Presentation for the EMOOCs conferences 2019, Naples, Italy. I describe why and how we created a Study Skills MOOC, and how we plan to maintain it now that our funding is over.

1. How to run a massive open
online course once the
funding is over
BRENDA CECILIA PADILLA RODRIGUEZ
MA CONCEPCION RODRIGUEZ NIETO
MAY 21ST 2019

2. How it all started
EMOOCS 2019, NAPLES, ITALY 2

3. Our problem
About 50% of students who start university drop out
before completing their degree.
Many reasons:
 Financial and personal problems
 Low entry academic level + difficulties to understand university-level courses
+ deficient study skills
(Domínguez Pérez et al., 2013; López Villafaña et al., 2014;
OECD, 2010; Torres Balcázar et al., 2011)
EMOOCS 2019, NAPLES, ITALY 3

4. Our goal (Year 1)
Design, implement and evaluate a MOOC on Study
Skills that could help first-year students transition to
higher education, improve their study skills and
develop their self-efficacy.
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5. What we needed
MOOC platform
Learning design
Educational content
MOOC facilitators
Tech support
Research
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6. What we needed
MOOC platform
Learning design
Educational content
MOOC facilitators
Tech support
Research
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Estimated costs for creating and
delivering a MOOC range from
39,000 to 325,000 USD.
(Hollands & Tirthali, 2014)

7. What we had
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ME

8. What we had
…the salary of a full-
time postdoc
researcher…
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9. What we had
Supervision time from a senior lecturer
University’s infrastructure (computers, wifi)
Moral support from managers
Open Educational Resources
Public domain images
Freeware
Enthusiasm
…and…
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10. What we had
Network of wonderful people passionate about openness
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11. And that’s how we got things rolling…
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12. Study Skills MOOC
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13. MOOC de Habilidades de Estudio
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1. Managing time efficiently
2. Taking effective notes
3. Searching for reliable information
4. Understanding academic texts
5. Using the APA referencing format
6. Writing academically.
Topics: Study Skills

14. Main characteristics
 Constructivist approach
 Activities reliant on social interactions
 Few multiple choice questions with
automated feedback
 29 discussion forums!
 E-tivity framework (Salmon, 2013)
 Strategies to foster self-efficacy
EMOOCS 2019, NAPLES, ITALY 14
Objective
Task
• Step1
• Step2
• Step3
Response
SPARK

15. Main characteristics
 Two staff facilitators & three student moderators (volunteers)
 Weekly follow-up emails & tweets
 Overarching assignment for each lesson
 Non-credit bearing certificates of participation
 Manual process!
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16. Results
 Positive comments
 Benefits for non-traditional students
 Statistically significant increases in self-efficacy
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(Padilla Rodriguez & Armellini, 2017;
Padilla Rodriguez, Armellini & Rodriguez Nieto, in press)

17. But we had a problem…
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18. The MOOC was not
sustainable
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19. Our goal (Year 2)
Identify strategies to make the Study Skills MOOC
sustainable (and keep it useful) past its funding
period.
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20. More resources
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ME
(again)

21. More resources
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…the salary of a full-time
postdoc researcher…

22. What the literature says
 Initiatives to create MOOCs on a budget
 Cheaper to re-run a MOOC than to develop it, but not
free.
 Philanthropy to support ongoing MOOCs (people donating
their time)
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(Hollands & Tirthali, 2014; Nissenson & Shih, 2016; Oyo &Kalema, 2014)

23. What academics say
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(Padilla Rodriguez,
Armellini, & de la
Garza Escamilla,
2018)

24. EDMEDIA, 25-29 JUNE 2018 24

25. What we needed
 Ensure the MOOC could work once the funding ended
and support became inconsistent.
 Modify the MOOC in such a way that we could leave it as
reference materials, without having to incur into new
administrative tasks.
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26. The Redesign
 Only one discussion forum per lesson
 Open space for comments, not e-tivities
 Multiple-choice questions with automated feedback
 Sample tweets
 Multimedia resources
 No completion certificates
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27. Focus of the Redesign
More learner-content
interactions
Less moderated social
interactions
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Automate
teaching
functions

28. How to run a MOOC once the
funding is over
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Business model that
generates the required
revenues to maintain
materials up to date and
help pay facilitators for their
work.
Content-based course
design with learning
materials that require little
updating

29. Final Reflections
 By shifting the focus from the learning community to interactions
with the content, the Study Skills MOOC is losing its original
essence.
 The course is becoming a set of massive open online resources, a
MOOR.
 While its spirit is different, it still offers a structured sequence of
materials that can help learners interested in developing their
study skills and self-efficacy.
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30. How to run a massive open
online course once the
funding is over
BRENDA CECILIA PADILLA RODRIGUEZ (@BRENDAPADILLA)
MA CONCEPCION RODRIGUEZ NIETO