Saturday, March 23, 2013

Higher Education: Blended Learning, Flipped Classroom, and MOOCs

Massive Open Online Course (MOOCs) has been dominating discourse in academia the past year, and is only going to continue to heat up.  The major question for MOOC providers and universities alike in the coming years will be whether or not these courses will be recognized for transfer credit in higher education.  While there has only been discussion on this topic with no on-campus university publicly acknowledging that they will begin accepting these courses in the near future, some academic administrators have proposed a role for MOOCs within traditional higher education.   What that role is depends on whom you ask.  For example, one Stanford University Vice Provost for Online Learning John Mitchell envisions substituting traditional lectures with MOOCs so that on-campus time is spent collaborating and discussing rather than lecturing.  Commonly referred to as the "flipped classroom," this is already happening with some university classes that integrate webcast lectures.  Another possibility is integrating MOOCs into the university admissions process, namely using them in high schools.  As MOOCs gradually integrate into university curriculum, changes will be aplenty.   Currently, there are three major institutions looking to re-envision how MOOCs will be used in universities.  Although still quite early in experimentation, they do pose questions for faculty and academic libraries: what role will they play in this transition?

EdX:  A non-profit company created by Harvard and MIT, it hosts nine online courses mirroring on-campus courses taught by these universities.  Although its courses concentrate in the "hard" sciences of computer programming, artificial intelligence, and quantitative methods, plans are underway to add social science and humanities courses to the platform in the coming months. While courses differ in their exact approach, generally students view prerecorded lectures, complete embedded exercises, and submit assignments for grades within a designated timeframe for course completion. Certificates of completion from EdX are awarded to students, but they do not receive transcript credit from the university offering the course.

Udacity: A for-profit company founded by former Stanford Professor Sebastien Thurn, this institution has offered nineteen courses that have been developed by a team of four scholars, focusing on the hard sciences of computer science, physics, and statistics among others.  Once completed, students receive a certificate of completion from Udacity, as well as designations of "Accomplishment," "Accomplishment with Distinction," and "Accomplishment with Highest Distinction" based on their performance and involvement in the course. One of the most unique elements of completing a MOOC from Udacity is that students can elect to have their resume distributed to Silicon Valley companies looking for candidates with programming and quantitative skills.

Coursera: Currently offering more than 200 courses covering a range of subjects, this for-profit company hires faculty representing over thirty universities, including Princeton University, Stanford University, University of Pennsylvania, Duke University, and the University of Virginia, to create its courses.  While certificates of completion are awarded, transcript credit is not recognized by any university.

Recommended Reading

The Professors' Big Stage by Thomas Friedman [Link]

What do Librarians Need to Know About MOOCs? [Link]

Are You MOOC-ing Yet? A Review for Academic Libraries [Link]

For Making the Most of College, It's Still Location, Location, Location [Link]

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