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
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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3. 3
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
5. 5
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
6. 6
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
13. (Realtime) translation
A framework curriculum (industry requested
profile)
A “topxxxxx” platform for testing and
hardening my new gained skills
100% accepted certificate
…
13
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