UnisaOpen MOOCs

"By creating an event like a MOOC we are potentially radically redefining what it means to be an educator. We are very much at the beginning stages of our learning how to create the space required for community to develop and grow in an open course. These field notes speak to the my own journey in the design of 'Rhizomatic Learning - the community is the curriculum'. They are, in effect, a journey towards planned obsolescence."

Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC) represent a recent stage in open education. In more and more institutions they are moving from an early entrepreneurial stage into the reality. The rapidly rising participation levels, high visibility and a growing community worldwide prompt a number of important questions. The MOOC Quality Project, an initiative of the European Foundation for Quality in E-Learning (EFQUEL), addresses the question of quality and MOOCs, not by trying to addresses the question of quality and MOOCs, not by trying to find one answer which fits all, but by trying to stimulate a discourse on the issue of quality in MOOCs. A series of blogposts by eleven worldwide experts and stakeholders in the field addressed the issues from each participant's viewpoint. From twelve experts' blog contributions key quality areas were identified by way of document analysis, amongst which were addressing a massive (and often unspecified) target group, mixing formal and informal learners, learning across contexts, transparency and openness, peer-to-peer pedagogy, choice-based learning and learner support.

In this paper we report on the development of the OpenupEd Quality Label, a self-assessment and review quality assurance process for the new European OpenupEd portal (www.openuped.eu) for MOOCs (massive open online courses). This process is focused on benchmark statements that seek to capture good practice, both at the level of the institution and at the level of individual courses. The benchmark statements for MOOCs are derived from benchmarks produced by the E‑xcellence e‑learning quality projects (E‑xcellencelabel.eadtu.eu/). A process of self-assessment and review is intended to encourage quality enhancement, captured in an action plan. We suggest that a quality label for MOOCs will benefit all MOOC stakeholders.

If you've ever considered building your own open online class, the first step is determining which MOOC platform will best suit your needs. Luckily, several free MOOC platforms exist. The following is a review of their strengths and weaknesses and of the type of user each might be most appropriate for.

This is an aggregator (directory) of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) from different providers

The emergence of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) is focusing all its attention on open education. There is growing interest in creating MOOCs, which can be done by transferring OCW courses to MOOC format

Virtual learning environments, social media and MOOCs: key elements in the conceptualisation of new scenarios in higher education: EADTU conference 2013

"Published on Open Education Europa, a paper presents an example of a Social Learning Analytics Tool to visualize real-time discussion activities in a MOOC environment. Practitioners and researchers can read how to implement and use such a SLA tool as a plugin in practice. We will learn how a collaboration between a teacher (Susan Voogd), a SLA developer (Chris Teplovs) and two researchers from the OUNL (Bieke Schreurs and Maarten de Laat) resulted in a SLA Tool to visualize real-time discussion activities."

This include various resources from around the internet discussing what the pieces of the puzzle are that make up a MOOC

I've been taking a Coursera MOOC and have been thinking a lot about how libraries can utilize elements from some of these new educational models. Daphne Koller, one of the founders of Coursera, discussed in recent TED Talk a key difference between face to face learning and online education models.

"The opportunity that Massive Online Open Courses (MOOCs) offer for cost effective massification of learning has generated significant interest from governments, higher education institutions (HEI) and commercial organisations. A growing number of HEI have been involved in experimenting with MOOCs for the purposes of expanding access, marketing and branding, as well as the potential of developing new revenue streams. The motivation for some MOOC providers is a philanthropic one and for others a business proposition. However, in both cases, there is the challenge of finding a viable business model that allows for sustainability of MOOC provision. "