MOOC

**Introduction**
A **MOOC ** is a **M **assive **O **pen **O **nline **C **ourse. It is a gathering of participants, of people willing to jointly exchange knowledge and experiences for each of them to build upon. As such it is within the hands of the participants and organizers of a MOOC to change it to their needs. This allows them to use the information and to construct their own ideas or projects. A MOOC is by itself a non-defined pedagogical format to organize learning/teaching/training on a specific topic in a more informal collaborative way. This guide is meant to be a useful template that can be molded, and build upon as our joint knowledge on MOOC’s and new pedagogies grow.

The effect of a MOOC is not to be taken lightly! Many of the participants who went through a MOOC experience have had a powerful learning experience which in some cases resulted in strong personal or professional projects with impact. On the other hand the drop-out rate in a non-credited MOOC is high and some participants simply do not like the approach of a MOOC for it has specific dynamics. The diversity in appreciations and feelings is not new: the playground felt like a mental warzone to some and a great adventure to others.



Benefits and Challenges

 * Benefits of a MOOC **
 * You can organize a MOOC in any setting that has connectivity (which can include the Web, but also local connections via Wi-Fi e.g.)
 * You can organize it in any language you like (taking into account the main language of your target audience)
 * You can use any online tools that are relevant to your target region or that are already being used by the participants
 * You can move beyond time zones and physical boundaries
 * It can be organized as quickly as you can inform the participants.
 * Contextualized content can be shared by all
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 1.5;">Learning happens in a more informal setting, at a place of your convenience and often around your own schedule.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 1.5;">Learning can also happen incidentally thanks to the unknown knowledge that pops up as the course participants start to exchange notes on the course’s study
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 1.5;">You can connect across disciplines and corporate or institutional walls
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 1.5;">You don’t need a degree to follow the course, only the willingness to learn (at high speed)
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 1.5;">You add to your own personal learning environment and or network by participating in a MOOC
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 1.5;">You will improve your lifelong learning skills, for participating in a MOOC forces you to think about your own learning and knowledge absorption


 * <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Possible challenges of a MOOC **
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 1.5;">It feels chaotic as participants create their own content
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 1.5;">It demands digital literacy
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 1.5;">It demands time and effort from the participants
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 1.5;">It is organic, which means the course will take on its own trajectory (you have got to let go).
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 1.5;">As a participant you need to be able to self-regulate your learning and possibly give yourself a learning goal to achieve.

**Mooc Providers**

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #0066cc; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; line-height: 1.5; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">EdX <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; line-height: 1.5;"> – A Not-for-profit enterprise with MIT and Harvard universities as founding partners. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #0066cc; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; line-height: 1.5; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Coursera <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; line-height: 1.5;"> – A social entrepreneurship company founded by computer science professors Andrew Ng and Daphne Koller from Stanford University. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #0066cc; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; line-height: 1.5; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">NovoEd <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; line-height: 1.5;"> – Rebranded version of Stanford’s Venture Lab, with a special focus on students collaboration and real-world course projects. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #0066cc; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; line-height: 1.5; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Udacity <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; line-height: 1.5;"> – Udacity was an outgrowth of a Stanford University experiment in which Sebastian Thrun and Peter Norvig offered their ‘Introduction to Artificial Intelligence’ course online for free in which over 160,000 students in more than 190 countries enrolled. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #0066cc; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; line-height: 1.5; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Futurelearn <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; line-height: 1.5;">- The first UK-led multi-institutional platform, partnering with 17 UK universities, offering MOOC to students around the world. It is a private company owned by the Open University. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #0066cc; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; line-height: 1.5; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">[|OpenUpEd] <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; line-height: 1.5;">- First Pan-European MOOC initiative, with support of the European commission. It includes partners from 11 countries. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; line-height: 1.5; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #0066cc; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">iversity – <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; line-height: 1.5;">A company with a diverse interdisciplinary team from Berlin presently offering MOOC production fellowship and collaboration network for academia. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #0066cc; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; line-height: 1.5; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Open2Study <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; line-height: 1.5;"> – An initiative of Open Universities Australia which itself is a leading provider online education through collaboration of several Australian universities. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #0066cc; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; line-height: 1.5; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Canvas <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; line-height: 1.5;"> – An open, online course network that connects students, teachers & institutions <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #0066cc; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; line-height: 1.5; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">10gen Education <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; line-height: 1.5;">- an online learning platform run by 10gen (the MongoDB company) <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #0066cc; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; line-height: 1.5; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">[|OpenLearning] <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #0066cc; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; line-height: 1.5; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Class2Go – UWA <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #0066cc; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; line-height: 1.5; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">[|Class2Go – Stanford] <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; line-height: 1.5;">- Now in maintenance mode. Will be merged with edX platform. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; line-height: 1.5; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #0066cc; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">[|MRUniversity] – <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; line-height: 1.5;">Focusing on economics courses, founded by two GMU professors <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #0066cc; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; line-height: 1.5; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Academic Earth <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; line-height: 1.5; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #0066cc; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">P2PU - <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; line-height: 1.5;"> Peer to Peer University is a non-profit online community based learning platform, founded with funding from the Hewlett Foundation and the Shuttleworth Foundation. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; line-height: 1.5; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #0066cc; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Udemy – <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; line-height: 1.5;">An online learning platform that allows anyone to host their video courses. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #0066cc; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; line-height: 1.5; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Caltech’s ‘Learning From Data’ Course <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #0066cc; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; line-height: 1.5; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">[|OpenHPI] <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; line-height: 1.5;">- The educational Internet platform of the German Hasso Plattner Institute, Potsdam, focusing on courses in Information and Communications Technology (ICT). <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #0066cc; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; line-height: 1.5; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">UoPeople <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; line-height: 1.5;"> – University of the People (UoPeople) is a tution-free, non-profit, online academic institution offering undergraduate programs in Business Administration and Computer Science. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; line-height: 1.5; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #0066cc; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">[|Saylor] - <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; line-height: 1.5;"> a non-profit organization that provides over 280 free, self-paced courses. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; line-height: 1.5; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #0066cc; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">[|World Education University] – <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; line-height: 1.5;">WEU <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #0066cc; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; line-height: 1.5; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">CourseSites MOOCs <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #0066cc; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; line-height: 1.5; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Open Learning Initiative – CMU <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #0066cc; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; line-height: 1.5; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">[|Unimooc] <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #0066cc; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; line-height: 1.5; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">[|iDESWEB]


 * <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 1.5;">Resources **

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 1.5;">**[|Article]** <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">[|wiki] <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">[|watch] <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">[|Tools]


 * <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Questions on Mooc : **


 * HOW WILL MOOCS TEACH STUDENTS WHO LEARN DIFFERENTLY?
 * Can every kind of learner take advantage of moocs? And if not what are the obstacles and remedies to same?
 * Could a MOOC work for high school students?
 * Moocs and grading – incompatible?
 * Moocs and grading – incompatible?

MOOCs are happening. They are both an opportunity for many around the world to get access to things they have never been able to access before and a threat to what some of us would call education.