[SSC] FW: [CHAMP-CURRICULUM] MOOCs

[Megan Robertson]

I thought you folks at the SSC might find this recent conversation on an
e-learning mailing list of interest.

Hugs from Megan

-----Original Message-----
From: Curriculum Champions [mailto:CHAMP-CURRICULUM at JISCMAIL.AC.UK] On
Behalf Of Megan C. Robertson
Sent: 01 August 2012 08:15
To: CHAMP-CURRICULUM at JISCMAIL.AC.UK
Subject: Re: [CHAMP-CURRICULUM] MOOCs

Greetings dear hearts

> I have seen the term MOOCs been thrown around alot lately and was unaware
> of their growing presence. But I've just came across this interesting
>
article<http://www.elearnspace.org/blog/2012/07/25/moocs-are-really-a-platfo
rm/>.
>
> Is anyone actively using MOOCs or got any examples? What is everyone's
> opinion on them? Are they the new 'VLE'?

> The OU have recently
>
announced<http://www8.open.ac.uk/platform/news-and-features/ou-researchers-t
op-10-innovations-transform-education-in-five-years>
> to take advantage of MOOCs.

No, they are not 'the new VLE' - but they are developing into a powerful
force in distance learning provision, both technologically and socially.
The OU, of course, are already expert in the provision of distance
learning - and I go back to the days of watching lectures on TV at ungodly
hours, receiving reading material by post and mailing in my assignments! -
and MOOC technology empowers even better distance learning by building a
true 'community' of learners, even when you have 20,000 people taking a
course at the same time!

MOOCs are designed to deliver a course to a schedule, with lectures and
assignments and final examination; using discussion boards to enable
students to talk to each other about what they are learning. Facilitator
involvement is less important (indeed, less possible due to scale!) than
in more conventional online distance learning, where you have about the
same number of participants as you would in a 'bums on seats' traditional
class.

The really interesting thing that is going on is the growing development
of quality tuition offered for free. Whilst this is mostly non-credit
(some folks are experimenting with charging for the
examination/qualification, but not for participating in the class), if
your motivation is 'to learn' they are valuable additions to the learning
scene, especially where education is being priced out of the reach of
many.

I'm currently taking a class with Coursera (http://www.coursera.org/) and
finding it very good. The instructor is a professor at the University of
Michegan, and courses in their catalogue come from some premier
institutions such as Harvard, MIT and the University of Edinburgh.

Hugs from Megan
IT Lecturer, West Lancashire College
http://www.moodlepoodle.co.uk/

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