[LINK] MOOCs with Books

[stephen at melbpc.org.au]

Tom writes,

> This is to invite corrections and suggestions for my presentation "MOOCs 
> with Books: Syncronisation of Large Scale Asynchronous e-Learning":
> 
> * Notes:  http://www.tomw.net.au/technology/it/moocs_with_books
> * Slides: http://www.tomw.net.au/technology/it/moocs_with_books/?slides


An interesting paper Tom, and I agree 100% with a "blended" philosophy.

Eg, "A concept of "asynchronous learning within a synchronous framework" is 
used by the ANU engineering department. While not mentioned by the authors, 
this approach may have been inspired by engineering practice, which has 
regular check points in work, to monitor performance of a system or 
project. While this project was using "blended" learning (the synchronous 
components being face-to-face), the same approach should be applied to a 
pure on-line course which used a combination of synchronous and 
asynchronous tools."


Despite the New York Times labeling 2012 as the "Year of the MOOC" or the 
massive open online courses, such recent research below indicates that we 
have quite a way to go to sort out online learning yet .. 

<http://ccrc.tc.columbia.edu/publications/adaptability-to-online-
learning.html>

Abstract: Using a dataset containing nearly 500,000 courses taken by over 
40,000 community and technical college students in Washington State, this 
study examines how well students adapt to the online environment, in terms 
of their ability to persist and earn strong grades in online courses 
relative to their ability to do so in face-to-face courses. *All types of 
students in the study suffered decrements in performance in online courses*

That is, this research shows **everyone does worse with online learning**

The authors say, "Our feeling is that technology can be used in good ways 
to improve online courses, it’s just that it depends how the technology is 
incorporated and how technology is used by instructors. It depends on how 
it is integrated into instruction to make it work."

"We found that what the students really wanted more of was a connection 
with their instructor. They wanted more guidance from their instructor. 
They wanted their instructor to be able to help motivate them with their 
passion and their caring for their students and how the students did. The 
thing about college students anyway is that they come in with a lot of 
anxiety and insecurity about whether college is the right place for them, 
whether they can do this kind of work, they need an instructor that’s 
really supportive and enthusiastic about the material and communicates that 
enthusiasm to the students."

Ref: <http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/03/01/study-research-shows-everyone-
does-worse-with-online-learning/>


Tom, your work does indeed support and encourage a "personal connection"
which is so very often missing in terms of online education, and hence one 
would wish you all the best. 

I would also suggest/mandate the following, as is also suggested at the 
above reference.

1. Require the university to supply on-line TA's to help the stragglers in 
on-line courses. It is a lot more time consuming to respond in writing to 
students than it is to have a ten minute face to face conference. So ..

2. Require on-line classes to have on-line class meeting with real-time 
video interaction at least every two weeks. Cisco systems and other 
software vendors have these applications available.

3. Allow the faculty to own the copyright to the course-ware they develop 
and share royalties with the university. It is a matter of motivation.

4. Require universities to have real IT professionals for their support and 
don't try to do it on the cheap. You get what you pay for.

Cheers,
Stephen