A Massive Open Online Course for teaching physiotherapy students and physiotherapists about spinal cord injuries

Abstract

The MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) is the latest buzzword in distance education, bringing together, for the first time, high quality 'Ivy League' providers, online education and a low-cost model.MOOCs align with the approaches to teaching and learning advocated by the Kronberg Declaration (UNESCO, 2007), whereby learners 'play an ever more active role in knowledge acquisition and sharing' with 'the role of teachers and instructors decreasing'. While the basic design of individual MOOCs may not have moved too far beyond traditional pedagogical approaches, being largely lecture-based in format, the concept itself is learner-centred, liberating students to access and engage with education.However, to date, it would appear that MOOCs are falling short of these lofty ambitions for a radical shift in the way that education is delivered. The evidence strongly suggests that any reasonable measure of learner engagement in MOOCs is underwhelming when compared to the massive number of enrolments that many have secured.With these issues in mind, the authors this summer (2013) ran an eight-week MOOC, which generated data for a randomised control trial that considers the impact of three factors on student engagement: 1) Workload 2) Task design 3) Level of and nature of facilitation As part of the design, five different user groups were randomly created to investigate the contribution of each of the three factors above to the level of student engagement and to determine which, if any, had the greatest significance. Engagement was measured by tracking user activity and the collection of student feedback. This paper reports on the initial results of this experiment in MOOC delivery.

Is Facebook still a suitable technology‐enhanced learning environment? An updated critical review of the literature from 2012 to 2015

“…The purpose to informally involve as many students as possible was specifically claimed in large classes or in MOOCs, where cultivating a sense of community was also an objective (Bowman & Akcaoglu, ; Dougherty & Andercheck, ; Dyson et al, ; Harvey et al, ).…”

“…With reference to Facebook affordances, more than half of the studies ( N = 36, 52.9%) exploited the combination of instructional material with information and knowledge sources produced elsewhere and available through several channels (Alexander & Sapra, ; Arouri, ; Asterhan & Hever, ; Barden, ; Baya'a & Daher, ; Birkeland et al, ; Brewer et al, ; Clements, ; da Silva de Vargas et al, ; Daher, , ; Deng & Tavares, ; Dougherty & Andercheck, ; Dyson et al, ; Ekoç, ; Esteves, ; Gabarre et al, ; Gray & Howard, ; Hall & Maughan, ; Harvey et al, ; Ho, ; Jaffar, ; Kim, ; Kinchin & Bryant, ; Kostka‐Rokosz et al, ; Krom, ; Lantz‐Andersson et al, ; Lieberman, ; Magogwe et al, ; McCarthy, , ; Rashid & Rahman, ; Razak et al, ; Román & Martín, ; Sincar, ; Whittaker et al, ).…”

“…Finally, only 13 (19.1%) studies drew on the contribution of out‐of‐the‐classroom learners (Arouri, ; Baya'a & Daher, ; Ekarattanawong et al, ; Hall & Maughan, ), during cross‐country projects (McCarthy, ) or the involvement of practicing professionals and external experts (Brewer et al, ; Demiraslan Çevik et al, ; Gray & Howard, ; Harvey et al, ; Ho, ; Kostka‐Rokosz et al, ; Rashid & Rahman, ; Román & Martín, ).…”

College English MOOC Teaching on SWOT Analysis

“…After years of research, the pioneering colleges and universities in English MOOC teaching (Harvey, Glinsky, Lowe & Lowe, 2015;Kustritz, 2014) As is shown in the above SWOT analysis, the current MOOC teaching mode is not yet mature, and there are some constraints. Thanks to the country's policy-oriented factors to promote online courses and narrow the gap between regional education resources, as well as internal factors such as college English teaching reform and students' growing demand for English skills, English MOOC teaching enjoys good development opportunities, and "Internet +" MOOC teaching will become the new norm.…”

Evaluating the Acceptability of a Massive Open Online Course for UK Medical Students

“…10,000 people from 65 countries registered for a MOOC that aimed to educate lay persons about dementia, with almost 4000 individuals completing the 9 week course [5]. In 2014, Physiopedia and the International Spinal Cord Society used a MOOC to teach physiotherapy students about spinal cord injuries [6]. Sheffield University set up a MOOC to prepare aspiring dental students for future university applications [7].…”