Heather's Reading and Thinking Notes Week 11: 11/4-MOOCs
I fully acknowledge that the assignment says that I should "focus on 3D game Lab learning", but since I did most of my 3D game lab work in one time-block a couple of weeks ago, it has all been sufficiently covered in previous weeks' reading and thinking notes. So, in an effort to still use this time and space wisely, I will use these notes to cover my thoughts on...
"Learning How to Teach . . . Differently: Extracts from a MOOC Instructor’s Journal"
by Denise K. Comer
Comer begins keeping a journal saying that, "My priorities for teaching a MOOC are twofold: (1) to cultivate global conversations about writing so more people around the world can grow as writers and learn about writing from each other; and (2) to conduct research on how the MOOC impacts the teaching and learning of writing" (131).
Structural struggles:
*She struggles with structural limitations since the ideal MOOC is not credit bearing and lasts only 6-7 weeks, whereas traditional classes that she has taught last 16 weeks and are for credit, and of course...
*they must accommodate wide range of non-traditional students (high school students, grandparents, and everything in between)
*MOOCs historically have massive enrollment, but not necessarily students who plan to complete the course. *Interestingly, MOOC enrollees for her writing course seem to be students who simply want to improve their writing, not students looking to replace the traditional freshman writing course.
*Contrary to popular belief, MOOCs still need to be facilitated by a busily engaged instructor
Platform struggles:
*With regard to Comer's MOOC platform, there are systemic limitations, like the inability to upload a PDF and the 500 word length maximum. Even with these overcome, there are still time limitations that are frustrating for Comer as a course designer.
* One example of this is the way that peer feedback is randomized by the computer, so the instructor can't assign the same peer reviewer for multiple stages of the process.
Personal struggles:
*In recording lecture videos to post for the class, Comer finds herself preoccupied with her outfits and hair, in a way that hasn't concerned her in years!
*She was challenged with trying to translate class discussions to lecture and powerpoint. She prefers a less formal class style.
*She also struggled with how to interact with students. Do you open your Facebook to thousands of students? Do you respond to the deluge of emails?
*Comer felt unusual shyness interacting with students in the forums
*Massive negative feedback on a course can be frustrating (even when it is alongside massive positive feedback); and the question is, how do you respond to that? do you respond to it? Some of this feedback makes personal attacks on her teaching, or on MOOCs in general.
*In the end, there was enough positive feedback to still make the endeavor gratifying
Massive enrollment struggles:
*Since enrollment is potentially thousands of students, Comer felt more compelled to stick to assignments that meet learning objectives.
*Comer felt exposed when she discovered that some 70,000 students from all over the world were "taking" her course
* "As confused as I was about MOOCs and about the peer feed- back mechanism in particular, one would think I would have intuited the degree to which the 70,000+ learners in the course would need un- told levels of clarifying information across areas of the course site" (137).
* "But I think this issue of information flow has more to it. If you ag- gregate anxieties about writing, with anxieties about technology and school, you get the perfect trifecta for some highly anxious —and vocal —learners" (137).
* She appreciated the ability to use google hangout as a way to connect with students both during the hangout (and the recorded hangout posted later for all to access)
*MOOC development is super collaborative, even though it is less visible to the students
*Peer reviewing seems like it worked well for many students in her class
*Out of the 70,000 enrolled, about 1300 did all the work and earned a Statement of Accomplishment
| Previous page on path | Heather Laslie, page 21 of 26 | Next page on path |
Discussion of "Heather's Reading and Thinking Notes Week 11: 11/4-MOOCs"
Kim MOOC Comment
I really appreciated the breakdown of the potential challenges. Particularly the personal challenges, which I may not have thought of otherwisePosted on 5 November 2014, 2:00 pm by Kimberly Fahle | Permalink
In-class feedback
First, love the infographic. It captures so much of this MOOC love/hate relationship our field seems to have with this platform of learning / teaching. Second, the "anxieties" reflected made me think of the approach to teaching online through video feed. I've heard tech folks tell us (as teachers) that we need to make sure the lighting around our computer cameras need to be "just right" as well as the background. Stuff we as teachers really don't want to admit we think about! Your comment about Information Flow really caught my attention as well -- thinking of the audience / student demographics for this type of class seems to almost put the MOOC in an entirely new category for both pedagogy and curriculum.Posted on 5 November 2014, 2:00 pm by Amy Locklear | Permalink
Add your voice to this discussion.
Checking your signed in status ...