I think that the most telling data in the article "MOOCs: A Systematic Study of the Published Literature 2008-2012" is that less than 10% complete the courses.
Any educational programme I believe needs to be
tutor lead and driven as with our OU programme, without this and if the student
only alas recourse for support in the web then they may feel under supported
and hence give up. Also the shortfall in the amount of "published research on MOOC facilitators’ experience and
practices leaves a significant gap in the literature. Mak, et al. (2010)"
A further point to the participation of a tutor is
to moderate student behaviour. I had not previously considered bullying etc as
an issue in online learning but following reading of the article and
reference to the "cultural tensions" that cause participants to
withdraw from actively posting in the forums. If the courses are free and hence
there is no tutor then how can such behaviour be reduced or removed, if the
course if free then the participants have no financial incentive to moderate
their behaviour so as to remain a participant!
The study is also limited by the inclusion of only those courses offered in
English and then further on refers to the fact that European and North American
are overwhelmingly the main participants and then states "This
is hardly surprising due to the possible barriers of access to online learning
that can be presumed in those parts of the world, both technological and
linguistic". I live and work in China where access to the internet is
severely curtailed by government so we need to add political reasons to this
list also.
I have suffered from limited access to OER course at the Open University, where prior to enrolling on this module was informed I was only able to complete certain courses online that are authorised in my country of residence! Why is this? It’s an online course surely the country you access it from has no bearing at all!
Comments
New comment
OMG DGMS (oh my god, don't get me started). I do find that some decisions by the admin of OU are totally bizarre. You've mentioned one - it makes no sense. Another, which you must have the same as me, is the crazy prices we pay on taking this course (assuming you're away from the UK for more than a few years) because 'it costs us more to deliver the programme abroad'). I mean who employs the people that spout this kind of nonsense?
(as in it costs OU more to have the same material accessed from the same hosts from different locations in the world - errr ... no!)