Week 4 MOOCs - Notes

MOOCs

After studying this week, you should understand:

• the different types of MOOC and the issues surrounding them
• the evidence of learner behaviour and the effectiveness of MOOCs
• the learner experience in MOOCs
• the strengths and weaknesses of MOOCs as an approach
• personal learning networks.

The term ‘MOOC’ was coined by Dave Cormier and arose after his analysis of one of the first MOOCs, the ‘Connectivism and Connected Knowledge’ course (known as CCK08) run by George Siemens and Stephen Downes.

The MOOC Guide

https://sites.google.com/site/themoocguide/3-cck08---the-distributed-course


03. CCK08 - The Distributed CourseThe Connectivism and Connective Knowledge course (CCK08) was the first to incorporate open learning with distributed content, making it the first true MOOC. It attracted 2200 participants worldwide

One of the most innovative MOOCs in its use of technology has been DS106 , the digital storytelling course run by Jim Groom

DS106 looks like a very rewarding and creative course. I think anyone who completed this course must have learned a lot, both new skills and perhaps more about themselves and what the can achieve.

What is a MOOC? 4 min by Dave Cormier
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eW3gMGqcZQc
A concise and quick intro to MOOCs that definitely promotes the social and networking aspects of the programme.

Sir Ken Robinson - Education will explode because of MOOCs. People will learn what they want and not what they were offered at school. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RumyGvl-vk)

The early experimentation led to more mainstream adoption of MOOCs, and in 2011 two Stanford professors offered an open course in artificial intelligence that attracted over 100,000 students. This was followed in 2012 by Harvard and MIT announcing the formation of edX , a joint initiative to offer open courses. In addition, the Stanford team founded Udacity, a commercial enterprise to offer open courses, and a number of universities started offering courses through Coursera.