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W: edtechnology.co.uk | T: @Educ_Technology


Embracing e-learning


In order to fully embrace the MOOC movement, more training and basic awareness of the opportunities online courses can bring is needed, says Anmoal Thethi


MOOCS HAVE BEEN important in sparking new interest in the


potential of online courses in general. In the late 1990s there was


Anmoal Thethi, Senior Instructional Designer at PlattForm, thinks that MOOCs are a great way of extending the skills base of academics


an upsurge in interest in e-learning and the opportunities for 100% online courses. Some departments were in a position to pick this up and run with it. Other departments saw it as a step too far. So we’ve got only specific niches, like business schools with good online MBAs. MOOCs have meant more departments revisiting the idea, thinking seriously about how it can help them with recruitment and reach people who might not have considered a degree. The shift to online includes access


to Big Data, insights into what content students are using, what’s ‘sticky’, when students are using resources etc. HE will become more used to having and using this kind of data to develop materials and learning approaches. The challenge is what we do with the data – and that’s what’s missing at most institutions still, the expertise to analyse the data and re-work content appropriately.


Pressure to upskill There is likely to be increasing pressure on academics to upskill in these areas and a need to find more of a balance in their duties between


teaching, research and content development. MOOCs are a mixed picture at universities. Some departments are very strong – typically those who were already involved with online education for a number of years and so have the ready-made expertise and basis of content. The age-old issue is that while new entrants into academia will tend to be amenable to the idea of online materials and teaching, the more established staff don’t always see the benefits or how their role fits. There’s tended to be a belief that if you wanted e-learning, you’d go to the Open University, we provide traditional classroom learning and the two don’t mix. I’d agree that MOOCs can never replace the campus-based experience. But training is needed for academics, and more basic awareness of the opportunities too. It’s particularly important for people working in departments with recruitment issues, because MOOCs can essentially be a marketing tool, providing a taster to new audiences of what’s available.


Making the most of MOOCs HE needs to make full use of MOOCS for reaching new people in the UK and internationally. They must use the opportunities for collating Big Data on study habits, trends and interests of people on courses to constantly improve what’s offered, but also in terms of new insights into the modern student. Serious project management is essential from start to finish – clear objectives, thought-out resourcing, timetables and a means of evaluating progress. MOOCs are a great way of extending the skills base of academics, and e-learning, instructional design and use of technologies generally should be a standard part of staff training. In the US, institutions are


recruiting academics with online


expertise and experience already, a qualification in online teaching – quite unlike the UK. They’ve been able to move more quickly and do more with MOOCs simply because they already have a strong basis of people and departments with a wealth of material in a digital format which can easily be re-purposed into MOOC content. It’s already all there, along with specialist equipment and experts to capture multimedia content. With the right resources and commitment UK institutions will catch-up.


The months ahead We will start to see much more interactivity – learning objects which aren’t just text and static images but animated. There’ll be interactive videos, scenario-based material. There are going to be questions about resourcing and costs to produce more sophisticated content – and in response there’s going to be more emphasis on re-purposing, a wider strategy for content creation and learning objects that can be used for many different courses. So for example, a management and leadership block of content that can be used as part of an accounting and finance module, in business studies etc. There is going to be a beter


tie-in with adaptive and social media. When we share an article on Facebook, the system learns about our preferences and makes sure that the next time we see content it’ll be more relevant to our interests. With hundreds of thousands of MOOC students, it is impossible to adequately staff the course with enough qualified facilitators – hence the application of adaptive tech to MOOCs. Adaptive media could be used together with the teachers’ input and social media such as forums, social grading, and study groups. ET


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