It has been a little while since I last posted (two years--really?) and so it is not surprising that there have been a number of changes. What is perhaps more surprising is the relatively slow rate of evolution. Given all the excitement engendered by the launch of the first MOOCs (the New York Times called 2012 "The Year of the MOOC") we might have expected to see an explosion in the number of courses and student enrolments, innovative approaches on both existing and new platforms, and a growing acceptance of MOOCs by both colleges and employers. The reality has been rather less earth-shattering and distinctly more incremental.
In this first post of 2016 I'll just touch on a few areas of change and look at some broader issues. I'll return to discuss them in more detail in later postings. To capture two years in a few words, I would characterise 2014 as a year of consolidation and 2015 as a period of restructuring.
2014 saw very few significant changes in the MOOC marketplace. The two major players, Coursera and edX, continued to expand their range of courses. Among the smaller players Futurelearn, which had debuted in late 2013, collected more partners but failed to make a big impact on the world scene while Open2Study seemed to stall offering no new courses at all. Udacity had effectively left the MOOC field in late 2013 'pivoting' its offering towards paid vocational courses.
Both Coursera and edX had introduced versions of verified certificates in 2013 and continued to promote them in 2014. As the only successful revenue source for MOOCs to date this was particularly important for Coursera who were relying on a substantial raft of venture capital in order to keep afloat. Once again mirroring each other, both the major players had also introduced the concept of sequences of related courses building towards an overall certification, XSeries in the case of edX and Specializations for Coursera. 2014 saw the steady growth of such sequences. During 2014 these sequences were mainly constructed from existing or already planned courses.
So 2014 really saw nothing too dramatic happening. A few courses here and there gained (US) college accreditation but there were not the seismic shifts predicted by some in the education industry. So how did 2015 shape up? More of the same or some surprises?
2015 will, I suspect, be seen as the year when finances really started becoming a central concern. If in nothing else, this can be seen in the attitude of providers towards free certificates. By the close of 2015 both edX and Coursera had essentially stopped issuing free certificates. This can only be explained as being a response to the need to promote their verified certificates. The problem both had faced was that the verified certificates offered little advantage to students: colleges weren't interested in non-accredited courses and employers, frankly, didn't care so long as candidates had skills that they wanted. The only way to persuade more students to pay for certificates was simply to remove the option of free certification.
Coursera finally began to update its user interface and move, as I predicted a couple of years ago, towards self-paced courses. Although synchronous ('cohort-based' in Coursera's terms) courses continued to be offered they were outstripped by the growth of self-paced courses, many built on the resources originally produced for what are already being called 'traditional' MOOCs. The new interface looked a lot slicker but seemed to perform less well in terms of functionality. Forums, previously the heart of Coursera, were curiously side-lined (with some courses having no forums) while the peer assessment system was also changed to accommodate the greater flexibility required for self-paced courses. One rather odd decision was the removal of anonymity of peers; not only does the reviewer know the identity of the student they are assessing but the student also knows who marked their work.
Over at the Saylor Academy, a resource that is shamefully under-promoted, radical changes were underway. In late summer of 2014 it had been announced that there were some 'mainly cosmetic' changes coming up. By early 2015 it became apparent that these changes were 'root and branch' rather than cosmetic. Having rapidly expanded their portfolio of courses, built around the idea of duplicating the ten most popular US college majors, to over 300 they found that the money generously provided by their benefactor Michael Saylor simply didn't run to supporting such an ambitious programme.
Saylor decided, therefore, to cut down to around a third of the previous total focusing their efforts on two full college curricula (Computing and Business) and a selection of other courses for which they had been successful in obtaining accreditation. Although I am on record of being sceptical in regard to accreditation of MOOC courses dramatic events in the first weeks of 2016 (about which I'll write on another day) were to force me to reappraise my position. Saylor also moved the surviving courses on to a new Moodle-based platform and introduced a rather better forum system.
In some ways 2015 was disappointing for MOOC enthusiasts; free certificates disappearing, platforms shrinking (Saylor Academy) or apparently going into suspended animation (Open2Study) and still no real progress on accreditation (for those who cared) or a real answer to the ultimate question, "Who pays the bills?"
Maybe 2016 will be more exciting. . .
Showing posts with label Udacity. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Udacity. Show all posts
Sunday, 24 January 2016
Friday, 14 June 2013
Coursera: The Biggest MOOC Operator, But Are They The Best?
This time I’ll take a look at the biggest to the MOOC players, Coursera. Spawned from the same Stanford pilot that resulted in the formation of Udacity, Coursera is a commercial educational undertaking. Courses are available free of charge to students but there is a paid-for option, Signature Track, which I’ll discuss a little later.
Coursera has the greatest number of courses listed of any of the MOOC operators, 386 at the time of writing, produced by a number of university partners. Most of the partners are US-based although there are a growing number of international contributors. As you might expect, almost all courses are taught in English but there are small numbers presented in Spanish, French, Chinese, German and Italian.
So what are the courses like? All courses follow a fairly standard pattern based around a series of video lectures. Courses are normally offered on a ‘synchronous’ basis, that is to say, all the students start at the same time and follow weekly lectures with assignments having set deadlines for submission. Courses run from between 5 and 12 weeks and have an estimated 4-12 hours per weeks study load.
A very small number of courses are run on a ‘self-paced’ basis where all resources are available immediately and students can dip in and out as they like. The only ones I've seen to date are a couple of older courses from Stanford but it may well be a route pursued by other providers for courses they no longer wish to fully support.
Students undertake a range of assignments which can include auto-graded quizzes, peer evaluations and course specific activities such as machine-graded software submissions. Many courses also include one or more examinations. Overall grading varies from course to course with different weights being applied to each element.
Quiz-style assessments are multiple choice, single word or numeric questions – pretty much as you’d expect given the state of assessment technology. The advantage is that they are marked instantly and feedback can be given on how answers are derived. Most of the quizzes I have seen offer more than one attempt. There are disadvantages to the format which are mainly around the relative inflexibility but they can still be very challenging.
Peer evaluation is used very commonly on Coursera, often being the largest part of the overall mark for a course. This method of assessment allows the review of material which is outside the scope of machine grading. Such assignments might include written work, such as essays, graphical products like graphs or pieces of artwork. I won’t go into my views on peer evaluation here but will return to the topic in a future post.
Peer evaluated work runs in three phases. The first step is to submit your own work, in most cases the submission phase is open for about a week. Once the submission period ends work is allocated to peers for assessment. In most cases each student who has submitted is allocated five pieces for review. If a student doesn't complete their quota of evaluations then they won’t receive their own mark. One thing to look out for is self-evaluation; a few courses make this compulsory with a 20% grade penalty for non-completion! The final stage is to receive your feedback.
Exams, where they are used, use the same mechanism as the quizzes. Exams are timed (although this is usually fairly generous, for example 24 hours from beginning) and most only allow a single attempt. As with quizzes, marks are available immediately.
Certificates – Statements of Accomplishment – are provided to students who meet the criteria. Usually that means getting 70% overall (although that varies) with some courses also offering a ‘with Distinction’ grading for those achieving the top grades (eg over 90%). Coursera also offer the option to pay for a ‘verified’ certificate through their Signature Track scheme. I’ll come back to Signature Track in a later post.
Next time I’ll look at the user interface and course experience on Coursera.
Coursera has the greatest number of courses listed of any of the MOOC operators, 386 at the time of writing, produced by a number of university partners. Most of the partners are US-based although there are a growing number of international contributors. As you might expect, almost all courses are taught in English but there are small numbers presented in Spanish, French, Chinese, German and Italian.
So what are the courses like? All courses follow a fairly standard pattern based around a series of video lectures. Courses are normally offered on a ‘synchronous’ basis, that is to say, all the students start at the same time and follow weekly lectures with assignments having set deadlines for submission. Courses run from between 5 and 12 weeks and have an estimated 4-12 hours per weeks study load.
A very small number of courses are run on a ‘self-paced’ basis where all resources are available immediately and students can dip in and out as they like. The only ones I've seen to date are a couple of older courses from Stanford but it may well be a route pursued by other providers for courses they no longer wish to fully support.
Students undertake a range of assignments which can include auto-graded quizzes, peer evaluations and course specific activities such as machine-graded software submissions. Many courses also include one or more examinations. Overall grading varies from course to course with different weights being applied to each element.
Quiz-style assessments are multiple choice, single word or numeric questions – pretty much as you’d expect given the state of assessment technology. The advantage is that they are marked instantly and feedback can be given on how answers are derived. Most of the quizzes I have seen offer more than one attempt. There are disadvantages to the format which are mainly around the relative inflexibility but they can still be very challenging.
Peer evaluation is used very commonly on Coursera, often being the largest part of the overall mark for a course. This method of assessment allows the review of material which is outside the scope of machine grading. Such assignments might include written work, such as essays, graphical products like graphs or pieces of artwork. I won’t go into my views on peer evaluation here but will return to the topic in a future post.
Peer evaluated work runs in three phases. The first step is to submit your own work, in most cases the submission phase is open for about a week. Once the submission period ends work is allocated to peers for assessment. In most cases each student who has submitted is allocated five pieces for review. If a student doesn't complete their quota of evaluations then they won’t receive their own mark. One thing to look out for is self-evaluation; a few courses make this compulsory with a 20% grade penalty for non-completion! The final stage is to receive your feedback.
Exams, where they are used, use the same mechanism as the quizzes. Exams are timed (although this is usually fairly generous, for example 24 hours from beginning) and most only allow a single attempt. As with quizzes, marks are available immediately.
Certificates – Statements of Accomplishment – are provided to students who meet the criteria. Usually that means getting 70% overall (although that varies) with some courses also offering a ‘with Distinction’ grading for those achieving the top grades (eg over 90%). Coursera also offer the option to pay for a ‘verified’ certificate through their Signature Track scheme. I’ll come back to Signature Track in a later post.
Next time I’ll look at the user interface and course experience on Coursera.
Friday, 7 June 2013
The Lifelong Learner's Ten Top Tips for Effective Study with MOOCs
From discussions on various courses it is apparent that many of those taking part have either been out of formal education for some time or never really put too much thought into the study process in the first place! Here are my top tips for effective study online. Some of these apply to any study and come from my own experience as a student and a High School teacher, others are specific to online learning and have been developed to take into account research findings and, of course, my own experience.
I make no claims to have any earth-shattering secrets but, if you apply these ideas, you should find that you make more effective use of your study time and faster progress. As with all study, the
more you put in, the more you will take out - so good luck.
1. Set up folders on your computer or online to keep your electronic files together and in order (I have one for each course which, in turn has a folder for each Unit or week). Keep your paper files in equally good order! Having an orderly filing system will mean you can find information more quickly which is important for revision and during exams (which are invariably 'open book'). These files will also be your main reference after the course is finished so look after them - hopefully, you'll want to use the information again.
2. Set aside some undisturbed time, ideally on a regular schedule (I know, dream on) and try to work in the same place. Having a settled routine and a regular study environment helps to focus the mind and improves recall (honestly, it does). I know that one of the attractions of MOOCs is that you can study as and when time allows but, although this makes use of time which might otherwise be wasted, it really isn't as good as settled study. I should admit that I do about 25-30% of my study in odd short bursts between other tasks but ideally...
3. Make notes. Depending on your preferences
either buy yourself some new notepads and pens (or pencils!) or polish up your
latest note-taking software. Make notes regularly as you work through the material. Especially for the video lectures, finding your way back to review something without notes can be quite difficult.
5. Plan your time. Mark any due dates for assessments in your planner, either on your computer (or online) or in your desk diary. Be realistic about the time you have available and leave some 'contingency time' for when things go wrong. Working around any set dates, decide how much time each course needs and divide up the time and work to allow you to be ready in good time to submit your assessments. Don't forget to mark in your holidays or you may find yourself falling out with your loved ones! When you are planning your study time...
6. Don't try to
work in big continuous blocks - it just isn't efficient. Normally no more than
an hour is recommended on a single topic. Either take a break or switch
subjects - one hour of Computer Science then half an hour of Psychology. A
hidden benefit of the General Education requirement (should you be a Saylor student), is that you will always have 'something else'
to study!
7. Review your notes regularly. Try to
structure and restructure the information in different ways to help learning and
understanding. I like to use visual representations (I would say mindmaps but
Tony Buzan has registered that as a trademark!), you might just want to
summarise or bullet point, or transfer to study cards (does anyone else still
do that) or anything that requires you to change the format around. This process of synthesis (taking information and putting it together in a new form) is one of the key ways to strengthen learning.
8. Do all the exercises. Nobody's looking
over your shoulder to make sure you do but we're all adults now and surely know
who will lose out if you take short cuts. As well as helping to secure learning, these exercises can be a useful resource later in revision.
9. Don't put it off. Leaving a difficult exercise until the last minute won't make it any easier. If your course has a more relaxed attitude to deadlines (or is self-paced like most Udacity and all Saylor courses) this doesn't mean you should let things drag on. If you don't make regular progress then you will waste much of your study time reacquainting yourself with the previous material. If it is self-paced then set yourself targets and plan to meet them. But...
10. Be flexible. It can be difficult to judge time requirements when you are studying new subjects or have been away from study for a while. The guidelines given by course providers are quite good - for average students.
If you find yourself struggling to keep up then take stock. Is it a short term problem, for example a difficult new concept or an overlap of courses for a couple of weeks, or a major miscalculation of time requirements? The former you can just ride out with a bit of extra time squeezed out somewhere. the latter means you need to make a decision.
While I encourage everyone to keep going when problems crop up, you need also to be realistic. There is no penalty for dropping a course and it (or another similar) will be along shortly. Decide which courses are most important to you, maybe a later course will rely on one you are studying now, and which you can postpone. Make a decision and move on. Another option pretty much unique to the current online offerings is to move to an 'auditing' mode. That means you 'sit in' on the lectures but don't worry about assessments or deadlines. This can be useful if you plan to retake the course later or maybe if you just want some background before going on to related study areas.
11. Because ten is never enough. Remember why you are studying. Enjoy it and don't get too stressed.
Next time I'll be taking a closer look at the largest of the MOOC platforms, Coursera.
Sunday, 2 June 2013
Who's Who in the World of MOOCs
Now we have the general idea of what these MOOC things are, let's take a quick look at some of the main players.
Coursera is probably the biggest of the MOOC providers with close to four hundred courses on offer and millions of registered students. Courses are all free and share a common user interface. The content is supplied by a wide range of universities, mainly US-based but increasingly worldwide. Subscribing institutions include the University of Pennsylvania, John Hopkins University, Georgia Institute of Technology, University of London and Princeton University among many others.
Courses are based around weekly video lectures and typically include both machine-graded and peer-evaluated assessment elements. Most courses issue 'statements of accomplishment' to those who meet the requirements and a few go further to mark the highest achievers 'with Distinction'. A small minority of course providers do not permit such certificates to be issued, most notably including Princeton and Yale.
edX is non-profit set up by MIT and Harvard to compete head on with the likes of Coursera and Udacity (both for-profit spin-offs from Stanford). It currently has around 60 courses running or upcoming. It is expected to have many more coming up soon as some 29 universities from around the world have joined. Among those joining the founding institutions are Berkeley, Rice, University of Toronto, Cornell and Kyoto University.
Courses follow a similar pattern being based around weekly lectures and assignments. Peer assessment seems much less common on edX than is the case with Coursera. Certificates of Achievement are issued by all courses and marked with both the names of both edX and the sponsoring university. Courses typically run from 5 to 12 weeks in length and require 5-15 hours study time although this obviously depends on the individual.
Udacity is the third of the big high profile providers and arose from the same pilot-work at Stanford that spawned Coursera. Like Coursera, it is a for-profit business although they have not yet settled on a monetisation plan. Most of Udacity's courses were produced internally but they have recently partnered with San Jose State University to offer a small number of courses with the option of earning college credit, to which we will return in a moment.
Courses are generally self-paced,that is,the student can proceed as fast or as slow as suits their needs and abilities. The exceptions to this are the San Jose 'for credit' option courses where students must work to the schedule for lectures and assessments. Udacity courses are notable for having extremely short lectures slices, typically one or two minutes, interspersed with single question quizzes. How you get on with this presentation style will depend on the individual. Certificates of Achievement are provided for all courses. Courses are free to students but the SJSU college credit option cost $150 for administration costs etc.
Other options exist, there are new providers such as Open2Study in Australia and an offering sponsored by the Open University in Britain, Futurelearn, which is due to launch later this year. I'll return to these in later posts.
Saylor.org is the last provider that I want to mention today and it is last because it is rather different. Saylor.org is a charitable trust sponsored by Michael J. Saylor with the aim of providing free educational access for all. Operating from 2008 in the Open Education Resources field it has latterly moved into online education and now has an unusual and impressive offering. Two things make Saylor different, the use of existing open access material and the attempt to emulate a full US-style four year degree programme.
Saylor's aim is to offer, free of charge, programmes that match the most popular US college courses and majors. They currently offer just under three hundred courses, the vast majority at undergraduate level. Students may enroll in an 'Area of Study ' and be guided through a full programme including major core and electives courses and a General Education requirement.
I'm a big fan of Saylor and will be returning to talk more about them next time.
Coursera is probably the biggest of the MOOC providers with close to four hundred courses on offer and millions of registered students. Courses are all free and share a common user interface. The content is supplied by a wide range of universities, mainly US-based but increasingly worldwide. Subscribing institutions include the University of Pennsylvania, John Hopkins University, Georgia Institute of Technology, University of London and Princeton University among many others.
Courses are based around weekly video lectures and typically include both machine-graded and peer-evaluated assessment elements. Most courses issue 'statements of accomplishment' to those who meet the requirements and a few go further to mark the highest achievers 'with Distinction'. A small minority of course providers do not permit such certificates to be issued, most notably including Princeton and Yale.
edX is non-profit set up by MIT and Harvard to compete head on with the likes of Coursera and Udacity (both for-profit spin-offs from Stanford). It currently has around 60 courses running or upcoming. It is expected to have many more coming up soon as some 29 universities from around the world have joined. Among those joining the founding institutions are Berkeley, Rice, University of Toronto, Cornell and Kyoto University.
Courses follow a similar pattern being based around weekly lectures and assignments. Peer assessment seems much less common on edX than is the case with Coursera. Certificates of Achievement are issued by all courses and marked with both the names of both edX and the sponsoring university. Courses typically run from 5 to 12 weeks in length and require 5-15 hours study time although this obviously depends on the individual.
Udacity is the third of the big high profile providers and arose from the same pilot-work at Stanford that spawned Coursera. Like Coursera, it is a for-profit business although they have not yet settled on a monetisation plan. Most of Udacity's courses were produced internally but they have recently partnered with San Jose State University to offer a small number of courses with the option of earning college credit, to which we will return in a moment.
Courses are generally self-paced,that is,the student can proceed as fast or as slow as suits their needs and abilities. The exceptions to this are the San Jose 'for credit' option courses where students must work to the schedule for lectures and assessments. Udacity courses are notable for having extremely short lectures slices, typically one or two minutes, interspersed with single question quizzes. How you get on with this presentation style will depend on the individual. Certificates of Achievement are provided for all courses. Courses are free to students but the SJSU college credit option cost $150 for administration costs etc.
Other options exist, there are new providers such as Open2Study in Australia and an offering sponsored by the Open University in Britain, Futurelearn, which is due to launch later this year. I'll return to these in later posts.
Saylor.org is the last provider that I want to mention today and it is last because it is rather different. Saylor.org is a charitable trust sponsored by Michael J. Saylor with the aim of providing free educational access for all. Operating from 2008 in the Open Education Resources field it has latterly moved into online education and now has an unusual and impressive offering. Two things make Saylor different, the use of existing open access material and the attempt to emulate a full US-style four year degree programme.
Saylor's aim is to offer, free of charge, programmes that match the most popular US college courses and majors. They currently offer just under three hundred courses, the vast majority at undergraduate level. Students may enroll in an 'Area of Study ' and be guided through a full programme including major core and electives courses and a General Education requirement.
I'm a big fan of Saylor and will be returning to talk more about them next time.
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