Canary in the Coal Mine of Online Learning

A Canary in the Coal Mine
of Online Learning
Lori Packer
HighEdWeb
October 8, 2013
#tie11
Sunday, October 6, 2013

“Online” learning
isn’t new
Walter Lewin, “Electricity and Magnetism” http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/physics/8-02-electricity-
and-magnetism-spring-2002/ License: Creative Commons BY-NC-SA

“Online” learning
isn’t new
Walter Lewin
MIT Physics professor
Courses have been
on MIT CableTV for 20
years.
Broadcast on PBS
stations in 1990s.
Offered as EdX
MOOC in 2013.
Walter Lewin, “Electricity and Magnetism” http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/physics/8-02-electricity-
and-magnetism-spring-2002/ License: Creative Commons BY-NC-SA

Technology has changed.
Business models have changed.
Expectations have changed.
Commitment to open learning
and teaching is the same.
#tie11

Case Study #1:
Traditional
Online degree in Library and
Information Sciences from
Syracuse University’s iSchool
#tie11

Gamiﬁcation course offered by
University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton
School through Coursera
Taught by Kevin Werbach (@kwerb)
#tie11
Case Study #2: MOOC

What is a MOOC, you ask?
Massive Open Online Course
Free, open to anyone who signs up, all online
(no classroom component)
Udacity (Stanford)
edX (MIT and Harvard, Berkeley)
Coursera (now up to 88 partner schools)
#tie11

What is Coursera, you ask?
Start-up founded by two Stanford professors in
April 2012; spawned consortium with Penn,
Michigan, Princeton
Major expansions in September 2012 (17 new
schools added) and February 2013 (29 new
schools added)
Huge growth overseas: 31 of 88 partners are
now outside the U.S.
#tie11

What is Coursera, you ask?
For-profit, venture capital funded
Reported first revenues in first quarter
of 2013 after offering “Signature
Track”
452 courses, 4.9 million students
Costs universities ~$30K-50k to produce a
Coursera MOOC
#tie11

Students

Case Study #1:
Traditional
Apply to grad program, are accepted or rejected
20-30 students per class
Mix of students who need the MLS credential and
students changing, expanding careers
Most work full-time, do not live in Syracuse
#tie11

80,000 students enrolled
43,000 watched 1st lecture video
12,800 submitted 1st written assignment
10,700 submitted 2nd written assignment
8,280 completed course & earned certiﬁcate
#tie11
Case Study #2: MOOC

Case Study #2: MOOC
Study in April 2013 showed average completion
rates for MOOCs at around 7%
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/05/10/new-study-low-mooc-completion-rates
Should we care about completion rates?
Do we know the intent of the thousands of
students who enroll in a MOOC?
The “Netﬂix effect”
http://wjspaniel.wordpress.com/2013/05/27/can-we-stop-caring-about-mooc-completion-rates/
#tie11

Faculty

Personal Takeaway #1
Faculty are HUGELY important to an
online learning experience, both
traditional and MOOC ...
... and maybe even more so than in
an in-person classroom experience.
#tie11

Case Study #1:
Traditional
• Create syllabi
• Prepare lectures (usually)
• Moderate discussions forums (usually)
• Devise assignments
• Grade assignments
#tie11

• Prepare lectures
• Devise assignments
• ... and thatʼs pretty much it.
• Grading = online quizzes, peer grading
#tie11
Case Study #2: MOOC

More on Peer Grading
Must complete 3 written assignments
Must evaluate essays from 3 students
BUT ... why would another student in this class
know more than me on this topic?
#tie11

Lectures

Case Study #1:
Traditional

Case Study #2: MOOC

The lecture isn’t going away.
The lecture -- as a format, as
content -- is what binds the students
together in an online class, more so
than “discussions.”
It’s what we have in common. It
provides structure.

Collaboration

“Discussions” are not discussions.
Discuss.
#tie11

Case Study #1:
Traditional
Discussions are treated as homework
Effectiveness depends on the role taken by the
professor
Blackboard makes following discussion
threads difﬁcult
#tie11

Case Study #1:
Traditional
Other “collaboration” tools in Blackboard:
• Blogs
• Wikis
• Messaging
• File sharing
However, real collaboration took place on Google
Docs, Facebook groups
#tie11

I’ve found MOOCs a solitary experience
Discussion forums actually didn’t play a role in the
class for me at all
Real discussions were on Twitter, mostly with
friends outside the class
Discussion platform in Coursera more user-friendly
Case Study #2: MOOC
#tie11

Technology

Less is more with educational technology.
I don’t need a Swiss-army-knife,
kitchen-sink LMS.
Make it easy to use, easy to collaborate.
#tie11

Case Study #1:
Traditional
http://goddessofclarity.com/
2011/07/18/blackboard-is-not-
awesome/
“Blackboard is not
awesome.”
#tie11

Case Study #2: MOOC
#tie11

The Future of
Higher Ed?

“Rarely is the question asked,
‘Is our children learning?’”
http://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/hack-higher-education/dropping-out-moocs-it-really-okay

“MIT and Harvard will use the
jointly operated edX platform to
research how students learn and
how technologies can facilitate
effective teaching both on-campus
and online. The edX platform will
enable the study of which
teaching methods and tools are
most successful. ”
http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2012/mit-harvard-edx-
announcement-050212.html
#tie11

“Data from edX’s first course
offer preliminary insights into
online learning”
http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2013/6002x-data-offer-
insights-into-online-learning-0611.html
#tie11
Only 3% of students used forums
Peer interaction increased student’s chance of success
Video lectures most popular resource when completing
assignments; online textbook for taking exams

Online learning != MOOCs
#tie11

Inside Higher Ed 2013 Survey on
Faculty Attitudes on Technology
http://www.insidehighered.com/sites/default/server_files/
files/FacTech%20webinar.pdf
#tie11
Make syllabus available on LMS?
76% = always; 7% = never
Lecture capture?
Identify those needing help?

“Every course I’ve ever taken in
Blackboard has been different than every
other course I’ve taken in Blackboard.”
#tie11

Coursera courses approved for college credit by
ACE
http://www.informationweek.com/education/online-learning/coursera-courses-approved-for-college-cr/
240148119
Rubber hits the road: Half dozen institutions to
grant transfer credit
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/08/08/researchers-wait-see-if-students-want-transfer-
credits-moocs
MOOC ‘revolution’ may not be as disruptive as
some had imagined
http://chronicle.com/article/MOOCs-May-Not-Be-So-Disruptive/140965/
Credentialling and
Transfer Credits

Adding value:
Education or Prestige?
“Think about how impressed you’d be if
your cousin got into Harvard. Then think
about how impressed you’d be if your
cousin told you she was going to enroll in
Harvard’s free online course. Then
subtract those two. The difference is the
value of a Harvard education.”
--University of Rochester
professor Ben Hayden
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-decision-tree/
201205/how-harvard-and-mit-can-give-away-their-only-
product-free
#tie11

“In five to 10 years, people are going
to look back and wonder why
universities ever crammed 500
students into an auditorium to listen
to a lecture for an hour and a half.”
-- Coursera co-founder Daphne Koller
http://www.npr.org/2012/09/30/162053927/online-education-
grows-up-and-for-now-its-free
#tie11

Questions?
I’m all ears.
< do canaries have ears? >
@LoriPA

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