Building a Successful Massive Open Online Course About Multiple Sclerosis: A Process Description (Preprint)

Abstract

BACKGROUND Over the course of a year, we have developed and tested a six-week massive open online course (MOOC) about multiple sclerosis (MS) in consultation with the MS community. The course is aimed at a general audience and is entitled “Understanding MS”. OBJECTIVE Here we present an evaluation of the development process that we used. METHODS The development process included a course development focus group, the creation of more than fifty content videos and related text, quizzes, activities and discussion prompts, the creation of original images and animations, a pilot study, and collaborations with people living with MS, MS nurses, allied health care practitioners, as well as neurologists and researchers from four universities. RESULTS The first open enrolment of the course had a 51% completion rate, with 1,934 participants completing the course. It was well received by participants, with 97% satisfied or very satisfied with the course overall. As of this writing, it is ranked second among all science and health MOOCs, based on participant reviews. CONCLUSIONS With a few small changes, we would recommend our process to anyone seeking to develop a similar course. CLINICALTRIAL N/A