Massive Open Online Courses Professor Jenny Pange Department of Pre-School Education, University of Ioannina

Moocs “a course of study made available over the Internet free of charge to a very large number of people” (Oxford Dictionaries Online)

MOOCs are online courses Are usually offered free No limit on number of participants Anyone can sign up Usually do not offer official certification

MOOCs -history The Open online courses known by the acronym MOOC evolved in the movement of open educational resources- GDP (Open Educational Recourses-OER). The first initiative sstarted in 2000 by universities such as MIT with the OpenCourseWare , a digital platform with open educational content.

Moocs-History Gradually,  more institutions were involved and as of 2008 there has been a plethora of courses offered by the world's largest universities (Harvard, Berkley, MIT, Stanford, Yale, Cambridge and others)

MOOCs and Open Education Timeline πηγή:http://publications. cetis. ac

MOOCs servers EdX www.edx.org Coursera www.coursera.org FutureLearn www.futurelearn.com Udemy www.udemy.com Udacity www.udacity.com Khan Academy www.khanacademy.org Iversity https://iversity.org/

Coursera a nonprofit company that collaborates with more than 80 universities from around the world Offers over 500 courses has students from 190 countries Is the main course provider with 22 million records in courses As of 2014 it offers training courses with a fee 

EdX Offers over 140 courses Partnered with more than 30 universities Is a non-profit organization founded by MIT and Berkley All courses offered are free

FutureLearn Launched in 2012 by the UK Open University Partnered with more than 20 universities and educational institutions Already provides over 30 courses and more are added each year

Udemy Contains plenty of courses mainly technological ones Most courses have a small fee The platform gives the possibility to create and upload lessons The courses are asynchronous There are lessons in Greek

Udacity Is a non-profit organization founded in 2012 Offers courses in almost all fields of sciences The courses are asynchronous The courses are divided into three levels: Beginners, Intermediate and Advanced

Khan Academy Covers the areas of natural sciences, humanities and Economics The level of courses start from secondary education The courses are asynchronous Includes original  placement  test Enables creation of groups for teaching

Iversity German online course delivery platform founded in 2013 Provides courses in English and in German Partners with teachers or institutions who want to produce open courses

MOOCs- Paedagogy Most MOOC providers have left the choice of pedagogical approach to the University that undertakes the creation of each lesson. The exception is EdX which has set strict criteria to partners for the creation of courses .

MOOCs- Paedagogy Due to the nature and structure of the massive Open Online Courses the pedagogical th eory that underlies in most of them is ‘connectivism’. The ones that are more ‘traditional’ are clearly influenced by ‘constructivism’.

Conectivism Learning is a process of connecting information hubs. Learning can be gained through "devices". The ability to learn is more important than the existing knowledge. The ability to discern correlations between scientific fields, ideas and opinions are catalytic. The goal of all conectivism processes is the acquisition of modern knowledge. Decision making is by itself a learning process.

Teacher’s role in MOOCs A new drive between students  and teacher directed mainly by the massiveness, the diversity and heterogeneity of the student groups.

Teacher’s role in MOOCs Is responsible for the educational material Monitors forums, highlights the most interesting or important messages Sends  emails and  newsletters Gives general guidelines for the tasks or tests Proposes alternative sources of information Gives guidelines of the course

Teacher’s role in MOOCs Does not solve questions Does not explain Does not correct Does not respond to emails Has no direct contact with the student

teacher assistant Τ.Α Actively participates in forums Replies to emails Solves questions Helps in technical or procedural problems Supports or encourages

Changes in Teacher’s role The use of technology helps the teacher to focus more on content than on cumbersome tasks undertaken by the computer. (e.g. automatic correction) The Group of students does not have the structure of traditional education, it  is a dynamic and heterogeneous group evolving during the course.

Changes in Teacher’s role The promotion of sociability (participation in forums, working g roups, etc.) is essential in MOOCs in contrast to the traditional education as the risk of isolation is greater. Do you enjoy interacting with other students on Coursera? Yes, I enjoy interacting with other students on Coursera 34% No, I do not usually interact with other students on Coursera 60% No, I do not enjoy interacting with other students on Coursera 6% Πηγή: coursera poll 15/10/2013

Changes in Teacher’s role In an online course everyone acts or deals with the subject they know best (lesson plan, task planning assistance, etc.) The main aim of the teacher is to keep the student in class

Emerging student patterns in Moocs

Conclusion The teacher’s role is highly differentiated in  MOOCs in contrast to conventional training or other open learning models, mainly because of massiveness. Students’ expectations vary depending on the course instructor chosen. Teacher-student interaction possibilities are limited.

Conclusion change of teacher's role is important  not only in open education systems, but also in traditional teaching. There is need to cultivate the skills which will enable the student to meet the requirements of continuing education

Student role in Moocs-Pros the students choose the lesson that they want to attend Can select the space, time and the pace at which they learn No need to get into the process of examinations to enroll in a course Has the opportunity to investigate a topic of interest in various sources

Student role in Moocs-Cons Entry is usually at no cost so users often   opt classes randomly Open Access does not ensure that the student has the required knowledge for the course they  chose student's isolation from the student community is characteristic If there is no proper guidance, the learner could be sidetracked by the large volume of information provided

Student-Interaction The courses promote in various ways the interaction among students (discussion forums, peer learning, etc) Interaction is usually inadequate due to heterogeneity of students (in terms of of cognitive, linguistic and cultural background)

Obstacles to MOOC attendance Massiveness to some extent prevents the personalization of learning Most courses are offered in English Literacy in technological means is needed The plethora of courses is chaotic for the user

Utilization of MOOCs in higher education Integration in the curriculum of formal higher education Complementary use to cover gaps or provide additional knowledge Use for continuing education to minimize costs

Universities Could use ready-made lessons from the plethora of courses already offered on the Internet create new courses designed specifically to meet own needs 

MOOCs -Disruptive Innovation The theory of disruptive innovation (Bower, Christensen, 1995) offers an explanation of how certain innovations disrupt existing markets, at the expense of incumbents, through a combination of technological innovations that enable the development of alternative products and services.

MOOCs -Disruptive Innovation MOOCs are considered as disruptive or disruptive-innovation as they have caused shifting of costs from students in educational institutions and prospective employers, offering services such as recommending specific students for certain jobs depending on their performance in their respective MOOCs (Yuan 2013).