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MOOCs just keep getting bigger!

Hype or hope? You decide.

I thought it was time to catch up on the current headline grabbing subject of MOOCs ; following my own recent MOOC experiences and a few inspirational talks here at Aston. On Monday 28 January 2013 Professor Curtis Bonk visited Aston University and delivered a brain melting talk on Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs). His presentation was recorded and is available in 4 chunks on the Global Dimensions in HE website 

Professor Bonk galloped through the recent history of MOOCs, models, and (learning) theories – which was both fascinating and overwhelming! The MOOC is definitely here to stay in a multiplicity of variants and pedagogic models, and all look somewhat disruptive (if you believe the hype), and some are even innovative! I still think the primary reason for most is still a “shop front” or large data collection for learning research. Some are offering innovative modes of delivery and learner engagement; i.e. the recent E-learning and Digital Cultures  course offered some interesting and engaging activities – including a final peer assessment on created digital artefacts. Whereas the Coursera course: Fundamentals of Online Education: Planning and Application was forced to close after only a few days. I was enrolled and attended (in parts) both the above, so it was interesting to see two completely different models of MOOC courses, and experience (chaotic) social learning using two vastly different (interactive) models. It was somewhat ironic to witness the Fundamentals course fold/fail , but I’m sure they are redesigning the course for version 2 – as we speak. Let’s not forget how Daphne Koller promotes the Coursera model of altruism / openness, but then talks about the usefulness of the (learning) data they’ve gathered! This keynote by Gardner Campbell at the Open Education Conference 2012, should bring us all back down to earth, as should this recording of a debate on the subject at the ASCILITE 2012 conference?

Professor Bonk also mentioned the new Google learning platform called coursebuilder but advised that it required some coding skills to use it. On that note, I was talking to David Kernohan from JISC, at the JISC CETIS conference this week about the other types of MOOC platforms being developed; his research had uncovered most were bespoke coded products, and some were using WordPress or the Pearsons platform.
In other recent news; two of the big players in the field announce significant increases in partnerships, whilst 5 US MOOCs have been recommended for credits. In the UK, Sir Michael Barber, chief education adviser for Pearson, says online learning (not necessarily MOOCs) offers “both a threat and opportunity” for UK universities. At the Online and Open-access Learning in Higher Education event , Professor’s Josie Taylor (OU) and Diana Laurillard (London Knowledge Lab ) criticized the ethics, motives, and pedagogic models of most MOOCs (i.e. does completion = success? What are the values for those who drop out?), which are all founded concerns. Although; we don’t hear much complaining from the “students” of these courses about multi-choice assessments wrapped around (good quality) talking heads type video production! Do we?

At this week’s CETIS conference I attended presentations by Simon Buckingham Shum  (OU analytics guru), and Professor Patrick McAndrew  (OU Professor of Open Education) both talked about the creation of the FutureLearn MOOC project. Simon talked at length about [research & marketing] data, and what types of data will/could be harvested from FuutreLearn, whilst Professor McAndrew talked about the Open learning movement and the design ethos behind the new venture. Their MOOCy “good intentions” are thus:
• Build on what we know
• Innovate
• Be accessible
• Be interactive
• Make use of data
• Use the right licence
• Be prepared to re-use
• Not be in it [just] for the money
• Be happy
If you want to know more on how to design a MOOC, dip into the (OU driven) OLDS MOOC archives for the received wisdom from those that have just completed this course. I’ll finish off this update posting with a link to the new CETIS white paper on the subject : MOOCs and Open Education: Implications for Higher Education which helps clarifies the current state of play. Just try not to mention the word disruption too much, will you.

Durham BB & MOOCs

This post covers the two keynotes I attended at the recent Blackboard users group in Durham. They covered networked learning and the pros and cons of Massively Online Open Courses (MOOCs).

What is a MOOC? George Siemens explains, in the context of the original Connectivism MOOC

Two keynotes this year covered the highly topical subject of MOOCs. Professor Allison Littlejohn from Glasgow Caledonian University covered three primary paradigms   for the increased need for collective learning by citing her own research papers. She then recounted results of her research into knowledge based networks by Shell Oil employees during 2004. This research illustrated the effect of professionals using networks to demonstrate how the single person builds upon their knowledge and contributes to the mass of knowledge via networked connections. Her presentation illustrated the moves towards collaborative learning and knowledge building using [social] networks. She also covered research into the motivational drivers for students to learn using structured xMOOCs, i,e Coursera courses and unstructured cMOOCs i.e. phonar. That research covered the understanding of learning and learner defined pathways within HE. Her recent research covers the use of shared goals as a learning approach, and her (Open Source) Charting tool – which uses learning goals as a social object. She also mentioned that they had also implemented some research on learners who had engaged in a MOOC during 2011. Finally she mentioned an impact study on the UKOER programme on behalf of HEFCE. This looked at various areas of impact. Promising results of witnessing more use of openness in all aspects of education, therefore indicating [some] change in academic attitudes to openness. A slight shift in (open) ideals of working and sharing.

Jeremy Knox of Edinburgh University covered the MOOC Pedagogy, developing for Coursera in his keynote on day 2. He gave a much more detailed account of the current state of play for the cMOOCs Vs xMOOCs modes of design and engagement, i.e. George Siemens Connectivism MOOC  Vs the more high profile Coursera/Udacity/edX/KhanAcademy type designs. In summary xMOOC type courses are designed more towards automation, whereas cMOOCs offer far more learner defined pathway – with the knowledge of the network being the focus – not a suite of learning objects. The xMooc type is how they were instructed to design their new Coursera course (beginning next Monday 28th) – which unsurprisingly took much longer (and cost more) than they anticipated! If you think about it, xMOOCs mimic established distance learning design without the close facilitation of the learners or the validation! Most Coursera courses consist of chunks of head and shoulder video lectures with self checking quizzes to follow. The grading is automated (que howls of unfair play across the MOOC community) with supposed communities of practice forming spontaneously.  I attended part of a Coursera course last year, and was impressed at the quality, and depth of subject covered – but you need to be 100% motivated to cover the sessions in full! Certificates of completion are issued rather than credit, but…. edX are developing credits for theirs! This summary of funding models also proved to be useful to remind us how they’ve got off the ground; Udacity = for profit, edX = not for profit, Coursera = venture capital funded for profit and a dedicated platform.

Jeremy stated that their Coursera course (‘E-Learning and Digital Cultures) is being viewed as a complement to on campus learning – not a disruptive area. It is being blended with their distance MSC . He will researching how their fee paying masters students will engage with the course alongside people like me who are dipping in to keep our knowledge fresh – for free!

He finished off with stating that both open (MOOCs) and closed (degrees) learning experiences can coexist happily together – it just relies on the institution to carefully pitch it alongside their traditional offerings. He stressed, that it’s not a question of MOOCs or not for HEI’s, its a matter of getting the blend right with traditional offerings. Just like distance learning then? His talk also echoed aspects of Alison Littlejohn’s theories of the importance to understand self directed learning in HE and the motivational forces and facilitative aspects of [guided] learning. So the stampede to join the MOOC bandwagon is just beginning – keep your eyes on OU FutureLearn, and book onto the session next Monday where Professor Curtis Bonk is talking at Aston on his very subject.

Durham BB users conference

This is the first of two blog posts covering the recent Durham Blackboard
users Conference .

This post will concentrate on the presentation on day two of the conference
by Greg Ritter, Director of Product Management with Blackboard Learn. He
covered the details for Bb service pack releases, their current support
websites, and future plans. I’m also going to comment upon a panel
presentation covering recent experiences of Bb mobile.

Firstly I’ll cover the Bb plans, drivers,new products and  enhanced support services. Then I’ll highlight the new features in service packs 10,11, and 12.

Greg was keen to underpin his presentation with their primary drivers, which
have are summarised into four major challenges driving product development. They are: recruitment, instructor efficiency, student engagement & retention, data
driven decision making. He also commented upon their new automated testing on
Bb platform. What took 3-4 days now is is done overnight. A mixture of auto
and manual testing.

So the new products (i.e, Blackboard Connect text 2), and a wealth of new
inbuilt and optional analysitcs tools really highlighted the increasing
importance of accurate data driven decisions across modern educational
organisations. I’ll cover some of these later in the post. One of the main
conference sponsors http://www.eesysoft.com/ offers analytic solutions for
educators to measure VLE impact/ ROI / engagement! Let’s not forget Bb’s own
analytics tool  that offers the ability to extract a wealth of data for various stakeholders.

Greg was also keen to highlight the new and improved websites offering
specific guidance to users, including new upgrade cohorts, the improved help
site  , etc. The list:

• blackboard.com/bits - Blackboard Innovative Teaching Series
• blackboard.com/digitalcontent – Integrating 3rd party resources
• blackboard.com/cohort – Upgrade Cohort Programs
• blackboard.com/rubrics – using and sharing rubrics
• blackboard.com/trial – free guided trials
• go.blackboard.com/faculty – train staff, innovate and share effective
• practice
• blackboard.com/bie – idea exchange, get involved in product development
• blackboard.com/usergroups – join online networks to share practice
• blackboard.com/catalyst – exemplary courses
• Not forgetting Coursesites  - who offer free  online courses & training for educators

Getting Mobile

I watched a very useful panel discussion by five institutions (HE & FE) who all launched Bb mobile last year. They either bought the product, or just enabled the option on Bb to allow students to access Bb via native apps. The common themes were; soft launch, and unfounded concern about staff and students inability to cope! All five panel members remarked that the process had been far less painful than envisaged, and all had experienced far less support calls that expected. Mobile access continues to increase across all institutions, a positive result! There was only one institution (Liverpool John Moore’s) to provide staff training/support and regular forums exchanging ideas. The rest just quietly launched it! The Blackboard mobile users group met at the conference. This blog post by Sharon Flynn  of NUI Galway is worth reading to find out about future mobile plans – including a new native app this summer.

Let’s Xplor!

Perhaps the most interesting new product was announced off the back of Greg’s
comments about their MooodleRooms  acquisition last year, and their
Sakai support. So it seems Bb are strategically aligning themselves
as a multiple VLE support company now. Therefore the Xplor (in beta) tool
has been created to enable cross platform creation and sharing of learning objects/resources using OER and Creative Commons licensed resources. Resources can be embedded  into all supported VLEs. You can also create and manage content from xplor,
including links,assignments, assessments, and discussions. Fewer question
types available than BB Learn. This is an interesting move for Bb – embracing
cloud based content creation and sharing. It could provide a viable
application to allow staff to “easily” create and share learning resources.
Service packs 10,11,12

To finish off let’s have a look at the highlights out now, or soon to be
released.

Read more

Active MOOC

I’ve been dipping into the Blackboard MOOC  called Designing an Exemplary Course. I have found it to be quite useful picking up instructional design nuances from previous exemplary course winners . The weekly course structure is run via BB own CourseSites platform and makes use of a blog plus weekly webinars showcasing  online or blended courses.

The supporting blog also reinforces the learning theory; active (and social) learning  which is proving to be a key scaffolding concept . I’m currently designing a new staff development course promoting active learning by exploiting experiential methods using the tools (discussions, wiki, blog, journal) in a student context. The top ten methods summarised in the active instructor post resonated with my own approaches , i.e. exploiting adult learning theories; real world projects, collaborative work, peer learning using a variety of media. I’m also including opportunities for reflective thinking throughout, and group presentations in the final week.

There are also links to another Blackboard blog, discussing active learners in relation to 21st Century teaching, including the very outdated reference to “digital natives” in the form of a particularly cheesy video.

The visitor & resident metaphor developed by David White  is a more accurate portrayal of the continuum we all reside on in relation to the use of technology. Make sure you follow the link to the peer reviewed journal to read his critique of Prensky’s digital native/immigrant paper. As we all know, the concept of digital native is an overhyped myth, which is currently being investigated by the JISC funded digital literacies programme. They say..

“By digital literacy we mean those capabilities which fit an individual for living, learning and working in a digital society: for example, the skills to use digital tools to undertake academic research, writing and critical thinking; as part of personal development planning; and as a way of showcasing achievements”.
The Study of how UK FE and HE institutions are supporting effective learners in a digital age (SLiDA) is well worth reading.

Obviously I’m currently focussed with developing the digital literacies of our staff in relation to the exploitation of the tools we have here, which in turn should cascade down to our students learning experiences. I’m finding the use of small developmental steps beneficial – taking inspiration from the 3E Framework developed by Dr Keith Smyth.

new tools

Thought it was time to share a few developments.  Here’s some short snippets for your consumption;

• Use, and then feedback into the London Knowledge Lab’s updated Learning Design Support Environment. See the video above.
• JISC have produced an update guide on using Blackboard Collaborate.
• Blackboard Inc. have announced the launch of a Beta program for an interactive mobile application for Blackboard Collaborate(TM),  The new app would let learners participate in live Web conferencing sessions from smartphone and tablet devices, significantly expanding access to sessions delivered through the platform.  We are upgrading from Elluminate to Collaborate during July 2012.
• You can now add short audio feedback clips onto student scripts using Turnitin.
• Blackboard has updated its mobile app to accommodate test taking and to deliver alerts to students when changes happen to their courses without the learning management system (LMS) app being opened. Aston does not use BB mobile app’.
• Stay on top of Turnitin system up time by following their status tweets.
• Access our new PeerMark tutorial – courtesy of Cardiff learning support.
• Need to extend Blackboard functionality /any VLE easily – then use the IMS LTI standard! Read a recent interoperability paper written by Stephen Vickers.

New EU cookie law

Delicious Cookie (CC) Andreas Moreno

On Saturday May 26th the new EU cookie law (e-Privacy Directive) came into force. Any website/learning platform must provide advice and information to users. Those website visitors can chose to accept or deny the use of cookies on their computer. Most of the time cookies (small text file) are harmless, and provide a mechanism to easily store data we re-use, when revisiting a website. But sometime the same “good cookie” technology can be used for illicit means, eg. capturing personal data.  The new law  will mean that you will see many more of these statements  (see image below) requesting  user consent to use their cookies.

The ICO states:

Cookies or similar devices must not be used unless the subscriber or user of the relevant terminal equipment:

(a) is provided with clear and comprehensive information about the purposes of the storage of, or access to, that information; and

(b) has given his or her consent.

…………………………………………………………..Read more here

Learning platform updates

The vendors of three of our core tools have recently announced product updates. We will be monitoring and testing (some of) these during the forthcoming months; and will report back on progress.

Turnitin2

Two new major updates are currently being planned for later this spring:

1)   Updated Basic integration;

• Upgraded Instructors interface, enabling better tracking and monitoring of all scripts in assignments
• Instructors being able to view any requested matched papers from within their own institution – without needing to contact Tii support
• The ability to attach audio feedback to scripts.

2)   Direct Integration (currently in beta test). Main features;

• Multi-part and continuous assignment types
• e-rater grammar checker
• removal of the roster synch button
• Export grades to Excel format, user un-mapping ability, ability to recycle /rollover old assignments (with new cohorts)
• Releasing grades only on “Post” date
• Improved support for moving assignments.

Read more here: http://submit.ac.uk/en_us/support/integrations/blackboard-direct

Note: some of the features listed above (e.g. audio feedback, or upgraded instructors interface) will be implemented as standard for the web document viewer, so they will ultimately appear in both the direct and basic integrations.

In addition to the above new features on the horizon are;

• A whole new set of analytics tools will be made available to assignment instructors.
• A phased roll out of fully iPad enabled Turnitin access will begin in spring 2012 through to winter 2013.
• Translated paraphrasing will also be available this year. This relatively new method of converting text into different languages – then back into English, can be now be “checked” to detect this practice.

Book your place on the free Turnitin webinars running spring 2012.

Read more

Turnitin – turnitup!

Turnitin; our text matching tool of choice are currently beta testing two new additions to their ever growing suite of features:

First is the direct integration – useful for those (like us) who have Turnitin fully integrated with their VLE.    We will be joining the beta testing process in the near future. I am attending a demonstration of this next week, and will report back soon.

Secondly is the beta release of translated paraphrasing. This relatively new method of converting text into different languages – then back into English, can be now be “checked” to detect this practice.

Training news

Turnitin are also  running a series awareness sessions running during February and March, covering a wide range of academic misconduct and plagiarism topics. Most are free, and can be attended via an online webinar. Find out more and book onto these here: http://community.turnitin.com/events/event_list.asp

VLE features

Our upgraded VLE has a new permanent URL and a new “paste from Word” tool added to text editors.  This tool sits below other Mashup features added to the latest version of Blackboard. This new addition fixes previous bugs, and now allows course builders to simply paste directly from Microsoft Word documents, whilst retaining text formatting.

Find other Blackboard tutorials in our new TLC website.

3D solutions

Further JISC case studies here.

Aston University has been identified as pioneers in the use of 3D virtual worlds to help develop students’ employability potential. The new JISC guide entitled Emerging Practice in a Digital Age , includes a collaborative project between Aston University and The University of Derby.

The PREVIEW-Psych course team developed four avatar-driven clinical scenarios designed around a family experiencing a range of common mental health disorders, closely linked to content from the University of Derby and Aston University‟s first year psychology teaching modules. The aim was to emulate campus-based learning using interactive lectures, seminars and group work.

Using problem based learning approaches in a blended context is certainly proving beneficial in this discipline, and we shall look out for future research publications by Jon Wood , who feaures in the above video.