Students’ demographics and behaviour in a series of Australian massive open online courses

I investigate the demographics and behavior of students in a series of four Astrophysics Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) offered in 2014-15 by the Australian National University, via the edX Consortium. 135,000 students enrolled in one or more of the courses. These students came from 175 countries: only 6% came from within Australia and less than half had heard of the Australian National University before enrolling. MOOCs are thus an effective way to increase awareness of Australian universities amongst populations where such awareness is extremely low. Only 30% of those who enrolled in the first course ever logged in, and only 10% passed the first homework. Amongst those who passed the first homework, however, 75% would go on to pass the course. Students in the age range 20-30 years were particularly likely to enroll in the course but never log in. The students found the MOOCs to be an effective educational experience: 87% said that they learned as much or more from these MOOCs as they had from on-campus courses. They particularly praised the ability to pause and re-wind the short videos used in the course

Flipping Game Development

[EN] This work describes the implementation of a flip teaching alternative in an introductory game development course, using resources from a massive open online course. The results proved to achieve better grades and higher satisfaction to previous and similar lecture-based coursesLinares-Pellicer, J.; Orta-López Jorge; Izquierdo-Doménech, JJ. (2018). Flipping Game Development. IEEE Computer Graphics and Applications. 38(6):118-124. https://doi.org/10.1109/MCG.2018.2876487S11812438

Developing a MOOC Initiative: lessons learnt from The Universitat Politecnica de Valencia experience

[EN] Universitat Politecnica de Valencia (UPV) was the European institution with more MOOC course runs done by December 2016. This paper describes and analyses the decision-making process, and rationale of the development of this low budget real MOOC institutional initiative carried out by a traditional higher educational medium sized institution. This analysis is done using an Evaluative Research (ER) method based on an iterative approach of 6 cycles of formative evaluation. It has been a multiple stage process that includes many aspects. In this paper, we will analyze two of them: the creation, organization and management of a fast and cheap MOOC production process, including the several tools, plans, and procedures that have enabled UPV to create courses fast and with a low-cost; and the technical evolution of the initiative, with the different platforms that have been used. As a consequence of this process, UPV has its own platform (upvx.es) based on openedX and is a member of edx.org, with 50 courses, 177 editions, and more than 632.000 enrollments. The completion rate is 8.69%, and post-course surveys reveal a high level of satisfaction from students. The paper will finish addressing the challenges of making this an entirely self-sustainable initiative and reflecting about what is required for evaluating this experience globally.Despujol Zabala, I.; Castañeda Quintero, L.; Turró Ribalta, C. (2018). Developing a MOOC Initiative: lessons learnt from The Universitat Politecnica de Valencia experience. Turkish Online Journal of Distance Education. 19(1):215-233. doi:10.17718/tojde.38280521523319

Students’ demographics and behaviour in a series of Australian massive open online courses (MOOCS)

I investigate the demographics and behavior of students in a series of four Astrophysics Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) offered in 2014-15 by the *** University, via the *** Consortium. 60,000 students enrolled in one or more of the courses. These students came from 175 countries: only 6% came from within Australia and less than half had heard of *** University before enrolling. MOOCs are thus an effective way to increase awareness of Australian universities amongst populations where such awareness is extremely low. Only 30% of those who enrolled in the first course ever logged in, and only 10% passed the first homework. Amongst those who passed the first homework, however, 750% would go on to pass the course. Students in the age range 20-30 years were particularly likely to enroll in the course but never log in. The students found the MOOCs to be an effective educational experience: 87% said that they learned as much or more from these MOOCs as they had from on-campus courses. They particularly praised the ability to pause and re-wind the short videos used in the course

Developing sustainable business models for institutions’ provision of open educational resources: Learning from OpenLearn users’ motivations and experiences

Universities across the globe have, for some time, been exploring the possibilities for achieving public benefit and generating business and visibility through releasing and sharing open educational resources (OER). Many have written about the need to develop sustainable and profitable business models around the production and release of OER. Downes (2006), for example, has questioned the financial sustainability of OER production at scale. Many of the proposed business models focus on OER’s value in generating revenue and detractors of OER have questioned whether they are in competition with formal education. This paper reports on a study intended to broaden the conversation about OER business models to consider the motivations and experiences of OER users as the basis for making a better informed decision about whether OER and formal learning are competitive or complementary with each other. The study focused on OpenLearn - the Open University’s (OU) web-based platform for OER, which hosts hundreds of online courses and videos and is accessed by over 3,000,000 users a year. A large scale survey and follow-up interviews with OpenLearn users worldwide revealed that university provided OER can offer learners a bridge to formal education, allowing them to try out a subject before registering on a formal course and to build confidence in their abilities as learners. In addition, it was found that using OER during formal paid-for study can improve learners’ performance and self-reliance, leading to increased retention and satisfaction with the learning experience

Open educational resources for all? Comparing user motivations and characteristics across The Open University’s iTunes U channel and OpenLearn platform.

With the rise in access to mobile multimedia devices, educational institutions have exploited the iTunes U platform as an additional channel to provide free educational resources with the aim of profile-raising and breaking down barriers to education. For those prepared to invest in content preparation, it is possible to produce interactive, portable material that can be made available globally. Commentators have questioned both the financial implications for platform-specific content production, and the availability of devices for learners to access it (Osborne, 2012). The Open University (OU) makes its free educational resources available on iTunes U and via its web-based open educational resources (OER) platform, OpenLearn. The OU’s OER on iTunes U reached the 60 million download mark in 2013; its OpenLearn platform boasts 27 million unique visitors since 2006. This paper reports the results of a large-scale study of users of the OU’s iTunes U channel and OpenLearn platform. A survey of several thousand users revealed key differences in demographics between those accessing OER via the web and via iTunes U. In addition, the data allowed comparison between three groups: formal learners, informal learners and educators. The study raises questions about whether university-provided OER meet the needs of users and makes recommendations for how content can be modified to suit their needs. As the publishing of OER becomes core to business, we reflect on reasons why understanding users’ motivations and demographics is vital, allowing for needs-led resource provision and content that is adapted to best achieve learner satisfaction, and to deliver institutions’ social mission

Assessing K12 Online Teachers Knowledge of Online Student Identities and Characteristics

As K12 online learning continues to grow across the nation, the population of online students, much like the population of face-to face students, continues to change. As the online student population becomes increasingly diverse, not only in terms of race, but in terms of religion, sexual orientation and socioeconomic status, research must be undertaken to assess the level of preparation that K12 online teachers have in terms of teaching this population. This dissertation intends to serve as a baseline analysis, providing information on K12 online teachers\u27 knowledge of the types of student characteristics and identities that may be present in their online students, as well as their abilities to meet the needs of these increasingly diverse students. Using the MAKSS-T survey measure and framed within the lens of Bourdieu\u27s field theory, this study found that while K12 online teachers feel as if they have a good understanding of a number of possible characteristics and identities in their online students, that terms related to sexual orientation were not as well understood. Additionally, teachers felt good in terms of their skills in addressing the unique needs of these students. However, teachers felt weakest in their ability to critique multicultural research. Teachers also noted that they do not feel adequately prepared to handle this changing population and desire additional training in this area

Examining Interventions and Cognitive Load Factors in Online Learning Experiences

Since the beginning of the development of massive open online courses (MOOCs), these and other online learning environments have been considered as potential partial solutions to some persistent problems in higher education. These learning environments, while they have great educational value, have not been as effective as they could be, because they have largely been built with little or no foundation in the cognitive processes (e.g., the conversion of items from short-term to long-term memory) required for effective and efficient online learning. Many innovative online learning approaches are in development, such as personalized learning (learning experiences tailored to address particular information that students need) using adaptive learning systems (machine learning techniques used by computers to recommend materials). However, these approaches would also benefit from being grounded in cognitive theory to better reveal how learning occurs in these systems. Furthermore, crucial features of interventions in online learning, such as supplementary elements designed to fill in gaps or reinforce knowledge, have not been thoroughly examined in conjunction with the insights of cognitive theory and the concept of desirable difficulty (i.e., the notion that the addition of difficulty to a task can improve learning and increase retention). In this exploratory work, I experimentally examine five different types of interventions and their effects on undergraduate engineering students’ learning gains and experience. This study presents quantitative research along with detailed qualitative thematic analysis. Its objective is to provide critical insights into how to better design online learning environments and how we can create more effective interventions that promote students’ online learning gains. The research questions for this work are: (1) What factors in online learning environments affect learning gains (i.e., measured difference between post- and pre-test scores) for undergraduate engineering students?; (2) What factors in online learning environments affect the learning experience for undergraduate engineering students, and, specifically, what factors produce desirable difficulty?; and (3) What factors in online learning affect undergraduate engineering students’ self-reported memory? The experimental results, examined within the framework of cognitive theory, showed quantitatively that levels of frustration with interventions were correlated with learning gains while qualitative analysis results revealed instances that both confirmed and contradicted aspects of the quantitative results. A number of practical design guidelines emerged from the analysis: for example, in specific circumstances, one type of intervention is likely to be more effective than another, or that particular sorts of additional difficulties should be avoided. These recommendations may provide researchers with a better understanding of how to challenge students in more efficient and productive ways in online learning environments.PHDIndustrial & Operations EngineeringUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/162900/1/seokjook_1.pd

Using Open Data as a Material for Introductory Programming Assignments

This case study explores why and how open data can be used as a material with which to produce engaging challenges for students as they are introduced to programming. Through describing the process of producing the assignments, and learner responses to them, we suggest that open data is a powerful material for designing learning activities because of its qualities of ease of access and authenticity. We conclude by outlining steps to take in devising and implementing open data-based assignments