MOOCs at Early Adopter Universities August 2014 Deke Kassabian, Ed.D. Senior IT Director and Education Researcher University of Pennsylvania

Massive Open Online Courses A little MOOC history What everyone is talking about Disrupting education Access, Completion, Cost My research at Columbia, Duke and Harvard My research questions Findings, and What I learned at my study sites What everyone could be talking about: Teaching and Learning My Publication Open Discussion

Massive Open Online Courses A little MOOC history What everyone is talking about Disrupting education Access, Completion, Cost My research at Columbia, Duke and Harvard My research questions Findings, and What I learned at my study sites What everyone could be talking about: Teaching and Learning My Publication Open Discussion

Massive Open Online Courses A little MOOC history What everyone is talking about Disrupting education Access, Completion, Cost My research at Columbia, Duke and Harvard My research questions Findings, and What I learned at my study sites What everyone could be talking about: Teaching and Learning My Publication Open Discussion

Benefits of MOOCs Source: Perna and Ruby (2014). What’s Ahead: MOOC Commentary

Massive Open Online Courses A little MOOC history What everyone is talking about Disrupting education Access, Completion, Cost My research at Columbia, Duke and Harvard My research questions Findings, and What I learned at my study sites What everyone could be talking about: Teaching and Learning My Publication Open Discussion

My Research Questions What do studied universities hope to achieve and learn? How will they assess progress toward those goals, and how will that inform their decisions on continued commitment? For those that plan an ongoing MOOC program, what return on investment or value proposition do they plan?

My Research Methodology Qualitative case study research at three elite, early- adopter universities: Columbia, Duke and Harvard (Performed a pilot study at Penn) 41 1-hour interviews across 3 institutions during the second half of All transcribed for later analysis. Questions developed to draw out discussion relevant to research questions In addition to interviews, studied documents and made observations Coding, inductive analysis of all raw data Written case studies, findings and conclusion presented as a doctoral dissertation in April 2014

MOOC Providers used by Ivy+ Peers

MOOC Oversight at Columbia Source: Kassabian Dissertation

MOOC Oversight at Duke Source: Kassabian Dissertation

MOOC Oversight at Harvard Source: Kassabian Dissertation

Findings (1 of 2) At all studied sites, MOOCs became a university- wide initiative and a top university leader was engaged from the very start. At all studied sites, some differences existed between the primary motivations of the faculty and the primary motivations of the administration.

Findings (2 of 2) Differences existed in research emphasis across the studied sites. At all three studied sites, enhancing educational access and benefitting on-campus teaching and learning were key goals. Cutting the costs of higher education and improving higher education completion did not emerge as goals.

MOOC Goals Access? Cost Control? College Completion? College and University Marketing? Research? Classroom Benefits? Something else?

A Disconnect About Goals Improving College Completion Controlling College Costs Improving Access to Education Reputational Benefits Improving College Completion Controlling College Costs Improving Access to Education Reputational Benefits Narrative in the Higher Education Press

A Disconnect About Goals Improving College Completion Controlling College Costs Improving Access to Education Reputational Benefits Improving College Completion Controlling College Costs Improving Access to Education Reputational Benefits Improving Access to Education Reputational Benefits Pursuing Educational Research Improving Classroom Education Improving Access to Education Reputational Benefits Pursuing Educational Research Improving Classroom Education Goals of Early Adopters Narrative in the Higher Education Press

Benefits of MOOCs Source: Perna and Ruby (2014). What’s Ahead: MOOC Commentary

MOOCs at Penn Coordinated by the Open Learning group in the Office of the Provost Distributed effort for development Very active: 30 different courses offered since 2012, some more than once All 12 Penn schools participating More than 2 million unique students have participated Note: I have no official involvement in MOOCs at Penn

MOOC Enrollments at Penn Source: Bennet, A. (2014). Penn Course Status Report Note: I have no official involvement in MOOCs at Penn

This Topic in Educause Review Source: Educause Review Online, June 2014 The Value of MOOCs to Early Adopter Universities For more on this topic, see my article in Educause Review at

Open Discussion What do you think about the future of MOOCs? What is the role of online educational technology in terms of our teaching and learning mission? What roles do IT professionals have in support of Teaching and Learning? What roles could/should they have? Your questions here

MOOCs at Early Adopter Universities August 2014 Deke Kassabian, University of Pennsylvania