Category Archives: e-learning

MOOCs and Open Education Timeline (updated!)

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Untitled This revised version of the evolution of MOOCs was developed for our paper ‘Partnership Model for Entrepreneurial Innovation in Open Online’ now published in eLearning Papers. Three years after the initial MOOC hype, in line with our previous analysis we looked at some possible trends and influence of MOOCs the HE system in the contexts of face-to-face teaching, open education, online distance learning, and possible business initiatives in education and training. We expanded the diagram from 2012 -2015 and explored some key ideas and trends around the following aspects:
  1. Open license: Most MOOC content is not openly licensed so it cannot be reused in different contexts. There are, however, a few examples of institutions using Creative Commons licences for their courses – meaning they can be taken and re-used elsewhere. In addition, there is a trend for MOOC to be made available ‘on demand’ after the course has finished, where they in effect become another source of online content that is openly available. Those OERs and online content can be used to develop blended learning courses or support a flipped classroom approach in face-to-face teaching.
  2. Online learning pedagogy: New pedagogical experiments in online distance learning can be identified in addition to the c/xMOOC with variants including SPOCs (Small Private Open Courses), DOCCs (Distributed Open Collaborative Course) and SOOCs (Social Online Open Course or Small Open Online Course). It is likely that they will evolve to more closely resemble regular online courses with flexible learning pathways. These will provide a range of paid-for services, including learning support on demand, qualitative feedback on assignments, and certification and credits (Yuan and Powell 2014).
  3. New educational provisions: The disruptive effect of MOOCs will be felt most significantly in the development of new forms of provision that go beyond the traditional HE market. For example, the commercial MOOC providers, such as Udacity and Coursera, have moved on to professional and corporate training, broadening their offerings to appeal to employers (Chafkin, 2013). In an HE context, platforms are creating space for exam-based credit and competency-based programs which will enable commercial online learning providers to produce a variety of convenient, customizable, and targeted programs for the emergent needs of the job market backed by awards from recognised institutions.
  4. Add-on Services: The development of online courses is an evolving model with the market re-working itself to offer a broader range of solutions to deliver services at a range of price levels to a range of student types. There is great potential for add-on content services and the creation of new revenue models through building partnerships with institutions and other educational service providers. As these trends continue to unfold, we can expect to see even more entrepreneurial innovation and change in the online learning landscape.

Innovating e-Learning 2011: Learning in transition

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The JISC e-learning team is once again running an online conference in November. Sarah Knight has forwarded some details of the event, and as ever it looks like there’s a packed programme:

The sixth JISC online conference takes place this year on 22-25 November 2011, with pre-conference activities running from 15 November.

The conference is relevant to a wide range of delegates from further and higher education. Register now to explore through live presentations and asynchronous debates some of the latest thinking about the benefits and challenges of enhancing learning and teaching with technology.

The title of the 2011 conference, Learning in transition, reflects the challenges institutions and practitioners are facing in the fast-changing landscape of post-16 education, including preparing students for employment. Sessions are organised under two themes, each with its own keynote presenter:

* Learning landscapes explores the potential in technology to forge cross-sector collaboration through which further and higher education institutions, learners and employers can work together to shape a more forward-looking curriculum

* Navigating pathways opens up some of the challenges involved in learning and teaching in a digital age and discusses potential technology-enhanced solutions

New this year

The conference this year has a distinctly participatory feel with even more live events. You can take part in a number of ways:

* Register at www.jisc.ac.uk/elpconference11

· Contribute to the pre-conference activity week. Innovations this year include a Pecha Kucha session. To take part, email geoffm@directlearn.co.uk.

· Try out new tools and techniques throughout the pre-conference week

* Share your reflections as the conference unfolds in a designated Thinking Space
* Participate in live Elluminate® debates
* Be inspired to contribute to James Clay’s blog, Letters from the Edge
* Follow the conference on Twitter @ jiscel2011
* Contribute your views on Twitter using #jiscel11

The fee for Innovating e-Learning 2011 remains unchanged at £50. Don’t wait – book now for the best value-for-money conference of its kind!