THE ART OF TEACHING MOOC ON EDX

Student guide to using edX

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According to Oxford Dictionary, a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) is “a course of

study made available over the Internet without charge to a very large number of people.”

EdX is one such MOOC platform, which hosts courses from a variety of disciplines free

of charge, and subject to a small fee if the learner wishes to obtain a certificate.

What is a MOOC?

The Art of Teaching

The Art of Teaching is a training course for teachers by GEMS Education. Originally

conducted in classroom workshops, the training has been adapted to the online medium

and hosted on edX to reach an international audience.

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Key Features

The Art of Teaching is designed to make you appreciate and understand classroom dynamics. Such an understanding

will help you refine your teaching as well as interaction with students. The learning modules are spread over three

weeks, with Week 0 being a preparatory week.

Here’s a look at what to expect every week:

In Week 1, you will explore time-tested learning theories. These theories will help you understand your students’

different learning needs, and how to help them as per their different needs.

In Week 2, you will understand the impact of learning and the learning environment on the brain. In addition, you will

learn how you can positively impact the learning environment and counter negative forces in the classroom.

In Week 3, you will learn the important role of collaboration at the student-teacher level as well as with other teachers.

This final week not only wraps up all the knowledge you need to retain for the future, but also sets the ground for you to

collaborate informally long after you complete the course.

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Key Features

You will engage in an interactive learning experience with the following features:

• Videos

Faculty from GEMS education will speak to you through the three weeks of the course, and you’ll also have learning

nugget videos.

• Interactive activities

In the form of fill-in-the-blanks, drop-down lists, and drag and match activities, every learning has an interactive element

to it, as opposed to reading static content off screen.

• Discussion Forums

You will interact with other learners who are also taking this course. You will share your ideas and give each other

feedback and inputs on various topics.

• Wiki writing

This feature enables you to consolidate all the important learnings. Every learner can share and access shared

knowledge from this one source.

• Quizzes

Fun quizzes are lined up every week to ensure retention and recall.

• Connect on social media

You can link your Facebook or Google+ accounts to edX, and even connect with your peers from The Art of Teaching

on Facebook and Twitter.

• Peer Assessment

You will submit written assignments, where you will rate your peers and provide feedback, and vice versa.

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Key Features

Here is what a lecture screen looks like on edX:

Each week’s

lectures can

be accessed

from this pane

on the left.

Each lecture

is divided into

different units.

You should

begin the next

session only

after

completing all

the units

within a given

session.

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Key Features

Learning the art of teaching includes a lot of learner interaction and collaboration. This is achieved through the

discussion forum and Wiki features of edX. Here’s a guide on how to use them:

1) Discussion Forums

• Some learning sessions have associated discussions. You are expected to give your inputs and respond to your

peers’ posts as well.

• There are a few simple guidelines regarding language and decorum that you should observe whenever you

make a post (you’ll find these guidelines in the Course Handouts section under “Course Info”).

• The instructor will make the first post in the discussion forum to start the discussion thread.

• You can access all the course discussions by selecting the “Discussion” tab at the top of the screen. Once

inside, your screen will have the following components:

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Key Features

Topic-wise

filtering,

even shows

posts you

follow

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Key Features

Search bar to

find a particular

post or

discussion

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Key Features

This is a two-

way arrow

when there are

multiple

discussion

threads which

can be sorted

by date, votes,

or comments.

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Key Features

This is what your screen will look like when you click New Post

Add a topic to

your post

Posts you follow

will get filtered

for easy access

later.

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Key Features

This is what a published post will look like.

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Key Features

There are multiple functions you can use with published posts. You should upvote good posts so other learners can

easily access them; you can also follow good posts and report anyone misusing the forums.

Green plus

sign button

is to upvote

good posts

Report

forum

misuse by

selecting

this option

from the

“More”

button.

Follow/unfollow

posts with this

blue star buttonDiscussion threads get

listed here.

You can type your response here.

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Key Features

You can also access a particular session’s discussion thread right below the relevant lecture screen:

You can view the entire

discussion thread here, and

even make a new post.

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Key Features

2) Wiki

• The Wiki section can be accessed by selecting the “Wiki” tab at the top of the screen.

• The instructor will create the relevant session’s Wiki in the Wiki section.

• Once inside, your screen will have the following components:

Instructors create

articles by selecting

this button.

Select Edit to add your input

to the Wiki being viewed.

See the history of changes

by selecting Changes.

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Key Features

This is the “See all children” feature, where you can view every Wiki written, and search for Wikis using keywords.

See the history of articles

posted by selecting “See all

children.”

Narrow your search for a

particular Wiki by using keywords.

This is the history of articles

you can access on selecting

“See all children.”

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Key Features

3) Peer Assessment

• Peer assessment is a tool where assignments can be graded and evaluated by others learners like yourself.

• This type of assessment has two stages: (i) Submitting your response, and (ii) Grading your peers’ responses based

on evaluation criteria provided to you.

• You have the freedom to make a blog post or upload a video you make, and paste the URL in the text box.

Type your response here, or paste the

URL to an external website here.

Save your progress.

Submit your

response and

move on to assess

your peers.

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ALL THE BEST AND HAPPY LEARNING!