In Search of Quality: Using Quality Matters to Analyze the Quality of Massive, Open, Online Courses (MOOCs)

Abstract

<p>The concept of the massive, open, online course (MOOC) is not new, but high-profile initiatives have moved MOOCs into the forefront of higher education news over the past few years. Members of institutions of higher education have mixed feelings about MOOCs, ranging from those who want to offer college credit for the successful completion of MOOCs to those who fear MOOCs are the end of the university as we know it. We set forth to investigate the quality of MOOCs by using the Quality Matters quality control framework. In this article, we present the results of our inquiry, with a specific focus on the implications the results have on day-to-day practice of designing online courses.</p>

Innovación en el diseño instruccional de cursos masivos abiertos con gamificación y REA para formar en sustentabilidad energética

“…El DI tiene un impacto en la motivación, sobre todo en la satisfacción de los estudiantes de los MOOC, ya que si el diseño está bien elaborado beneficia su rendimiento académico de los participantes (Grünewald, Meinel, Totschnig y Willems, 2013;Raposo, Martínez y Sarmiento, 2015;Castaño, Maíz y Garay, 2015). Cuando un curso está bien diseñado, generalmente se puede hablar que es de calidad (Lowenthal y Hodges, 2015). Es por ello que la realización del diseño instruccional de los MOOC no debe dejarse a la deriva, y se debe cuidar cada aspecto de este.…”

Learner Behaviour in a MOOC Practice-oriented Course: In Empirical Study Integrating TAM and TPB

“…These issues, as they relate to MOOCs, have been fully discussed and studied by numerous researchers (Lowenthal & Hodges, 2015;Rodriguez, 2012;Margaryan, Bianco, & Littlejohn, 2015;Jordan, 2015). Clearly, we are still early in the research that truly understands learner perception and attitude within the MOOC environment.…”

Quality Frameworks for MOOCs

“…The authors found that, while all MOOCs were well-packaged, they all scored poorly overall (median 9, range 0-28, on a scale from 0 to72) indicating poor instructional quality. Lowenthal & Hodges (2015) reviewed six MOOCs applying the Quality Matters rubric intended for traditional for-credit online courses. They concluded that "two of the MOOCs could pass this review and, therefore, be considered high quality online courses".…”

“…Quality related to the input elements These may include aspects such as instructional design, the content and resources, multiple choice questions and assessment, the technology employed, and the quality of the teacher (e.g. Margaryan et al, 2015;Lowenthal & Hodges, 2015). For example, Costello, Brown & Holland (2016) found a number of flaws when analysing the multiple choice questions of several MOOCs.…”