Kate Dickens and Lisa Harris - presentation to Futurelearn Partners Advisory Group, 13th January 2016

1. MOOCs at Southampton:
how and why
Kate Dickens, Institute for Learning Innovation &
Development (ILIaD), University of Southampton
Dr Lisa Harris, Deputy Director, Web Science
Institute, University of Southampton
13/01/16

2. 13/01/16
2013 – Web Science
2014 – Oceans; Archaeology of Portus; Developing Your Research Project;
Shipwrecks; Digital Marketing; Understanding Language
2015 – Contract Management; Wellington 1815; Agincourt 1415

3. 2 years …
10 courses
25 course runs
362,778 joiners
168,470 learners
13/01/16
What?

4. Over the past 2 years, the core project
team, advised by the MOOC programme
board, have supported over 40
academics and 15 PhD students to create
content and have trained over 45 PhD
students to be online facilitators. They
have filmed & edited over 320 videos &
animations many of which have also
been used by Southampton students.
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How?

5. Why? recruitment onto online MA
Understanding Language: Learning
and Teaching
144,761 joiners/66,245 learners so far from 3
runs. This course has been jointly developed with
the British Council and is aimed at native and
non-native speaking English language teachers.
13/01/16
We are using the FutureLearn
‘student recruitment tool’ to
encourage learners to sign up to
our joint online MA. This has
been overwhelmingly successful.

6. 24 – 25/10/15
Why? pre-university & global outreach
Developing Your Research Project
This course is aimed at 16-18 year olds
undertaking an Extended Project Qualification or
International Baccalaureate extended essay. Total
42,120/22,814 over all 4 runs. Successful
penetration of new markets in UK & overseas.

7. Why? revolutionising education
Graeme Earl – Educator on ‘Archaeology of Portus’
“Before I talked the talk about ‘flipping’ the classroom and the
value to a mass audience. It’s only when you do it you
appreciate how extraordinary and how enthusiastic a self-
learning community are.”
David Millard – Educator on ‘Web Science’
“Has it changed the way I do my day-to-day teaching? What
you get from the MOOC is that it opens up the internal
conversation from students that you are simply not party to
normally. You get to understand the things that they get
stuck on, the things that delight them, the things that
confuse them. So it helps you reflect on your own
practice.”
13/01/16

8. Why? Curriculum innovation
through research-led teaching
• Our on campus MSc students (70) were asked to post 30 times in
the platform (10 per week) and write blogposts reflecting on the
learning experience of 1) participating and 2) blogging
• Digichamps & PhD students joining educators in weekly
video reflections
13/01/16 #FLdigital
Digital Marketing: Challenges &
Insights
• Showcases ground breaking research by our
PhD students and educators
• Students as co-creators, facilitators and active
learners

9. Why? Experiential learning for all

10. Why? Encourage student reflection
Digichamps and MOOC Facilitators
Hannah Watts & Amanda Herron
recording the weekly feedback for our
YouTube Channel with educators Lisa
Harris and Mike Molesworth
• Only 12% of the campus-based
group had any prior
knowledge/experience of
MOOCs
• 62% liked the MOOC from the
start
• 15% initially disliked the idea,
but came to like the MOOC by
the end
• 15% were neutral before/after
studying the MOOC
• 8% disliked the MOOC
throughout
13/01/16 #FLdigital

11. Why? enhance experience for on-
campus students (TEF)
• We are currently creating a new MOOC in
‘Social Media Networks’ which integrates with
an existing on-campus ‘Curriculum
Innovation’ module (open to all UG students).
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12. For further information:
https://www.futurelearn.com/partners/university-of-southampton
Kate Dickens, Project Lead, University of Southampton
e: kate.dickens@soton.ac.uk t: +44 (0)23 8059 7149
13/01/16