Slides from our workshop delivered in the 11th Joint Technology Enhanced Learning Summer School in Ischia

1. Emerging Roles of MOOC
Mentors
Choose your own adventure

2. In this workshop you will
•Consider some established e-learning theories
•Apply them to MOOC facilitation
•Familiarise yourself with the Futurelearn Platform
•Coordinate the facilitation of a MOOC
•Consider the roles of facilitators

3. Some e-learning theories
● Roles of Facilitator (Berge, 1996)
● Stages of online learning (Salmon, 2003)
● Comunity of Enquiry (Garrison & Anderson,
2000)

4. Berge (1996)

5. Salmon´s 5 Stage Model (2003)

6. Garrison & Anderson´s CoI (2000)

7. The FutureLearn Platform: weeks

8. The FutureLearn Platform: steps

9. The Futurelearn Platform: a step

10. The FutureLearn Platform: Discussion Board

11. Task context
• A4 week MOOC of your choice
• 5-10000 participants
• 100 hours mentor time

12. Hours distribution
It is online The whole team can access and comment
Easy for shift swapping

13. Comments by day
Busy Mondays!
End of Course (last mentoring day)

14. Reporting
To be completed each shift. It usually takes
some 5 minutes.
Also online, of course!

15. Familiarising with content...
… and testing
usability
...and proofreading
...and reviewing

16. The Mentoring Team Roles
Berge, (1995)
Extended role:
Mentors as
Connectors

17. ● Communication and interaction are the main
affordances of the Web for education (Anderson, 2008)
● Social isolation as barrier to student retention and
integration (Gasevic, 2014)
● Need to enhance sense of presence (social, cognitive,
teaching) - of participants and mentors (Kop, 2011)
Mentors as connectors:

18. 1. Use forum tools to connect the
learning community
Gasevic (2014) - learner position in social
network positively influences learning outcomes
Using “likes”
Linking comments
Using “follow”
could lead to
Networked Learning
Community

19. 2. Link to content / external
resources

20. 3. Foster learning as conversation
Learner Y
LearnerZ
“conversational learning
can and does scale”
Sharples and Ferguson (2014:108)
Learner X

21. 4. Encourage external networks
Anderson & Ponti (2014);
Gasevic, (2014); Stewart (2014)

22. Mentoring Challenges
● Maintaining communication between mentors
● Identifying key issues among learners
● Choosing learner contributions to address
● Linking learner contributions
● Confidence with content knowledge

23. Mentors as researchers:
Using MOOCs to improve online and face-to-face
education in HE (Fischer, 2014; Waldrop, 2014;
White, 2014; Yuan et al., 2014)

24. Conclusion
● Mentor interventions align with platform
design, course design and content
● Mentors encourage and promote the
affordances of the platform
● Planning is required

25. ReferencesBerge, Z.L. (1995). Facilitating Computer Conferencing: Recommendations From the Field. Educational Technology. 35(1) 22-30.
Anderson, T. (2008). Towards a theory of online learning. Theory and practice of online learning,, 45-74.
Andersen, R., & Ponti, M. (2014). Participatory pedagogy in an open educational course: challenges and opportunities. Distance Education, 35(2), 234–249.
doi:10.1080/01587919.2014.917703
Ferguson, R. and Sharples, M. (2014). Innovative pedagogy at massive scale: teaching and learning in MOOCs.In: 9th European Conference on Technology
Enhanced Learning (EC-TEL 2014): Open Learning and Teaching in Educational Communities , 16-19 September 2014, Graz, Austria (Forthcoming),
Springer International Publishing, pp. 98–111.
Fischer, G. (2014). Beyond hype and underestimation: identifying research challenges for the future of MOOCs. Distance Education, (ahead-of-print), 1–10. Retrieved from
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01587919.2014.920752
Garrison, D. R., Anderson, T., & Archer, W. (1999). Critical inquiry in a text-based environment: Computer conferencing in higher education. The internet and higher education,
2(2), 87-105.
Gasevic, D., Kovanovic, V., Joksimovic, S., & Siemens, G. (2014, October 3). Where is research on massive open online courses headed? A data analysis of the MOOC
Research Initiative. The International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning. Retrieved from http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/1954/3101
Kop, R. (2011). The challenges to connectivist learning on open online networks: learning experiences during a massive open online course. … Learning, Special Issue-
Connectivism: …, 12, 19–38. Retrieved from http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/882nhttp://nparc.cisti-icist.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca/npsi/ctrl?action=rtdoc&an=18150443
Stewart, B. (2013). Massiveness+ openness= new literacies of participation. MERLOT Journal of Online Learning and Teaching, 9(2). Retrieved from
http://jolt.merlot.org/vol9no2/stewart_bonnie_0613.htm
Waldrop, M. (2014). Massive open online courses, aka MOOCs, transform higher education and science. Scientific American, 9. Retrieved from
http://er.dut.ac.za/handle/123456789/70
Yuan, L., Powell, S., & Olivier, B. (2014). Beyond-MOOCs-Sustainable-Online-Learning-in-Institutions.pdf. Retrieved from http://publications.cetis.ac.uk/wp-
content/uploads/2014/01/Beyond-MOOCs-Sustainable Online-Learning-in-Institutions.pdf
White, S. (2014) Exploring stakeholder perspectives on the development of MOOCs in higher education – a case study of the University of Southampton. Masters Dissertation.
University of Southampton: UK