<p>We interviewed eight University of Toronto (U of T) instructors who have offered MOOCs on Coursera or EdX between 2012 and 2014 to understand their motivation for MOOC instruction, their experience developing and teaching MOOCs, and their perceptions of the implications of MOOC instruction on their teaching and research practices. Through inductive analysis, we gleaned common motivations for MOOC development, including expanding public access to high quality learning resources, showcasing U of T teaching practices, and attempting to engage MOOC learners in application of concepts learned, even in the face of constraints that may inhibit active learning in MOOC contexts. MOOC design and delivery was a team effort with ample emphasis on planning and clarity. Instructors valued U of T instructional support in promoting systematic MOOC design and facilitating technical issues related to MOOC platforms. The evolution of MOOC support at U of T grew from a focus on addressing technical issues, to instructional design of MOOCs driven, first, by desired learning outcomes. Findings include changes in teaching practices of the MOOC instructors as they revised pedagogical practices in their credit courses by increasing opportunities for active learning and using MOOC resources to subsequently flip their classrooms. This study addresses the paucity of research on faculty experiences with developing MOOCs, which can subsequently inform the design of new forms of MOOC-like initiatives to increase public access to high quality learning resources, including those available through U of T.</p>
Abstract. MOOCs have the potential to benefit from the large number of very diverse learners that participate in courses, but this requires a principled approach to MOOC curriculum development. Courses need to take into consideration the diversity of learner experience and intentions, and incorporate scripts that both benefit from the large numbers of learners (crowd-sourcing), as well as enabling small-scale intense collaboration. The real challenge is tying together a set of learning activities and the development of a community knowledge base, with the specific curriculum learning goals of the course. This paper offers a pragmatic approach to developing courses, based on the experience of a MOOC for teacher professional development.
In classrooms, some transitions between activities impose (quasi-)synchronicity, meaning there is a need for learners to move between activities at the same time. To make real-time decisions about when to move to the next activity, teachers need to be able to balance the progress of their students as they work at different paces. In this paper, we present a set of estimators that can be used in real time to predict the progress and completion rates of students working on computer-supported activities that can be divided into sequential subtasks. With our estimators, we investigate what effect the average progress rate of the class, a given number of previous steps, or weighting the proportion of progress assigned to each subtask has on predictions of students' progress. We find that accounting for the average class progress rate near the beginning of the activity can improve predictions over baseline. Additionally, weighted subtasks decrease prediction accuracy for activities where the behaviour of faster students diverges from the average behaviour of the class. This paper contributes to our ability to provide accurate student progress predictions and to understand the behaviour of students as they progress through the activity. These real-time predictions can enable teachers to optimize learning time in their classrooms. Notes for Practice• This paper advances our knowledge of the challenges of time management and the characteristics of students' progress within single activities in classrooms.• Several estimators of students' progress rates and the proportion of time required by each subtask of an activity are proposed and tested on student data from 12 university courses ranging from 64 to 241 students.• The estimators have an average error of less than 2% when predicting the average progress of the class, which can help teachers optimize their use of class time.
Recognition in education is the acknowledgment of learning achievements. Accreditation is certification of such recognition by an institution, an organization, a government, a community, etc. There are a number of assessment methods by which learning can be evaluated (exam, practicum, etc.) for the purpose of recognition and accreditation, and there are a number of different purposes for the accreditation itself (i.e., job, social recognition, membership in a group, etc). As our world moves from an industrial to a knowledge society, new skills are needed. Social web technologies offer opportunities for learning, which build these skills and allow new ways to assess them. This paper makes the case for a peer-based method of assessment and recognition as a feasible option for accreditation purposes. The peer-based method would leverage online communities and tools, for example digital portfolios, digital trails, and aggregations of individual opinions and ratings into a reliable assessment of quality. Recognition by peers can have a similar function as formal accreditation, and pathways to turn peer recognition into formal credits are outlined. The authors conclude by presenting an open education assessment and accreditation scenario, which draws upon the attributes of open source software communities: trust, relevance, scalability, and transparency.
Given that few studies have formally examined pedagogical design considerations of Massive Online Open Courses (MOOCs), this study explored variations in the pedagogical design of six MOOCs offered at the University of Toronto, while considering disciplinary characteristics and expectations of each MOOC. Using a framework (Neumann et al., 2002) characterizing teaching and learning across categories of disciplines, three of the MOOCs represented social sciences and humanities, or "soft" MOOCs, while another three represented sciences, or "hard" MOOCS. We utilized a multicase study design for understanding differences and similarities across MOOCs regarding learning outcomes, assessment methods, interaction design, and curricular content. MOOC instructor interviews, MOOC curricular documents, and discussion forum data comprised the data set. Learning outcomes of the six MOOCs reflected broad cognitive competencies promoted in each MOOC, with the structure of curricular content following disciplinary expectations. The instructors of soft MOOCs adopted a spiral curriculum and created new content in response to learner contributions. Assessment methods in each MOOC aligned well with stated learning outcomes. In soft MOOCs, discussion and exposure to diverse perspectives were promoted while in hard MOOCs there was more emphasis on question and answer. This study shows disciplinary-informed variations in MOOC pedagogy, and highlights instructors' strategies to foster disciplinary ways of knowing, skills, and practices within the parameters of a generic MOOC platform. Pedagogical approaches such as peer assessment bridged the disciplines. Suggestions for advancing research and practice related to MOOC pedagogy are also included. KEYWORDSMassive Open Online Courses (MOOCs); Pedagogical design; Disciplinary differences; MOOC pedagogy PURPOSE Few studies have formally examined pedagogical design considerations of MOOCs. In this study we focused on deconstructing curriculum design and implementation in six MOOCs representing a range of disciplinary affiliation and then identified promising practices. The purpose of this research is to understand Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) design across disciplines with respect to four dimensions: learning outcomes, assessment of learning outcomes, interaction design, and curricular content (Neumann, Parry, & Becher, 2002). Within existing literature, students' overall learning experience, course design, and course implementation in higher education may reflect discipline-specific Najafi, Rolheiser, Håklev, & Harrison Najafi, H., Rolheiser, C., Håklev, S., & Harrison, L. (2017). Variations in pedagogical design of massive open online courses (MOOCs) across disciplines. Teaching & Learning Inquiry, 5(2). http://dx.doi.org/10.20343/teachlearninqu.5.2.5 48 epistemological differences. Researchers have pointed out such disciplinary differences in various dimensions of teaching practices, including fostering deep approaches to learning (Laird, Shoup, Kuh, & Schwarz, 2008); teacher ...
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