{"id":56,"date":"2013-04-11T18:45:07","date_gmt":"2013-04-11T17:45:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jugu.org\/gblog\/?p=56"},"modified":"2013-04-11T18:45:07","modified_gmt":"2013-04-11T17:45:07","slug":"comparing-moocs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jugu.org\/gblog\/2013\/04\/11\/comparing-moocs\/","title":{"rendered":"Comparing MOOCs"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I have looked at all four sites and find marked differences in style and approach between all of them.\u00a0 The discussion below attempts to answer the questions on pedagogy, technology and philosophy but also debates to whom these courses may appeal, hence what the business models may be.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><b>DS106 \u2013 a cMOOC model<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Anyone worrying that the US will covertly take over the HE world via MOOCs can be re-assured by watching the intro video by Jim Groom.\u00a0 The toe-curling \u2018we are just a tech-savvy in-crowd having FUN\u2019 would not seem remotely relevant to education in cultures taught through conventional didactic pedagogies.\u00a0 They might think they had tuned to Friends by mistake!<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Technology<\/span><\/p>\n<p>The course seems to be technology focused and led.\u00a0 The course objectives start as follows:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Develop skills in using technology as a tool &#8230;&#8230;<\/li>\n<li>Frame a digital identity &#8230;..<\/li>\n<li>Critically examine the digital landscape of communication technologies &#8230;..<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>This appears the dominant emphasis.\u00a0 The storytelling seems just to be a test of the communication options enabled and featured by the technologies used.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Pedagogy<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Pedagogy is implicit not explicit.\u00a0 Although words are used that imply some structure, no structure is described.\u00a0 The first external comment below the intro starts: \u201cI\u2019d like to find out who would be teaching what&#8230;\u201d.\u00a0 The emphasis is on just jumping in and participating with an implicit social constructionist\/connectivist approach to learning.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Philosophy<\/span><\/p>\n<p>To be cool!\u00a0 Hating Elluminate seems symptomatic of the establishment-denying ethos.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Business model<\/span><\/p>\n<p>The course is a phenomenon; there would seem no lack of commercial interests who would like to target this high energy, poster-child group.\u00a0 I am not sure how the University makes money except via deals with such interests?<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><b>Change MOOC \u2013 a cMOOC model<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Technology<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Not technology-led but still a large technical overhead to handle to get the most out of the course. Blogs, aggregators, forums, newsletters, synchronous forums all form part of the connectivity at the heart of the course.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Pedagogy<\/span><\/p>\n<p>More explicit and explained, with the weekly lectures providing a \u2018starting gun\u2019 for each week\u2019s interaction.\u00a0 However the main pedagogy still appears to be social constructivist\/conntectivist with no connecting narrative.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Philosophy<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Still quite an in-crowd feel, though in this case a very academically focused group.\u00a0 Expanding the boundaries of knowledge rather than transferring knowledge.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Business Model<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Low costs with \u2018home page\u2019 structure built from generic tools and no ongoing course structure.\u00a0 An academic model rather than a business model.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><b>Udacity ST095 Statistics \u2013 an xMOOC model<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Technology<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Much more conventional.\u00a0 Imaginative use of a \u201cmoving hand\u201d style of presentation which maintained engagement.\u00a0 Use of Google Docs to support interactive analysis and graphical presentation of data.\u00a0 Encouragement to visit asynchronous forums.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Pedagogy<\/span><\/p>\n<p>A world away from the cMOOCs, a much more conventional form of module presentation.\u00a0 Didactic but with encouragement to engage in forums for a more constructivist approach.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Philosophy<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Rather low key and approachable.\u00a0 Low structure, no timetable, easy to enter.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Business model<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Unclear.\u00a0 Universities selling extra services for tutoring and accreditation and Udacity presumably shares in these.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><b>Coursera \u2013 Introstats001 Statistics \u2013 an xMOOC model<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Technology<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Very conventional.\u00a0 Talking heads and scrolling \u2018Powerpoint\u2019 style text.\u00a0 Interactive tests.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Pedagogy<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Very much like conventional distance learning. Structured with dates and deadlines.\u00a0 Discussion forums and active wikis.\u00a0 F2F \u2018meet-ups\u2019 for some courses\/locations.\u00a0 Structured assessment with marked quizzes and assignments. Statement of accomplishment for 81% pass rate within date deadlines.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Philosophy<\/span><\/p>\n<p>A cautious approach. Seems designed to attract learners who want conventional formal teaching with option of some credible certification.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Business model.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n<p>Again not clear. \u00a0Less emphasis on selling value-added services with peer assessment used for accreditation.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Two clear groups with very little in common between the cMOOC and xMOOC approaches apart from their scale and openness. \u00a0Interesting variations in approachability and styles of presentation.\u00a0 None of the business models were clear.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I have looked at all four sites and find marked differences in style and approach between all of them.\u00a0 The discussion below attempts to answer the questions on pedagogy, technology and philosophy but also debates to whom these courses may appeal, hence what the business models may be. &nbsp; DS106 \u2013 a cMOOC model Anyone [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[2],"class_list":["post-56","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-h817open-2","tag-h817open"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jugu.org\/gblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jugu.org\/gblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jugu.org\/gblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jugu.org\/gblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jugu.org\/gblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/jugu.org\/gblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":57,"href":"https:\/\/jugu.org\/gblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56\/revisions\/57"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jugu.org\/gblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jugu.org\/gblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jugu.org\/gblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}