This document discusses quality issues related to massive open online courses (MOOCs). It addresses several challenges, including business models, recognition of learning, and quality of open curricula. Several recommendations are provided to help address quality in MOOCs, such as being clear about course goals and contents, using peer-to-peer learning approaches, and allowing for choice-based learning that does not require completion of the entire course. The document advocates for quality approaches like self- and peer-assessment to account for the open and diverse nature of MOOC learners and contexts.

1. www.efquel.org

3. • OER and Open Education offer
unprecedented opportunities to
improve quality, access and equity in
education and training.
• Individuals can learn
anything, anywhere, at any time for
free.

4. • OER usage take up too slow
• Teachers often skeptical, Learners
insecure about recognition, ‚closed‗
institutions lack open business models
• Three Grand Challenges for the Open
Education Movement
– Business Models
– Recognition
– Quality of open curricula

5. Will MOOCs Boost Open
Education?
MOOCs are the third digital revolution
1. E-Learning hype around new
millenium  Changed learning
environments
2. OER peak from 2007
 Giving away knowledge for free
3. MOOC peak from 2010
 Access to education for free

6. The Quality Challenge
• Start from digital and
technological innovation,
• move on to educational
(r)evolution and change, and
• lead to a quest for quality and
innovation strategies.

8. MOOCs and Quality...?!
• Should we care about the MOOC drop
outs?
• Do MOOCs challenge the current HE
model?
• How will it be looking when learning and
certification will be disaggregated?
• What is it that makes a model with high
drop out, little success rates and
heterogenious target groups popular?

9. The MOOC Quality Project
12 weeks, 12 experts, 12 posts,
15.000 Readers, >150 comments
mooc.efquel.org

10. 1. Massive Target Audience?
• Change from „no target audience―-thinking
to having one in mind, even if it is wide.
Take into acount new participation profiles.
Lurkers
Drop-ins
MOOC
Active participants
Passive
participants
HILL, P. (2013) “The Four Student Archetypes Emerging in MOOCs” [Online] eLiterate blog post 02/03/13 [accessed 19/04/13]. Available: http://mfeldstein.com/thefour-student-archetypes-emerging-in-moocs/

11. 2. Mixing Groups?
• Be aware that inviting the world
means to bring in the worlds
opinion (existing groups might
be disturbed)
• Mixing campus and MOOC
Students might be challenging:
drive in/by learners vs. highly
motivated learners who want a
masters degree.
http://www.teleskop-service.de/Veranstaltungen/ITT2007/Blick_in_die_Berge.jpg
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12. 3. Learning Across Contexts
• Be aware that the quality paradigm ―fitness
for purpose‖ is not working for MOOCs
because MOOCs mean learning across
contexts and purposes.
• Quality measures become
individualized, quality methods like self- &
peer-assessment and –reflection are
suitable.
http://www.teleskop-service.de/Veranstaltungen/ITT2007/Blick_in_die_Berge.jpg

13. 4. Support Self-Organization
• Be open about your requirements of selforganization, provide scaffolding for those
who lack that self-organization.
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http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d6/Fugle%2C_%C3%B8rns%C3%B8_073.jpg

14. 5. Declare What‘s in it!
Be precise about the content and
purpose of the MOOC (selfdeclaration) and keep promises! (Use
a MOOC description model)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
the degree of openness,
the scale of participation
(massification),
the amount of use of multimedia,
the amount of communication,
the extent to which collaboration
is included,
the type of learner pathway
(from learner centered to
teacher-centered and highly
structured),
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
the level of quality assurance,
the extent to which reflection is
encouraged,
the level of assessment,
how informal or formal it is,
autonomy,
and diversity.
(Conole 2013)

15. 6. Peer-to-Peer Pedagogy
• Use peer-to-peer pedagogy: peerlearning, peer-review, peerassessment, collaborative
learning, multiple learning pathways and
exploratory learning
• Understand that teaching is not a
prerequsite of learning.
http://www.naset.org/uploads/pics/choice.gif

16. 7. MOOCs Support Choice Based
Learning
• Get away from
– the notion that „ending a MOOC early― means
dropping out
– looking at MOOCs like
(structured, paced, timebound) courses
• Be aware that MOOC learning is an opt-in/out
learning model
• MOOCs follow voluntary sequencing and
are based on choices. The choices they
offer make their attractiveness.
www.efquel.org
http://www.naset.org/uploads/pics/choice.gif

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