Improving quality of teaching in MOOCs: A practical analysis of the new instructor role in the sMOOC model proposed by the European ECO project (ELEARNING, COMMUNICATION AND OPENDATA: MASSIVE, MOBILE, UBIQUITOUS AND OPEN LEARNING)
María Dolores Castrillo de Larreta-Azelain & Elena Martín-Monje Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia (SPAIN) Competitiveness and Innovation FrameworkProgramme (CIP) Project no.: 621127
Elearning, Communication and Open-data: Massive Mobile, Ubiquitous and Open Learning
Table of contents 1. Introduction 2. The ECO sMOOC: An innovative social & seamless MOOC model 1. Instructional design for an sMOOC 2. Technological issues 3. Pedagogical redefinition of roles
3. Practical application: OER MOOC 4. Conclusions 5. References
Elearning, Communication and Open-data: Massive Mobile, Ubiquitous and Open Learning
1. Introduction • •
MOOCs appeared in 2008 & became popular in 2011 Natural evolution of OER movement
Google Trends plot of relative interest in MOOCs and OERs (Weller 2015:1)
Elearning, Communication and Open-data: Massive Mobile, Ubiquitous and Open Learning
1. Introduction •
Main features of MOOCs: – – – –
• • •
Massive Open Online Courses
2 basic types: xMOOC & cMOOC xMOOC most popular 3 new challenges (Sharples el al., 2015) 1. 2. 3.
Technologicallly Educationally Socially
Elearning, Communication and Open-data: Massive Mobile, Ubiquitous and Open Learning
2. The ECO sMOOC • • •
Aims of EU-funded ECO project MOOCs should be inclusive & cater for those in risk of exclusion, making use of latest technology sMOOC: Social: learning marked by social interaction & participation Seamless:
– – • • •
Accessible from different platforms Accessible through mobile devices Integrating participants’ real life experiences through contextualization of content (apps & gamification)
Elearning, Communication and Open-data: Massive Mobile, Ubiquitous and Open Learning
2.1. Instructional design for an sMOOC • •
More akin to European standards for Higher Education (e.g. credentials through ECTS) Latest definition: MOOCs are courses designed for large numbers of participants that can be accessed by anyone anywhere as long as they have an internet connection, are open to everyone without entry qualifications, and offer a full/complete course experience online for free. HOME, OpenupEd & ECO Project, 2015: 1
•
sMOOC approach aims at adding value to this definition: –
Inclusion/accessibility/ubiquity/mobility
Elearning, Communication and Open-data: Massive Mobile, Ubiquitous and Open Learning
2.1. Instructional design for an sMOOC •
Guideliness for sMOOC model (Morgado, Teixeira & Jansen, 2015): - Openness - Facilitators team - Duration (six week) - Boot camp (first week dedicated to familiarization with the sMOOC format) - Resources and learning materials - Supporting learning (learning guide and detailed guidelines) - Activities and tasks - Gamification - ECO sMOOC learning virtual environment (enhanced with social features) - Non formal certificate of completion - Formal creditation
Elearning, Communication and Open-data: Massive Mobile, Ubiquitous and Open Learning
2.2. Technological issues •
Checklist developed (Ortega et al., 2014): 1.
Introduction to evaluation: its purpose was to gather information about the profile of the evaluator of that specific platform. 2. General information: first impressions on the platform. 3. Economic structural factors: platform’s economic model – profit/non-profit. 4. Technology 5. Accessibility 6. Communication and interaction: teacher-learner and learnerlearner. 7. Goals, content and resources. 8. Assignments 9. Assessments 10. Pedagogical principles
Elearning, Communication and Open-data: Massive Mobile, Ubiquitous and Open Learning
2.2. Technological issues •
Analysis of platforms: OpenMOOC (http://demo.openmooc.org), Open edX (http://studio.sandbox.m.sandbox.edx.org), weMOOC (http://wemooc.com/en/zona-demo), iMOOC (http://eco.imooc.uab.pt/elgg/) , LogiAssist (http://test.logiassist.de) and ARLearn (http://ou.nl/arlearn)
•
Common characteristics of chosen platforms a) b) c) d) e)
Collaboration tools Lesson-based contents Support of different formats (video, text, images, etc.) Tracking system both for learners and teacher Integration of OER (Open Educational Resources)
Elearning, Communication and Open-data: Massive Mobile, Ubiquitous and Open Learning
2.3. Pedagogical redefinition of roles New teacher role:
During After
MOOC characteristics
-
Before
Teacher roles
MOOC structure designer- Agenda, timeline developer/ Organizer
manager
Course stage
Content expert/ Content Short subtitled videos creator/ Content facilitator Quizzes
MOOC Administrator, Technologist -Researcher
•
Assessment Evaluator
Aid and supporting materials designer/ Peer- and self-assessment
Communication tools and Email, forums, questions and answers tool, structure designer blog, wiki. Facilitators
Facilitating discourse
Curators
Providing direct instruction
Researcher
Learning Analytics
Teacher Roles in Massive Open Online Language Courses (Castrillo, 2014:72)
Elearning, Communication and Open-data: Massive Mobile, Ubiquitous and Open Learning
2.3. Pedagogical redefinition of roles •
New student role: Participants’ profile (Daly, 2014):
– • • •
Mainly men (60%), University qualifications, late twenties Mostly from developed countries Not coincident with MOOC original philosophy
New engagement profiles (Anderson et al., 2014):
– • • • • •
Viewers Solvers All-rounders Collectors Bystanders
Elearning, Communication and Open-data: Massive Mobile, Ubiquitous and Open Learning
3. Practical application: OER MOOC •
ECO 1st iteration: 10 sMOOCs 108 teachers + 3600 users 6 languages
– – – –
•
“Recursos Educativos abiertos. Aplicaciones pedagógicas y comunicativas”: potential of OER for Eduaction 556 participants Final survey reflecting on:
– – • • • • •
Course materials Learning methods Student support Assessment Communication & interaction
Elearning, Communication and Open-data: Massive Mobile, Ubiquitous and Open Learning
3. Practical application: OER MOOC •
Results. Focus on instructor role: Learning methods:
– • • •
Course well designed Course encourages debate & personal reflection It promotes participants’ implication, interaction & creativity
Student support
– • •
Participants felt supported Complaint about platform technical difficulties
Assessment
– •
Reluctance to peer-assessment
Communication & interaction
– • •
Course encourages peer communication & interaction Participants miss stronger instructor presence
Elearning, Communication and Open-data: Massive Mobile, Ubiquitous and Open Learning
4. Conclusions • • • • •
Concept of sMOOC presented Pedagogical framework closer to European Higher Education than American typology sMOOCs aim at being inclusive & reaching those traditionally left out of higher education Must-have features of sMOOCs Pedagogical redefinition of roles: – –
• •
Insight into teacher roles New taxonomy of student participation
Evidence from 1st edition of sMOOC “Recursos Educativos Abiertos. Aplicaciones pedagógicas y comunicativas” Redesign of some features of sMOOC, paying attention to P2P tasks & communication, for 2nd edition
Elearning, Communication and Open-data: Massive Mobile, Ubiquitous and Open Learning
5. References •
•
•
•
Anderson, A., Huttenlocher, D., Kleinberg, J. y Leskovec, J. (2014). Engaging with massive online courses. In WWW’14 Proceedings of the 23rd international conference on World wide web (pp. 687-698). New York: ACM. Castrillo de Larreta-Azelain, MD (2014) Language Teaching in MOOCs: the Integral Role of the Instructor In: Martín-Monje, E. (Ed.) and Bárcena, E. (Ed.) Language MOOCs. Providing Learning, Transcending Boundaries, pp. 67-90. Berlin: De Gruyter Open. Retrieved from http://www.degruyter.com/view/product/455678 Daly, J. (2014). HarvardX’s and MITx’s MOOC Data Visualized and Mapped. http://www.edtechmagazine.com/higher/article/2014/02/harvardxs-and-mitxsmooc-data-visualized-and-mapped Morgado, L., Teixeira, A. & Jansen, D. (2015). D2.3 Instructional design and scenarios for MOOCs –version 2. ECO Project Deliverable.
Elearning, Communication and Open-data: Massive Mobile, Ubiquitous and Open Learning
5. References •
• •
•
HOME, OpenupEd & ECO Project (2015). Definition Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs). Retrieved from http://www.openuped.eu/images/docs/Definition_Massive_Open_Online_Cours es.pdf Morgado, L., Teixeira, A. & Jansen, D. (2015). D2.3 Instructional design and scenarios for MOOCs –version 2. ECO Project Deliverable. Sharples, M et al (2015) Mobile and Accessible Learning for MOOCs. Journal of Interactive Media in Education, 2015(1): 4, 1-8, DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5334/jime.ai Weller, M. (2015). MOOCs and The Silicon Valley Narrative. Journal of Interactive Media in Education, 2015(1): 5, 1-7, DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5334/jime.am
Elearning, Communication and Open-data: Massive Mobile, Ubiquitous and Open Learning
Thank you! M. Dolores Castrillo
Elena Martín Monje
[email protected]
[email protected]
