MOOCs have been described as having the potential to make education much more accessible to many who previously could not afford it. However, the production costs that have been reported in the past have led many to suggest that they cannot be financially sustainable (Hollands and Devayani, 2014). If so, MOOCs will not emerge in topics with more narrow appeal such as in specialized topics or in minority languages (Woruba and Abedin, 2015). This presentation will give an overview of the Erasmus+ funded Locomotion Project which between 2015 and 2017 built and delivered the MOOCs4all MOOC; “Making MOOCs on a Budget”, to disseminate techniques on how to cheaply build an open course. It will also discuss the relatively modest uptake of the MOOC and barriers, other than cost, inhibiting the creation of MOOCs and invite contributions from the audience on how these can be overcome.

1. How to build a MOOC on a budget and why!
Brian Mulligan
Institute of Technology Sligo, Ireland.
OOFHEC2017
The Online, Open and Flexible Higher Education Conference
25 - 27 October 2017 Milton Keynes, UK
moocs4all.eu

3. Are MOOCs Financially Sustainable?
• Survey of 27 UK universities
– €40,485 average
• What about small target audiences?
– Specialised topics
– Minority languages
– Changing technologies
– Local needs
• Do they have to cost this much?

4. Why do universities spend so much on
MOOCs?
• Quality of Learning?
• Reputation?

5. Is the Coursera xMOOC pedagogy
sophisticated?
Do people learn?
“I got exactly what I wanted from it and more…
.. a most enjoyable and educational course”

6. If a course is good enough for 30
students,
is it good enough for 3000 students?

7. Are high production values required?

8. moocs4all.eu
• Collection and dissemination of low-cost methods
– Started 1 Feb 2015
• Website and Community Forum
• MOOC: “Making MOOCs on a Budget”
– Canvas.net and OERu.org
• Completed 1 Feb 2017
The Team
Institute of Technology, Sligo, Ireland
Technical University of Delft, Holland
Fachhochschule Bielefeld, Germany
University of Girona, Spain
Bath Spa University, UK
LoCoMoTion Project

9. Standard College Module
• 12 weeks x 2 x 1-hour lectures
• Handouts
• Lecturer and Peer support
• 2 or 3 assignments
• Final examination
50 x 15-minute recordings
Links to Open Educational Resources
Via forums
Peer-assessed
Quizzes before class
Open as a MOOC
In class time?
Flipped!

10. Principles
• Real learning Not “glitz”
• Some options are not possible
• Reuse OER
• Templates
– PPT, Quizzes, Peer assignment
• Simple workflow for institutions

11. Video Content
• Simple graphics (avoid animations)
• Good microphone
• Minimise editing
– Tolerate mistakes
– Repeat sections
– Leave audio clues for editing

12. Why?

13. “Cost Reduction”
The “love” than dare not speak its name

14. Why does this matter?
1. We can't afford it.
2. We will become irrelevant.

15. “Unleash Online Learning to
Address Global Inequality”
Mike Feerick, CEO of ALISON
SXSW in Austin, Texas
• “Our universities and colleges, almost without exception,
provide education and training that is too expensive”
• “We have been stopping people from educating themselves”
• “free online informal learning becomes an integral part of any
hiring decisions”

16. Facilitating multiple modes of learning
• Free learning
• Augmenting classroom learning
• Facilitating “flipped” learning
• Allowing remote learners access to campus courses
• Supporting “competency” approaches via challenge
exams
• Serving smaller target audiences?
– Specialised topics
– Minority languages
– Changing technologies
– Local needs

17. Outputs to date
• Great feedback on MOOC
• Impact not so good!
– Signups: 500
– Completion: 40
– MOOCs started construction ~10
– MOOCs constructed ~4

18. Thanks
Why isn’t everyone making a MOOC?
• Not so easy?
• Too little time?
• No desire to share?
• No recognition?
• Against institutional policy?
• Can’t hear the message?
Thanks for listening – over to you!
moocs4all.eu
mulligan.brian@itsligo.ie