We're not payin' because this guy...
...this guy's a fuckin' mooc.
But I didn't say nothin'.
And we don't pay moocs.
A mook? I'm a mooc?
Yeah.
What's a mooc?
What's a mooc?
I don't know.
What's a mooc?
You can't call me a mooc.
I can't?
No!
PUNCH THROWN
- ALL HELL BREAKS OUT….
Scorcese's Mean Streets (1973)
What are MOOCs?
“The future is already here, it’s just not very evenly
distributed” said William Gibson, that is certainly true of MOOCs. We have MOOC
mania but ‘all MOOCs are not created equal’ and there’s lots of species of
MOOC. This is good and we must learn from these experiments to move forward and
not get bogged down in old traditionalist v modernist arguments. MOOCs will
inform and shape what we do within and without institutions. What is important
is to focus on the real needs of real learners.
Taxonomy based on pedagogy
To this end, it is important to define a taxonomy of MOOCs not
from the institutional but the pedagogic perspective, by their learning functionality,
not by their origins. So here's a starting list of eight:
transferMOOCs
madeMOOCs
synchMOOCs
asynchMOOCs
adaptiveMOOCs
groupMOOCs
connectivistMOOCS
miniMOOCSs
1. transferMOOCs
Transfer MOOCs literally take existing courses and decant
them into a MOOC platform, on the pedagogic assumption that they are teacher-led
and many rely on a ‘name’ of the institution or academic to attract learners.
The pedagogic assumption is that of transfer from teacher and course content to
learner. Many mimic the traditional academic course with lectures, short
quizzes, set texts and assessments. You could describe them as being on the
cutting edge of tradition. Coursera courses largely fall
into this category.
2. madeMOOCs
Made MOOCs
tend to more innovative in their use of video, avoiding talking heads in favour
of Khan Academy or Udacity hand on board sequences. They also tend to have more
of a formal, quality driven approach to the creation of material and more
crafted and challenging assignments, problem solving and various levels of sophisticated
software-driven interactive experiences. Peer work and peer-assessment, used to
cope with the high teacher-student ratios. Udacity take this approach.
3. synchMOOCs
Synchronous MOOCs have a fixed start date, tend to have
fixed deadlines for assignments and assessments and a clear end date. They often
around the agricultural, academic calendar. For example, Coursera offer courses
on strict startand end dates with clear deadlines for assignment. Udacity
started with their ‘hexamester’ 7 week courses with fixed start dates. Many argue
that this helps motivation and aligns teacher availability and student cohort
work.
4. asynchMOOCs
Asynchronous MOOCs have no or frequent start dates, tend to
have no or looser deadlines for assignments and assessments and no final end
date. The pedagogic advantages of asynchronous MOOCs is that they can literally
be taken anytime, anywhere and clearly work better over different time zones. Interestingly,
Udacity have relaxed their courses to enrol and proceed at user’s own pace.
Some sceptics point towards this as being a tactic to reduce drop-out rates due
to missed assignment deadlines. Note that Coursera offers a completely open
self-study option but this does not warrant a certificate of completion.
5. adaptiveMOOCs
Adaptive MOOCs use adaptive algorithms to present
personalised learning experiences, based on dynamic assessment and data
gathering on the course and courses. They rely on networks of pre-requisites and
take learners on different, personalised paths through the content. This has
been identified by the Gates Foundation as an important new area for large
scale productivity in online courses. These MOOCs tend not to deliver flat,
linear structured knowledge but leaning experiences driven by back-end
algorithms. Analytics are also used to change and improve the course in the
future. Cogbooks is a leading example of this type of MOOC. LINK
6. groupMOOCs
Group MOOCs start with small, collaborative groups of
students. The aim is to increase student retention. Stanford, the MOOC
manufacturing factory, has spun out NovoEd (formerly Venture Lab) which offers
both MOOCs and closed, limited number, internal courses. They argue that some
subjects and courses, such as entrepreneurship and business courses, lose a lot
in looses, open MOOC structures and need a more focussed approach to groupwork.
The groups are software selected by geography, ability and type. They have
mentors and rate each others commitment and progress. Groups are also dissolved
and reformed during the course.
7. connectivistMOOCS
Pioneered by Geperge Siemens and Stephen Downes, these connectivist
MOOCs rely on the connections across a network rather than pre-defined content. Siemen’s famously said “cMOOCs focus on knowledge creation and
generation whereas xMOOCs focus on knowledge duplication”. More simply,
Smith says “in an xMOOC you watch videos,
in a cMOOC you make videos”. The whole point is to harvest and share
knowledge that is contributed by the participants and not see the ‘course’ as a
diet of fairly, fixed knowledge. These course tend to create their own trajectory,
rather than follow a linear path.
8. miniMOOCSs
So far, MOOCs tend to be associated with Universities, whose
courses last many weeks and often fit the semester structure and timetable of
traditional institutions. We have also seem=n the emergence of shorter MOOCs
for content and skills that do not require such long timescales. This is mpore
typical of commercial e-learning courses, which tend to be more intense
experiences that last for hours and days, not weeks. They are more suitable for
precise domains and tasks with clear learning objectives. The Open Badges
movement tends to be more aligned with this type of MOOC.
Conclusion
Note that these are not mutually exclusive categories, as one
can have a transfer MOOC that is synchronous or asynchronous. What’s important
here is that we see MOOCs as informing the debate around learning to get over
the obvious problems of relevance, access and cost. This is by no means a
definitive taxonomy but it’s a start. I’d really appreciate any comments, critiques
or new categories.
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