there are a lot of problems existing in current mode of traditional higher education such as affordability, quality and flexibility. This paper will argue that MOOCs serve as a remedy to address the problems of higher education. 1) MOOCs are made to be affordable to every student who would like to learn, resolving the affordability of higher education; 2) MOOCs initiated interactive classes through various technological applications, to enhance the quality of class learning; 3) MOOCs allow for flexibility to cater to people with different needs or difficulties. Overall, despite some of the limitations, MOOCs could still serve as a remedy to resolve some problems with current higher education but they are certainly not a replacement of traditional higher education. The technology boom has led to a new trend in higher education – MOOC mania. A Massive Open Online Course, by definition of Tamar Lewin in his “Universities Abroad Join Partnerships on the Web”, is an online course for large-scale interactive participation and open access via the web. Besides traditional course materials, MOOCs offer interactive forums that build a learning community that involves both teachers and students (Lewin). MOOCs are widely recognized by its interactive and convenient online learning platforms, and its...
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...universities, and community colleges—are flirting with the idea of MOOCS, massive open online courses, where tens of thousands of students can take the same class simultaneously. Is this the future of college? Nathan Heller wrote about the phenomenon in the May 20, 2013 issue of The New Yorker in "Laptop U." I recommend you find a copy or subscribe online for the full article, but I'll share with you here what I gleaned as the pros and cons of MOOCS from Heller's article. What Is a MOOC? The short answer is that a MOOC is an online video of a college lecture. The M stands for massive because there is no limit to the number of students who can enroll from anywhere in the world. Anant Agarwal is a professor of electrical engineering and computer science at MIT, and president of edX, a non-profit MOOC company owned jointly MIT andHarvard. In 2011, he launched a forerunner called MITx (Open Courseware), hoping to get 10 times the usual number of classroom students in his spring-semester circuits-and-electronics course, about 1,500. In the first few hours of posting the course, he told Heller, he had 10,000 students sign up from all over the world. The ultimate enrollment was 150,000. Massive. The Pros MOOCs are controversial. Some say they are the future of higher education. Others see them as the eventual downfall of it. Here are the pros Heller found in his research. MOOCS: 1. Are free. Right now, most MOOCs are free or nearly free, a definite plus for the student. This is...
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...Response to Friedman It would seem academia's view of the Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) is split. There are some that would like to believe MOOCs are the next revolution in education. One such person is Thomas Friedman, an author and columnist for the New York Times. Friedman has high expectations of MOOCs and states, "I can see a day soon where you'll create your own college degree by taking the best online courses from the best professors from around the world."1 On the other hand Karen Head, an assistant professor for Georgia Institute of Technology, initially wanted nothing to do with them. She stated, "I wondered how anyone could possibly teach writing in a massive open online course--a question that many of my colleagues are still asking."3 Friedman posits that innovation will come because of demand from the market, parents, students and even the federal government.2 Karen is part of that innovation not only as a professor but as a planner in the program. Her experience in preparing the MOOC for Georgia Tech will certainly challenge Friedman's idea of cheap. Perhaps if Friedman expanded on the idea of initial cost vs. maintenance cost of a MOOC it wouldn't appear cheap in the short term. In this case of start-up costs for a university it would have to be seen as an investment. In the long term gains would be seen, provided their program is a successful one. In the end Friedman holds on to his idea of a revolutionary new way to educate the world. For Karen...
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