Week 6: Massive Open Online Courses

Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) have taken the (education) world by storm. Here's how they are helping reimagine the possibilities for education in our modern technological society.

https://youtu.be/rYwTA5RA9eU

Massive Open Online Courses, or MOOCs for short, are (mostly) free, open-enrollment online courses available to learners internationally, many of which are provided by the most prestigious universities in the world and cover a wide range of subjects, from math to computer science to the arts. Since the first MOOCs were offered by a few Stanford University visionaries in 2011, these courses have continued to challenge educational norms and compel both teachers and learners to reconsider the classrooms of our future.

Where can you find MOOCs?

MOOCs are available to learners via several similar online platforms which allow learners to browse and enroll in any available courses. Some new courses have official course dates and must be completed within that time frame, though most are offered on an on-demand, self-paced basis. Some of the most popular MOOC platforms include:

• Coursera,

• edX,

• Udacity, and

• Khan Academy (K-12 target age)

Who can participate in MOOCs?

While nearly all the courses offered by sites like Coursera are challenging, college-level courses from some of the world's most elite universities, MOOCs are available to everyone and many have no prerequisite of prior knowledge. Anyone is able to enroll in a course, from students to teachers to parents to working professionals. Indeed, according to this article, Coursera estimates that 89% of those learners enrolled are actually 23 years of age or older, and many MOOC platforms have now shifted their marketing focus to target professionals looking to grow or improve their career skill sets to increase desirability among potential employers. However, MOOCs are also a great option for middle and high school students looking to explore their interests and potential career paths in a cost-effective manner. MOOCs also provide learners with the opportunity to explore topics that are otherwise not available to them through their school, university, or community.

What are the benefits of MOOCs?

MOOCs offer a kind of individualized learning that is both rigorous and highly effective, based on data gleaned from early participation. Indeed, as edX founder Anant Agarwal explains in his TEDTalk on MOOCs, a 2012 blended learning initiative at San Jose State University, occurring at the earliest stages of MOOC development, saw course retake rates drop from 41% to a mere 9%! While not all MOOCs are created equal, the most exciting and revolutionary aspects of these courses seem present across the board. Here are some of the most valuable components of MOOCs:

• MOOCs promote active learning through their instructional design, which asks learners to watch a brief 5-7 minute video and subsequently respond to higher-level application questions that mimic the Socratic method;

• MOOCs incorporate self-paced practices, allowing learners to work through the lessons in their own time;

• MOOCs provide instant feedback on application activities and allow learners to resubmit the activities until they pass;

• MOOCs use gamification to engage learners and create online simulations of real-world activities;

• MOOCs encourage peer learning and teaching through collaborative discussion boards where learners can respond to each other's questions; and lastly,

• Most MOOCs are free to enroll in, meaning learners can pursue their interests and grow their skills sets without worrying about financial limitations or the burden of debt. (However, many courses offer the option to purchase a certificate of completion or to pursue a "nanodegree" on a particular topic, though most of these "degrees" are not yet recognized by universities.)

MOOCs in K-12 Schools

However, the question remains: Why are we not seeing a greater surge of MOOCs in the traditional K-12 classroom? While MOOCs present a relatively easy way to differentiate for ability among students with self-paced learning, one critical aspect of K-12 schooling is absent: in-person social interaction. Though K-12 education certainly focuses on teaching students the content and higher-level critical thinking skills they need to be successful as adults, it is also the primary environment in which students engage with peers and learn appropriate social skills modeled by their teachers. The elimination of this extensive social interaction would put students at an extreme disadvantage as adults.

Some educators are attempting to overcome this barrier to blended learning by entirely reimagining the traditional school day. Rather than asking students to learn the content at home and spend all day at school doing application problems (the most common form of the flipped classroom), students would spend half their day at home learning content and only half their day at school. This would not only reduce the students' time spent on school activities but also provide them with a healthy balance of individual learning and in-person peer collaboration. Students would also have more time to explore other extracurricular interests, take a part-time job, and engage with family and friends after school without the burden of additional schoolwork.

Overall, MOOCs are a fantastic way to explore different interests and supplement traditional schooling and degree programs. I will definitely be taking advantage of them myself in the near future!

-Miss Hennings