[LINK] MOOCs with Books
stephen at melbpc.org.au
stephen at melbpc.org.au
Thu Mar 21 15:19:13 AEDT 2013
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, its 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 thats
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
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