Imogen Bertin: Confused of Cork

Retrospective edit 2016: after EDCMOOC, I did an absolutely fantastic Statistics MOOC run by Princeton which I completed with test scores of over 95% as well as completing OcTEL.  if you want an example of how to do a MOOC right, try those ones.

Times Higher Education piece - what I actually said to Chris Parr about #EDCMOOC ... (Chris' summary quote is fine, it's just I did say a little bit more than that...) and by the way, I'm getting on better with the #OcTEL MOOC despite still being very confused...

1. You were disappointed by the edcmooc – in what ways did it fail to reach your expectations?
   The content did not match the title or course description. There was too much video content. The navigation was poor. The time estimate per week was heavily underestimated.
2. What was the best thing about your Mooc experience?
   Contact with others via my own blog and MOOC discussions.
3. And the worst?
   Not completing the course
4. Did you involve yourself with your Mooc’s community or study independently?
   Mainly independent - I think a study group would have helped but my schedule didn't really allow it and due to the navigation issues I never spotted the study groups until the rot had set in...
5. What would you change about your MOOC?
   Improve the yield of completion - use the technology currently in place in the IT industry around tracking helpdesk requests and supply chain issues to improve "picking up where you left off" (progress), improve general user experience and website navigation, use analytics to spot how people are contributing and where problems may lie. Signal core content in a more obvious way. Make the assessment methods clearer in the course description so people don't sign up without understanding what they are committing to. Do not rely on a lot of video content as it is hard to complete for time-pressed learners.
6. General comments.
   Great project, all kudos to Edinburgh for trying it. But the overall effect for me was knowing that I don't want to do an elearning course they run that I had previously been interested in taking. I think that's a good thing, for me and for them. I think MOOCs are the "book clubs" of education at the moment. Probably there will be a bifurcation into general study group activities on the Internet (particularly for recent or esoteric topics) compared to more "certified" and "instructor-led" MOOCs that use the best of blended learning techniques but on a larger scale.

I was also discussing with (redacted) earlier today the information from The Chronicle about HEI views of MOOCs. I think part of the problem is related to the inability to value, train and reward tutorial/teaching assistants for working on eLearning courses. There are a whole set of skills that can overcome the technical problems with MOOCs that exist already in the IT support sector. What there isn't is much recognition that moving in this direction will mean HE has to start properly paying and rewarding people who "teach" online but aren't tenured... old problem, unlikely to be resolved any time soon. :)