I attended the Research and Innovation in Distance Education and eLearning (RIDE) conference in March, and a\u00a0session I found particularly interesting was a presentation by\u00a0Stylianos\u00a0Hatzipanagos\u00a0and Alan Tait, from the University of London, about MOOCs and their unintentional consequences for\u00a0learning and teaching.<\/p>\n
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Numbers of MOOCs, and learners taking them,\u00a0have been\u00a0steadily growing over the past five years, and there are many benefits to both learners and institutions. We have found at Leicester that they provide a valuable platform to extend brand awareness and showcase our learning, teaching and research, as well as acting as ‘taster’ short courses to encourage recruitment to our degree\u00a0programmes.<\/p>\n
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One of the greatest benefits, however, is the opportunity MOOCs give us for innovation in learning and teaching. They\u00a0allow us to keep pace with changes in technology enhanced learning and innovative\u00a0pedagogies, and the\u00a0large number of learners\u00a0provides us with a low cost and low risk way of trying out new pedagogical approaches, or even\u00a0piloting new courses.\u00a0MOOCs have given us an opportunity to think about both distance and\u00a0campus-based\u00a0learning in fresh ways. There have\u00a0been many changes over the last decade in learning technology\u037e meaning distance learning has\u00a0become more mainstream, and people expect to be able to access simple effective learning from\u00a0anywhere, through storytelling, discussion, and community support.<\/p>\n
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Hatzipanagos\u00a0and\u00a0Tait\u00a0have previously researched\u00a0learning design characteristics of MOOCs that are essential for independent\u00a0learning and student support, and the extent to which these are implicit or explicit in the design of MOOCs, and how\u00a0they are embedded in the MOOC platform. They found that academic staff had some of their ideas challenged within the MOOC environment, and\u00a0the constraints of the MOOC platform allowed them to\u00a0become more\u00a0creative\u00a0with their learning design.<\/p>\n
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This prompted\u00a0them\u00a0to begin\u00a0to\u00a0inquire into the\u00a0impact\u00a0of the experience of designing MOOCs on\u00a0campus-based\u00a0teaching.\u00a0They\u00a0identified\u00a0that the\u00a0effect\u00a0of MOOCs can be\u00a0direct, for example,\u00a0when MOOCs are embedded in the distance\u00a0learning curriculum.\u00a0But the impact can also be indirect and\u00a0unintended\u00a0\u2013\u00a0when\u00a0learning design features of\u00a0MOOCs challenge and enrich \u2018traditional\u2019 and more\u00a0established teaching practices in distance learning\u00a0environments.<\/p>\n
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They have interviewed eight colleagues in different University of London institutions and asked them whether their involvement with MOOCs has had any impact on their mainstream teaching and in what ways. They also asked whether working on MOOCs has changed their professional\u00a0priorities in teaching and research.<\/p>\n
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Preliminary results\u00a0have showed that\u00a0MOOC work\u00a0has\u00a0reinforced\u00a0an\u00a0interest in learning and\u00a0teaching\u00a0and\u00a0has increased commitment to pedagogy. The experience of designing MOOCs has ‘demystified’ and\u00a0normalised\u00a0online learning, and many have used materials created for the MOOCs in campus classes, sometimes using a flipped classroom approach.<\/p>\n
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This correlates with our findings at\u00a0Leicester\u00a0and\u00a0reinforces\u00a0our\u00a0believe that applying a\u00a0MOOC methodology to\u00a0curriculum design\u00a0can be very beneficial, in particular in improving student engagement through active learning.<\/p>\n
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Jess\u00a0Gifkins,\u00a0a Research Fellow at the Asia-Pacific Centre for the Responsibility to Protect, says ‘The drop-off in concentration can be limited by using a different approach to\u00a0learning\u00a0each 15 minutes (which means changing the way students are engaged, rather than changing topics). Active learning promotes recall and deeper understanding of material, as students are engaging with the content rather than simply listening to it.’1<\/sup>\u00a0MOOCs\u00a0naturally\u00a0build in active learning techniques in\u00a0short focused activities, but these can be equally applied to a lecture or other classroom setting relatively easily.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n In conclusion,\u00a0Hatzipanagos\u00a0and\u00a0Tait\u00a0have\u00a0found\u00a0that\u00a0MOOCs seem to influence attitudes\u00a0to online learning and teaching, and this has been embedded into\u00a0more \u2018traditional\u2019 approaches\u00a0with, for example,\u00a0engagement with flipped classroom activities\u00a0and embracing the use of multimedia.\u00a0Designing MOOCs has resulted in\u00a0changing attitudes towards,\u00a0and acceptance of,\u00a0peer\u00a0learning,\u00a0reinstating automated assessment as a \u2018valid\u2019\u00a0assessment format, and greater evaluation of practice.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Here are the LLI we would like to harness these ‘unintended’ outcomes of\u00a0MOOCs\u00a0and\u00a0build upon them to enhance our mainstream provision. We recently held a workshop, ‘A MOOC approach to active learning and student engagement’, and plan to run this again\u00a0soon. If you are interested in\u00a0attending\u00a0please contact Rachel Tunstall at\u00a0rct13@le.ac.uk<\/a>\u00a0and we will send more details when they are available.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n