1. Making use of MOOCs E/merge Africa Seminar 25-29 July
Andrew Deacon, Tasneem Jaffer, Janet Small, Sukaina Walji
Centre for Innovation in Learning & Teaching, University of Cape Town

2. Seminar overview Today’s presentation
What are MOOCs
Types of MOOC
Who is here
Six MOOC uses & our collective experience
Questions to explore during the week
imagining more and different uses
Final session on 29 July
extending ideas about uses

3. M O O C Massive Have many thousands participanting Open
Open to anyone with an internet connection
Online
Everything is online
Course
Course is organised to support learning

4. What is different about MOOCs?
MOOCs are like other courses but have greater:
scale in terms of numbers of students
diversity in the backgrounds of students
flexibility in how students access and engage

5. MOOCs occupy “in between” spaces
An “in-between” space for engaging large numbers of people in a learning experience
Educational books, media, …
MOOCs
Traditional formal courses
It is this “in-between” space that MOOCs are helping explore whereby large numbers of people can become engaged through forms of social interaction.
Adopting measures used with formal online courses to assess the outcomes of MOOCs is often not informative because the context and objectives are typically very different. Suggesting “successful learning” in MOOC should be measured as completion means all MOOCs perform poorly, which is not necessarily the case. MOOC designers and educators have sought other indicators and measures for what might constitute a successful MOOC. Book publishers, television producers and public lecture presenters would use sales, views and attendees in much the same way MOOCs used enrolment as a show of interest or engagement. Such indicators capture many possible motivations
Expect high engagement, but small numbers reached
Lower engagement; different measures of engagement (sales, views, attendees), with large numbers reached

6. e.g. most degree programmes
e.g. Short courses
Global Citizenship
Write Science courses

7. To pioneer the best social learning experiences for everyone, anywhere
We provide universal access to the world’s best education.

8. Current UCT MOOC portfolio

10. Enrollment by continent
42% from Africa, Asia and South America

11. Types of MOOCs
Understanding types helps determine use and re-use

12. Showcase teaching and introduce topics with high-profile ‘rockstar’ presenters
Showcase research and special interest topics of interest to postgraduate level
Introduce fields and support students in undergraduate study
Showcase professional careers for continuing education and qualifications
Develop skills and introduce topics for postgraduate study.

13. Category 1 Teaching showcase
General interest high profile course
Showcases the institution by means of an engaging subject or personality led.
Global interest and matches a popular understanding of high profile MOOCs
High production costs | high enrollment | loose curriculum ties
May attract external funding

14. Category 2 Gateway skills
Provides foundational, bridging or enhancement skills for pre HE entry or during undergraduate pathways towards specialisation.
Could replace teaching for 'bottleneck courses.’
Local interest, either within the institution or at a country-wide setting.
Moderate production costs | low enrollment | close curriculum ties
May attract external funding |

15. Category 3 Graduate literacies
Post-graduate level courses to support application or programmes of study
Focussed on building postgraduate literacies.
Likely to be of local or national interest.
Moderate production costs | low enrollment | close curriculum ties
May attract external funding

16. Category 4 Professional showcase
Geared towards vocational skills development, re-tooling and professional development.
Could be offered in conjunction with professional bodies.
Likely to be of local interest, although some specialised topics may be globally relevant. .
Moderate to high production costs |medium to high enrollment
Close curriculum ties |May attract organisational funding
High potential for pathway to credit or revenue generation

17. Category 5 Research showcase
Showcase research or more specialised topics of interest
Offered at postgraduate level and assume some background in the topicstill geared towards general or leisure learning.
Likely to have global appeal.
Moderate/high production costs | medium/high enrollment
Loose curriculum ties

18. Who we are & our experience
From the pre-course survey

19. Where are we from?

20. Have you enrolled in a MOOC?

21. Have you completed a MOOC?

22. MOOC uses

23. As an Open Educational Resource
Where material in MOOCs is shared as a resource or downloaded and used to create new learning materials
Our example: Education for All
Staff at a hospital downloaded videos and showed them in a group meeting where to stimulate discussions on disabilities In their context
© University of Cape Town CC-BY

24. Degrees of Openness: Creative Commons licensing
© University of Cape Town CC-BY-NC

25. As part of a Prescribed Task
Where a MOOC or specific modules of a MOOC is prescribed to students to watch, read or interact with as part of a core or supplementary programme of study
Our example: What is a Mind?
Another university required its students to take this MOOC and then write an additional essay for which they would be awarded credit.

26. As supporting a flipped classroom
Where a formal class incorporates a MOOC, using the MOOC materials as core content and lectures, and contact time is used to stimulate discussion and activities
Our example: Medicine & the Arts course run as a flipped classroom by educators

27. Flipped classroom example

28. As bridging
MOOC recommended to students by a lecturer and taken independently by formal students to supplement current study or enable transition
Our example: Understanding Clinical Research which is recommended to MMEd students enabling them to start with their research projects

29. As wrapping
Where a study group takes a MOOC together supported by a facilitator who might localise or contextualise MOOC material Our example: Postgraduate Office at UCT offers facilitated MOOCs

30. As partnering or affiliation
A local institution formally partners with or becomes an affiliate of a MOOC to deliver a localised version of MOOC Our example: CopyrightX affiliate version at UCT where UCT students study localised version of HarvardX. Certification is available to these students.

31. How have you used MOOCs?
My Honours student had to follow the first two weeks of a particular MOOC.
I use them to build my businesses and also create courses
Advice my students to make use of MOOC's to develop there skills
It can help me make my own online courses.
Pre-class preparation.

32. Have you recommended MOOCs?
Students were really excited to be exposed to perspectives. This opened them up to embrace the opportunities that exists for their learning processes (academic and professional).
They were really surprised at the vast amount of knowledge and free material on the internet, and were very keen to enroll and participate.
They enjoyed it more than the normal pre- reading assignments
These were informal recommendations, not linked to any of the courses I taught. The students were happy to find interesting resources.
They were astounded that education could be free
We are an under resourced school. But I have recommended MOOCs to my fellow teachers and friends

33. Follow-up and discussions
Feedback from participants on these uses
Do they make sense?
What barriers or constraints are there?
Further discussion
How can you use MOOCs in your context
How are you already using MOOCs
What opportunities do you see?

34. Thank you!