Week 1 - Activity 4 (Post sharing examination)

Activity 4: Identifying priorities for research (continued)

After sharing your list of priorities and examining (and hopefully commenting upon) those of two or three others, consider the following questions, which will give you some ideas as we move into the second week of the course:

1. Was there consensus about what were the key priorities?
1. Who pays? - Sustainability of the course and the participants going the distance
2. Support - training and development
3. Pedagogy - how to incorporate it into the class
4. Accessibility to the course content
5. Quality
2.  Do you feel some issues would be more easily solved than others?
1. Yes, but all require time spent training, practicing and experimenting with. The people who experience problems with this OU MOOC are a testament to that.
3. What would be effective ways to address some of the priorities listed?
1. Rob a bank! Demonstrate use of OL to others as a role model in order to promote it. Show that it saves time. If it doesn't save time, improve learning and motivate then it will fail.
2. Only when those with the money see the marketing gain will they invest.

1. (http://www.open.edu/openlearn/education/open-education/content-section-1.5)

See here for forum: http://www.open.edu/openlearn/ocw/mod/forumng/discuss.php?d=2

And here for blog: http://h817open.net/
Good questions from Tobias Boyd 19 Mar 2013 (http://www.open.edu/openlearn/ocw/mod/forumng/discuss.php?d=9)
Research into students taking MOOCs. How do they find and choose their MOOCs? What experience do they have of more formal education? Why do people choose to complete/not to complete MOOCs, and does non-completion have negative consequences in terms of their self-esteem (in the way that dropout appears to for students leaving formal education)?

Alastair Creelman 19 Mar 2013 (http://www.open.edu/openlearn/ocw/mod/forumng/discuss.php?d=9)
Online learning in general attracts non-traditional students, most of whom are 25+, have families and full-time employment and take a course out of pure interest or for professional development. They do not take student loans and are not dependent on the course for grants and other financing. They drop out if other commitments prevent them from continuing the course. We're comparing apples and pears when we compare online students with campus students.

Here's a little summary of our report. We're writing an article in English for future publication. Please note that we studied completion rates in regular online courses for credit and not MOOCs. We haven't even considered MOOCs yet.

Our study of online education at Linnaeus University questioned the validity of judging a course’s success on completion rates since it was unclear what was actually being measured. Results suggest that crucial factors behind student retention are the presence of meaningful interaction (via face-to-face or virtual meeting spaces), clear, timely information about course requirements, methodology and expectations and a clear link between technology and pedagogics. The study made the following proposals:

• A quality assurance system adapted to the demands of online learning should be implemented across the whole university. Firstly based on self-assessment with the option of certification later
• Create a university strategy for integrating technology in all educational activities
• Clearly define the target group for online courses and adapt administration and marketing to that group.
• Competence development and support for all teachers in IT and learning.
• Clear routines for the unregistration of inactive students after 3 weeks of a course.
• Better information and study guides for all online students.

 (https://medarbetare.lnu.se/polopoly_fs/1.64406!Genomlysning_distans_120127.pdf)