This document summarizes a student's experience taking a social network analysis MOOC on Coursera. It includes: - Background on the course which was 8 weeks long on Coursera taught by a professor from the University of Michigan. Over 60,000 students registered but only around 1,300 earned a certificate. - Lessons learned including that Coursera was easy to use, subtitles helped non-native English speakers, and deadlines had to be extended after a hurricane. - Challenges a student in Syria faced with an unstable internet connection that prevented them from getting a certificate despite their best efforts. - Suggestions for improving MOOCs like offering translations, accepted certificates

1. Christian Eggenberger, IBM Switzerland
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2.  Background Story
 Lessons Learned
◦ MOOC as content and collaboration platform
◦ Contentwise
◦ Cheating
 How to leverage the experience ?
 What is missing ?
 Resources
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University: University of Michigan Lecturer: Prof. Dr. Lada Adamic
Platform: Coursera founded by Stanford University
Link: SNA Class - Sept 24th 2012 - 8 weeks long
Some Statistics:
Duration: 8 weeks (new 9 weeks);
Avg. invested time per week for the regular certificate: 5 to 6 hours
Number of reg. students: 61,285;
Watched at least one video: 25,151;
Tried at least one in-video quiz: 15,391;
Submitted at least one assignment: 6,919;
Took the final exam: 2,417;
Earned the regular certificate:1303;
Submitted a final project: 145;
Earned the ‘with distinction’ version of the certificate: 107
BackgroundStory

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BackgroundStory

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LessonsLearned
 The usability of Coursera is simple and straight
forward
 Coursera was nearly all the time performant
 For students with lower bandwidth the movies and
documents could be downloaded at the beginning
of each week
 The possibility to meet like-minded people in
meetups is an excellent idea, but my family
already had to suffer enough during the 8 weeks
LessonsLearned–MOOCplatform

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LessonsLearned
 Although we only scratched the surface of SNA,
◦ I am able to judge by eye a network
◦ I have an idea of the immense possible applications
 However, I learned to use new open source tools
 As in a traditional class room:
◦ The student has to bring some ambition and interest
◦ The teacher and student should be on the same page
◦ The student has to fulfill the key requirements
 The sub-title were very useful for not native English speakers
 The SNA class was mainly a teacher-centered teaching, which did
not bother me
 The crowd of students can influence the program flow, but you
have to raise your voice e.g.:
◦ Extend the homework deadline due to unplanned maintenance work caused
by the hurricane Sandy
LessonsLearned–Contentwise

7.  Thanks to Professor Lada for a fascinating course
 Hi Dr. Lada Adamic. Once again thanks for a wonderful learning experience. I feel so glade to reach to the end of
this cool course. I feel sorry that i didn't receive my certificate. WHY?
 Because of internet, i had to attend this course “under fire ". YES, i live in SYRIA, and I'm sure you know what
happen in my country. We’re under fire all the time, most of the time the internet is off.
 Many times, i attended the quiz and exam with a very slow connection; therefore i had to answer all weeks
together ONLY when i have connection. Best luck to all those who get their certificates. and hard luck for those
in my show.
 I worked hard, studied, learnt, but it doesn't seem there is a certification for me and I don't understand the
reason.
 You gave me 51.0% and i don't understand why?
 I've got:
 Week 2 Quiz: … Score: 6.00 / 10.00
 …
 Short-form assignments - (You didn’t give me any score, WHY? )
 …
 Final Exam - …. You got a score of 40.00 out of 100.00
 Please, let me know what happened. I still wait for my certification.
 Thanks a lot. Regards
 xyz
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LessonsLearned–Cheating

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Howtoleveragetheexperience?

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Howtoleveragetheexperience?

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Howtoleveragetheexperience?

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Howtoleveragetheexperience?
https://www.coursera.org/signature/guidebook

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Howtoleveragetheexperience?

13.  (Realtime) translation
 A framework curriculum (industry requested
profile)
 A “topxxxxx” platform for testing and
hardening my new gained skills
 100% accepted certificate
 …
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Whatismissing?

14.  mooc.ca – a Meta Search MOOC engine
 The Minerva Project – a Hybrid MOOC
 Center for Digital Education MOOCs Factory – EPFL
 In 15 Years From Now Half of US Universities May
Be in Bankruptcy
 TED talks – Daphne Koller co-founder of coursera
 Charlie Rose – Online Education
 Moodle* community – CMS, LMS, VLE
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Resources
* Moodle = Modular Object-Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment