This document discusses considerations around massive open online courses (MOOCs). It provides an overview of what MOOCs are, their history and current landscape. It examines potential pros and cons of MOOCs from the perspectives of students, faculty, universities and teaching/learning. It also addresses frequently asked questions around MOOCs and revenue/accreditation models. Overall, the document aims to inform decisions around whether and how an institution might engage with MOOCs.

1. Considering MOOCs:
Pros, Cons, Questions
Doug Holton, Associate Director
Center for Teaching and Learning Excellence
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
These slides are at: http://bit.ly/considermoocs

2. What are MOOCs
Massive
Open
Online
Courses

3. What are MOOCs
MOOCs are online courses that are
open for anyone in the world to take,
usually for free and not for credit.*
These courses have had anywhere
from a few thousand to over 180,000
people enroll.
*Exceptions include California State University: http://chronicle.com/article/California-State-U-Will/136677/
See also MOOC2Degree and OERu in later slides

4. MOOC Timeline
via http://mfeldstein.com/four-barriers-that-moocs-must-overcome-to-become-sustainable-model/

5. History of MOOCs
A timeline of MOOC articles:
http://chronicle.com/article/What-You-Need-to-
Know-About/133475/
Infographic on the rise of MOOCs:
http://visual.ly/rise-moocs

6. MOOCs Today
Udacity, Coursera, and Edx are now offering
hundreds of MOOCs to millions of people.
Via http://visual.ly/rise-moocs

7. Try Out a MOOC Yourself
See http://www.class-central.com/ for a list of
courses available from Coursera, Udacity & edX.
Major LMS vendors Blackboard and Instructure
Canvas have started hosting MOOCs:
● https://www.coursesites.com/
● https://www.canvas.net/
Other independent MOOCs:
● http://learn.media.mit.edu/
● http://mooc.olds.ac.uk/

8. Blackboard CourseSites
CourseSites MOOC Platform FAQ (PDF)
Partnerships:
● FIU http://open.fiu.edu/
● SUNY https://opensuny.coursesites.com/
● Blackboard Sponsored https://open.
coursesites.com/
● UIS https://uis.coursesites.com/
Most of these courses have only had dozens or
hundreds of students.

9. Pros and Cons of MOOCs
Let's look at pros and cons from a few
different points of view:
1. students (ours and others)
2. faculty
3. the university
4. teaching and learning (pedagogy)

10. Perspective from Our
Students: MOOCs
See this article from the perspective of a Stanford student.
Pros
● Higher profile, exposure to prospective employers, help
from and to outsiders, learn from world experts
Cons
● Less one on one contact with instructor, less interactive,
high dropout rate
● Some students need expert support: “sharing of
erroneous information and other shortcomings of peer-
to-peer coaching”
Other pros and cons?

11. Outside Students in MOOCs
MOOC demographics: most students are non-traditional,
international, already have degrees. 39% “just curious about
the topic”, 30% wanting to "sharpen their skills"
Pros
● Learn for free about college topics for which they may not
have access, like engineering, computer science
● Prospective students can learn about a university
● Former students can refresh knowledge
Cons - same as cons for our own students

12. Faculty Perspective: MOOCs
Pros
● Greater exposure of your work and teaching and the
university.
● MOOC-wrapping - using a MOOC as a textbook
● Example motivations from MIT OpenCourseWare:
reputation, networking, improved course content and
student feedback
Cons
● Example concerns from a U. Wisconsin faculty member
● Quality of learning, extremely high dropout rate (>90%)
● Demands on time: both planning and teaching
● Intellectual Property Rights, Risk, Cost, Reimbursement

13. University Perspective:
MOOCs
Benefits
● Outreach, service to the community and public
● Marketing the university and its courses and faculty
● Fosters sense of community across campuses
● Spur innovations in teaching and learning - see next slide
Challenges
● Won’t directly generate revenue (unless you charge for certificates)
● Requires investment - faculty time, resources
● Other questions to consider in following slides, such as
accreditation, competition, and evaluation
Provosts and presidents are split down the middle on MOOCs

14. Teaching & Learning
Perspective: MOOCs
Pros
● Encourages sharing of teaching practices, research and
data on teaching (SOTL), highlight & showcase faculty
teaching.
● “Placing their MOOCs in the public domain for a
worldwide audience will oblige institutions to do more
than pay lip service to importance of teaching and put
it at the core their missions. This is the real revolution
of MOOCs.”
Cons
● Videos+quizzes not enough. MOOCs need better learning
design.
● MOOCs: The Dark Side (infographic)

15. Frequently Asked Questions
How do MOOCs make money?
See How EdX Plans to Earn Money and Emerging
business models for MOOCs.
Are accrediting agencies paying attention to
MOOCs?
Yes. ACE recently accredited 5 MOOCs.
Are employers paying attention to MOOCs?
Yes. Employers are recruiting top students from
MOOCs. MOOCs are charging for access to student data.
The last two in particular suggest universities shouldn't ignore MOOCs.

16. Frequently Asked Questions
What's involved in designing and implementing a
MOOC?
See http://bit.ly/dukecoursera for a behind the scenes
look, and also a later slide: "Differences When Teaching a
MOOC." MOOCs should not be taught like regular courses.
Can students get a degree or credit taking
MOOCs?
Various solutions for credit such as digital badges,
certificates, e-portfolios. Universities are starting to give
credit for MOOCs with MOOC2Degree & OERu (next slide)
See also http://myeducationpath.com/

17. MOOC2Degree & OERu
http://www.mooc2degree.com/
● Multi-university partnership to offer MOOCs for college
credit.
● "Through this new initiative, the initial course in select
online degree programs will be converted into a
MOOC."
http://wikieducator.org/OER_university/Home
● OER = Open Educational Resources
● "The OER university aims to provide free learning to all
students worldwide using OER learning materials with
pathways to gain credible qualifications from recognised
education institutions."

18. Frequently Asked Questions
Are MOOCs a fad?
Probably not
● Millions of dollars invested in MOOCs
● Millions of students signing up for MOOCs around globe
● Developing & using new and innovative tools to support
MOOCs - cheat detection, better discussion forums,
sophisticated learner analytics, new MOOC platforms,
Google Apps, etc.
Are MOOCs hyped?
Probably yes
● MOOC hype cycle (next slide)

20. Open Questions
● How do we evaluate Quality, ROI of
MOOCs?
● How are MOOCs to be accredited?
● What about alternative models, such as:
○ Self-Paced Learning (like Khan Academy or
Udemy)?
○ Blended/Hybrid Models (like the Open Learning
Initiative?
○ Games? Gamification?
○ MOOC-Wrapping?
○ Online Professional Development
Communities? (continuous, like tappedin)

21. What Should We Do?
● Talk to Faculty
○ Is there faculty interest & enthusiasm for
MOOCs?
○ Do their courses use copyrighted
materials? Would they scale to MOOCs?
● Talk to Students
○ Current, Former, Prospective
● Try Out MOOCs Yourself:
○ http://www.class-central.com/
● If Need Be: Implement a Pilot Test

22. 3 Levels of MOOC
Implementation
● Individual
○ Individual faculty can use free MOOC hosting
services like CourseSites, Canvas.net, Wikis, Blogs,
Google Apps...
● Standard
○ University adopts a standard platform for hosting
MOOCs (coursesites, coursera, etc.) with several
courses
● Showcase
○ University invests in developing custom showcase
courses targeting prospective students (flight
simulation, aviation, etc.)

23. For More Information about
MOOCs
See these papers on MOOCs:
● European University Assocation: MOOCs (Jan. 2013)
● John Daniel: Making Sense of MOOCs: Musings in a
Maze of Myth, Paradox and Possibility (2012)
● EDUCAUSE: What Campus Leaders Need to Know
About MOOCs (2012)
MOOC News:
● InsideHigherEd: MOOC articles
● Chronicle of Higher Education: MOOC articles

24. Thank You
Contact me if you have any questions:
douglas.holton@erau.edu
Bonus slides appear after this one.

25. Bonus Slides

26. Differences When Teaching
a MOOC vs. Reg. Course
● takes more time, less room for error
● copyright issues - no more fair use
● many tools you use may not scale to thousands of
students - different set of tools needed for MOOCs
● things that cause a few to grumble in a regular online
class may cause a revolt in a MOOC - expensive
textbook, too much reading, boring lectures, powerpoint
● some issues are amplified in a MOOC: dropout rate,
cheating, off-topic noise in forums, time zone issues,
accessibility
● most MOOCs are shorter - 5-8 weeks instead of 15

27. Create Your Own MOOC:
MOOC Platforms
Open Source
● CourseBuilder, by Google
● Class2Go, by Stanford
● OpenMOOC
● MechanicalMOOC, by P2PU
● Edx platform by MIT, to be released
Free
● Google Apps - Google+, Google Sites, Google Groups
● CourseSites by Blackboard
● Canvas.net by Instructure (based on open source)
● Wordpress, Wikis, Blogs, Twitter, Facebook

28. MOOCs for Corporate
Learning
From a Feb. 27 webinar: http://futureworkplace.com/
We think of MOOCs as courses and how they might
replace traditional training/instruction, but you can also look
at MOOCs as:
● Marketing – advertising your services, recruiting new
employees, students, customers
● Supplementing Instruction - like a textbook: MOOC-
wrapping
● Networking – providing a space for employees and
others to network with one another

29. Benefits in Taking MOOCs
There are various things an organization might gain by
allowing employees or students to take MOOCs, and by
offering MOOCs to your own employees or students, or to
your customers and the public.
When employees (or students) take public MOOCs,
benefits include:
● Learning from world-class experts
● Saving money – most MOOCs are free, partly because
they serve as advertising, marketing
● Networking with one another, and possibly finding
talented folks to recruit
● Supplementing local instruction and training – MOOC-
wrapping

30. Benefits in Creating MOOCs
By creating MOOCs for your own organization, you might:
● Have job applicants complete a MOOC to assess their
skills
● Create an organization-wide course to foster a larger
sense of community, breaking down silos
● Standardize basic training – less duplication
By creating MOOCs for other companies and people, you
might
● Create standard introductory courses for your products
or services
● Train customers on your product or services, perhaps to
accompany a demo or trial
● Help the public better understand what it is your
organization does or provides, what makes it special