Education Commons^™

Developing Moocs To Narrow The College Readiness Gap: Challenges And Recommendations For A Writing Course, Shoba Bandi-Rao, Christopher Devers

Publications and Research

Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) have demonstrated the potential to deliver quality and cost effective course materials to large numbers of students. Approximately 60% of first-year students at community colleges are underprepared for college-level coursework. One reason for low graduation rates is the lack of the overall college readiness. MOOCs offering "remedial" writing have the potential to better prepare high school graduates for college, thereby increasing their chances of completing a degree and reducing the cost of education for students, families, institutions, and taxpayers. However, MOOCs are typically more suitable for motivated and prepared students. Designing a MOOC on writing …

The Dark Side Of The Mooc - A Critical Inquiry On Their Claims And Realities, Markus Deimann

Current Issues in Emerging eLearning

Building on the work of French philosopher Michel Foucault, this paper utilises critical discourse analysis to examine claims attached to MOOCs in New York Times articles published between 2012 and 2013. Discourse analysis is proposed as a valuable tool enabling the understanding of MOOCs as historically constituted and socially constructed “events” with hidden meanings masked by rhetoric slogans. Noting that language is not just the reflection of social and psychological life but rather constructs social realities, this work posits how both media and commercial MOOC providers have constructed an “education is broken” narrative which states (1) traditional universities are no …

Evolution Of The Blendkit Course: Fine-Tuning A Professional Development Mooc, Kelvin Thompson, Patsy Moskal

Current Issues in Emerging eLearning

While many MOOCs modeled on traditional university curricula may be undertaken as sources of professional development, the University of Central Florida has released open courseware and a series of MOOCs specifically for the professional development of higher education faculty and designers preparing to design and teach blended learning courses. This article details experiences with offering multiple iterations of the BlendKit Course in order that others interested in professional development MOOCs may benefit from the authors' successes and lessons learned. The article addresses: background influences on the design of the BlendKit Course; the evolution of the BlendKit Course from its initial …

Highjacking The Mooc: Reflections On Creating/Teaching An Art History Mooc, Parme Giuntini, Jean-Marie Venturini

Current Issues in Emerging eLearning

This article reflects on the experience of creating and launching a MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) at Otis College of Art and Design. The authors will discuss the development process from content, goals and production to curriculum design and pedagogy. Lessons learned and best practices will be shared as well as assessment of the MOOC’s success. Suggestions will be offered for faculty who are interested in adapting and adopting (hijacking) MOOCs in conjunction with credit courses in their own institutions, and addresses the very practical faculty concerns that MOOCs pose.

What's Old Is New Again, And What's The Value Of Open, Apostolos Koutropoulos

Current Issues in Emerging eLearning

This is the editor's note for this special issue of Current Issues in Emerging eLearning, where the editor discusses Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), as well as the value of openness in education.

Developing A Massive Open Online Course (Mooc) At A College Of Education: Narrative Of Disruptive Innovation?, Dalit Levy, Sarah Schrire

Current Issues in Emerging eLearning

A case study involving the establishment of a connectivist massive open online course (cMOOC) at a college of education is presented. cMOOCs are seen to represent an approach to learning that should be of interest to educators preparing their learners (the teachers of tomorrow) for life and work in a knowledge society. In other words, the cMOOC becomes an example of innovation and change, and an object of inquiry into organizational change and leadership. The chapter examines the case of establishing a cMOOC at the college using a methodology for analyzing organizational transformation triggered by the adoption of computing technologies. …

The Brief & Expansive History (And Future) Of The Mooc: Why Two Divergent Models Share The Same Name, Rolin Moe

Current Issues in Emerging eLearning

Within popular media, the massive open online course (MOOC) is presented as a novel idea created by maverick professors and further developed with a goal to further democratize education on bases of quality and cost. The perception of this sequence of events as modular history has perpetuated a difficulty in developing MOOC-related research and critique within the fields of distance and online education. At the center of this struggle is the MOOC acronym: its initial development was in 2008, and its use today happens in opposition to the theoretical and pedagogical elements of the 2008 MOOC. This paper endeavors to …

Information Literacy In Moocs, Paul Bond

Current Issues in Emerging eLearning

Information literacy is a vital yet under-appreciated part of education. Its advocates recognize it as the foundation for lifelong learning, and as a set of skills that must be developed throughout a person's education. Within academia at large, however, it is barely recognized at all. This paper discusses information literacy in the context of MOOCs, particularly of the connectivist variety. Models of information literacy and their accompanying standards are examined to establish connections to lifelong learning. The spectrum of MOOCs is discussed briefly, with an emphasis on connectivist MOOCs (cMOOCs) and their associated learning activities. These learning activities are then …

Supportive Technologies For Group Discussion In Moocs, Carolyn P. Rosé, Pam Goldman, Jennifer Zoltners Sherer, Lauren Resnick

Current Issues in Emerging eLearning

A key hurdle that prevents MOOCs from reaching their transformative potential in terms of making valuable learning experiences available to the masses is providing support for students to make use of the resources they can provide for each other. This paper lays the foundation for meeting this challenge by beginning with a case study and computational modeling of social interaction data. The analysis yields new knowledge that informs design and development of novel, real-time support for building healthy learning communities that foster a high level of engagement and learning. We conclude by suggesting specific areas for potential impact of new …

The Social Scholar: Re-Interpreting Scholarship In The Shifting University, Christine Greenhow, Ben Gleason

Benjamin Gleason

Massive Open Online Courses And Mission: A Qualitative Study Regarding Matching Mooc Opportunity With Mission Statement, Tara L. Waln-Lewellyn

Department of Educational Administration: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Since the first offering in 2008 (Fini, 2009; Liyanagunawardena, Adams & Williams, 2013), Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) have been a phenomenon in higher education. While much research has been conducted on activities and experiences within these courses, little research from an administrative standpoint has been completed (Liyanagunawardena, et al., 2013). This qualitative case study examined the use of the mission statement in a committee’s determination whether or not to implement a MOOC at a Jesuit institution of higher education in the United States. Interviews were conducted with committee members, transcribed, and analyzed. Analysis determined that the mission statement did …

Software Agents In Large Scale Open E-Learning: A Critical Component For The Future Of Massive Online Courses (Moocs), Roxana Bassi, Thanasis Daradoumis, Fatos Xhafa, Santi Caballé, Ardiana Sula

Jandrisevits Faculty Publications

MOOCs or massive open online courses are a recent trend in online education. They combine online resources with social tools and have unique challenges due to the large number of simultaneous participants. This paper analyzes some of the challenges in the areas of MOOC design, delivery and assessment. Then the authors present an approach using software agents to overcome some of the challenges that have been identified, as well as optimize efficiency, reduce costs, and ensure the pedagogical effectiveness and educational quality of large scale online learning courses. This paper is a first step towards research in the usage of …

Creativity-Based Music Learning: Modeling The Process And Learning Outcomes In A Massive Open Online Course, Nicholas Michael Stefanic

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

While developing creativity is an important goal of many educational endeavors, creating music, from a music education perspective, is a powerful pedagogical tool. Beyond comparing the relative creativity of individuals' musical creative products (e.g., melodies, songs, lyrics, beats, etc.), research in musical creativity must consider how engaging in the creative process can be an effective teaching tool, what I have termed creativity-based music learning. If music teachers are to develop students' abilities “to experience music as meaningful, informed by sensitive discernments and broad understandings, in each particular musical role engagement in which one becomes involved” (Reimer, 2003, p.214), then we …

Orange Matters, Christine Yackel, Pablo Mayo Cerqueiro, Rob Enslin, Amy Speach, Jay Cox

Syracuse University Magazine

Highlights select Syracuse University students, teachers, programs, and employees.

Another Colonialist Tool?, Aaron Barlow

Publications and Research

"the student enrolled in an xMOOC, I believe, is in much the same position as both the student before the teaching machine and the colonized individual. She or he is forced to deal with foreign assumptions having little to do with the reality of the learner or the colonized."

Moocs And Modern Democracies, Richard L. Pate

WCBT Faculty Publications

A discussion of the imposition of the interests of the few on the collective through a subtle but effective manner: the eventual, complete development of Massive Open Online Courses. It is this article’s premise that this development together with current marketing efficacy and the present economic goals of modern democracies, is probable to result in a shrinkage of the market place of ideas and, paradoxically, likely to result in a diminution of democracy in the world.

What Can We Learn From Moocs?, Robert Mccloud

Robert McCloud

Professor Bob McCloud's presentation on MOOCs and digital teaching at Sacred Heart University.

Access Copyright & Technology: Legal And Policy Issues In Education, Lisa Di Valentino

FIMS Presentations

Access Copyright is a collective organization representing the
copyright interests of publishers and creators. The collective offers
copyright licences that allow certain limited uses of works in the
collective's repertoire. The use of collective licences as part of
copyright management policy was common in post-secondary education
administration until 2010, when many universities opted out of a
contractual relationship with Access Copyright.

The growing movement towards online open access publishing and
Creative Commons public licensing has made information more widely
available without requiring payment and with fewer restrictions on
use. The addition of education to the list of fair dealing purposes …

Want To Enroll In A Mooc? No Thanks, My Professors Have Their Own Videos, Enda Mcgovern, Arne Baruca

Marketing Faculty Publications

Purpose: The paper explores how professors, in adopting short digital video lectures as a complementary teaching platform outside the classroom, could better enhance the learning experience for digital natives, i.e. millennial students, in challenging the growth of massive open online courses (MOOC). Specifically, the use of personalized, class-specific, video content made available on YouTube, in which the professor-of-record appears, is examined as a complementary learning platform for students required to read textbook material in preparation for class discussions.

Method / Design and Sample: Students were required to view class-specific digital videos on YouTube and thereafter complete a questionnaire to examine …