Lessons Learned about Ensuring Quality of Course Materials ...Lessons Learned about Ensuring Quality...

Lessons Learned about Ensuring Quality of Course Materials in a

MOOC

University of Houston, MainCollege of Education | Learning, Design & Technology Program

Bernard Robin, PhDErwin Handoko, MD, MEd

George Zhao, MEd

What is a MOOC?

MOOC Stands for:

MASSIVE: refers to the large size of a MOOC. Typical MOOCs have thousands of students.

OPEN: anyone can participate, usually for free. Also, much of the content is open, or sharable.

ONLINE: content is delivered over the Internet.

COURSE: students explore content, complete assignments, receive feedback, get grades.

Largest MOOC Providers

More than 12.6 million registered users

Offered 1,028 courses

Partnered with 119 institutions around the world

September 2015

Why Are MOOCs Important?

Advantages of MOOCs for Students

Exposure to free educational content for potentially huge numbers of students who cannot afford college.

Opportunity to learn new content from world’s best educators.

May gain skills that can enhance job prospects.

Can interact with learners from around the world.

Advantages of MOOCs for Faculty

Expand your reputation as an educator.

Opportunity to try new teaching styles and methods.

Forces re-evaluation and improvement of current course content.

Feedback from a global community of students.

Advantages of MOOCs for Universities

Extend the university brand.

Publicize a university’s faculty, courses and programs to prospective students.

Demonstrate a commitment to innovative teaching.

A growing number of MOOC students are paying for verified certificates of completion (~$49 per MOOC).

A smaller number of MOOC students may decided to enroll in online degree programs and pay tuition.

Disadvantages of MOOCs

Extremely high dropout rate/Very low completion rate –less than 10%.

Most MOOCs do not offer credit toward a degree.

Time consuming for faculty – to plan, create, and teach a MOOC.

Video lectures and quizzes do not necessarily equal high quality teaching.

Giving away intellectual property is not a sustainable business model.

Little new revenue generated (yet).

http://mfeldstein.com/emerging_student_patterns_in_moocs_graphical_view/

One of the Biggest Disadvantages of MOOCs

Many Questions about MOOCs Remain

Are MOOCs just a fad? Are MOOCs over-hyped? Will MOOCs destroy traditional higher education?Will MOOCs disrupt traditional higher education?

Should faculty develop MOOCs?

probably notyes

probably not

probably so

What do you think?

Why are MOOCs Important to UH?

Outreach to the public, including the Houston community and beyond.

Showcase high quality faculty and programs.

Provides a global learning laboratory – spur innovations in teaching and learning.

Can supplement existing courses.

Potential source of new revenue.

Digital Storytelling

http://digitalstorytelling.coe.uh.edu/

A Brief Introduction to Digital Storytelling

Combines the art of telling stories with a mixture of:

• digital graphics

• text

• recorded audio narration

• video

• music

Presents information on a specific topic or theme.

Often contains a particular point of view.

Digital stories are typically just a few minutes long.

Types of Digital Stories

Personal Narratives• 1st person accounts based on

meaningful events.• What we do

• Where we live

• Overcoming challenges

Historical Themes and Events• Can be used to connect past

events to our current understanding of the world.

Instructional Content• Math• Science

• Health

• Technology, and more

A Brief Introduction to Digital Storytelling

Sample Digital Stories

Robin’s Market

Bernard Robin

My Fulbright Journey

Erwin HandokoThe Paw

George Zhao

See the full versions of these videos and many more at:

http://digitalstorytelling.coe.uh.edu/

Digital Storytelling MOOC

https://www.coursera.org/course/digitalstorytelling

Digital Storytelling TOPICSWeek 1: Choosing a Topic and

Defining Your Purpose.

Week 2: Writing an Effective Scriptand Creating a Storyboard.

Week 3: Recording Audio Narration.

Week 4: Using Technology Toolsto Build a Digital Story.

Week 5: Revising Your Digital Story and Final Course Reflection.

September 2014 SUN MON TUE WED THU FRI SAT

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

8 9 10 11 12 13 14

15 16 17 18 19 20 21

22 23 24 25 26 27 28

29 30

DS MOOC Video Lectures

Quizzes

Example Quiz

Evaluation: Peer and Self-Assessments

Student Participation

Lessons Learned about Ensuring Quality of Course Materials in a MOOC

Content Planning and Development

1. Convert traditional course material to a MOOC. 2. Create a MOOC team.3. Develop a timeline for MOOC planning.4. Use an instructional strategy to compress the content:

15 weeks 5 weeks.5. Develop a checklist of tasks and responsibilities.6. Determine a process for creating video lectures.7. Be consistent in naming and filing documents.8. Use a common storage location for MOOC content.9. Deal with copyright issues.10. Proofread your work!

Creating and Teaching a MOOC is a Team Effort

Development Timeline

MOOC exploration

begins

August 2013

Students develop

instructional materials for two MOOCS

September-December

2013

MOOC teams review

materials and proposes revisions

January 2014

MOOC teams finalize first

two weeks of content and instructors upload in Coursera

Spring 2014

MOOC teams continue to

develop materials,

revise scripts, create videos

January-March 2014

MOOC teams finalize content for DS MOOC

(Fall 2014) and Web 2.0 Tools

MOOC

(Spring 2015)

Converting a Traditional Course to a MOOC

CUIN 7358: Educational Uses of Digital Storytelling

DS MOOC

Use an Instructional Strategy

• Identify the instructional goal.

• Conduct instructional analysis.

• Analyze learners and contexts.

• Write performance objectives.

• Develop assessment instruments.

The Systematic Design of InstructionDick & Carey

Develop a Checklist

http://tinyurl.com/MOOC-checklist

Creating Video Lectures: The Equipment

Digital Camera(Optional)

Webcam (Optional)

High Quality USBMicrophone

High Quality USBMicrophone

Screen Capture Software

TechsmithSnagit

TechsmithCamtasia

www.screencast-o-matic.com

Audio EditingSoftware

Audacity (Free)http://audacity.sourceforge.net/

Most video editors also have basic audio editing functions built in.

Adobe Premiere Elements 12

TechsmithCamtasia

Microsoft PowerPoint 13

Video Editing Software

WeVideo - web-based Editor(Free option available)https://www.wevideo.com/

SparkolVideoScribe

Converting Course Content to Video Lectures

• Length: around 5 minutes each.

• Does not need to be professional.

• Record in an informal setting.

• Use personal speaking style.

• Audio quality more important that video quality.

• Videos should have consistent look and feel.

• Speak a little faster than normal.High Quality USB

Microphone

Creating Video Lectures: The Process

Access Record EditFinal Check

Upload

Open your lecture material.

Record your narration/Screencast.

Edit the audio and video.

Revise as needed.

•Upload to Coursera

• Create Icon

Updating Video Materials

Creating content is ongoing.

There is always room for improvement.

Feedback from students identified areas that need improvement.

Have consistency between videos.

Improve visual attractiveness.

Creating Video Using VideoScribe

http://www.videoscribe.co/

Insert Animated Images

Insert Text

Insert Chart

Insert Music

Record Narration

Practical Lessons Learned

Learn the Coursera Platform

Explore other universities' MOOCs:• To become familiar with the Coursera

interface, and• To get ideas for your own MOOC.

Submit course materials on Coursera early before making them visible to students.

Make friends with the Coursera support team.

Other Issues to Keep in Mind

Assume that many students will know relatively little (or nothing) about the content.

Instructional materials should start with the basics.

The amount of content must be scaled back.

Not all students will have access to the same technology.

Many students will speak English as a second language.

Course Assignments and Evaluation

Not possible to grade all assignments, but even occasional instructor presence is helpful.

Give feedback to selected students which can seen by everyone.

Peer feedback ranges in quality from excellent to poor.

Some students felt that the assignments were too difficult.

•However, among students who earned a certificate of completion, many stated that the assignments challenged them to improve their work and complete the MOOC.

Be Consistent in NamingFiles and Folders

Week 1

Video Lectures

Week1_video1_instructor_welcome.mp4

Week1_video2_introduction_to_ds.mp4

Week1_video3_ds_process.mp4

Assignments

Announcements

Week1_assignment2_peer_assessment.docx

Week1_assignment1_quiz.docx

Week1_assignment3_self_evalutation.docx

Week1_announcements1_welcome.docx

Week1_announcements2_update1.docx

Use a Common Storage Location (Online and Offline Backup)

My Passport Ultra 2TB

Acknowledge Copyright Issues

Non-profit educational fair use is not universally recognized around the world.

Creative Commons licenses are encouraged.

MOOC content should be free of copyright restrictions.

Proofread!

All MOOC content should be reviewed by more than one person.

Copy text content into Word to check spelling and grammar.

Or use an online spell checker such as: http://www.spellcheck.net/

Student Evaluations

Based on question responses from on average 341 learners.

Estimates accurate to ± 5 percentage points.

Student Evaluations

Advantages of MOOCs for UH

• Extend the university brand.

• Publicize a university’s faculty, courses and programs to prospective students.

Lessons Learned about Ensuring Quality of Course Materials ...Lessons Learned about Ensuring Quality...

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