Pushing Toward a More Personalized MOOC: Exploring Instructor Selected Activities, Resources, and Technologies for MOOC Design and Implementation

Abstract

This study explores the activities, tools, and resources that instructors of massive open online courses (MOOCs) use to improve the personalization of their MOOCs. Following email interviews with 25 MOOC and open education leaders regarding MOOC personalization, a questionnaire was developed. This questionnaire was then completed by 152 MOOC instructors from around the world. While more than 8 in 10 respondents claimed heavy involvement in designing their MOOCs, only one-third placed extensive effort on meeting unique learner needs during course design, and even fewer respondents were concerned with personalization during course delivery. An array of instructional practices, technology tools, and content resources were leveraged by instructors to personalize MOOC-based learning environments. Aligning with previous research, the chief resources and tools employed in their MOOCs were discussion forums, video lectures, supplemental readings, and practice quizzes. In addition, self-monitoring and peer-based methods of learner feedback were more common than instructor monitoring and feedback. Some respondents mentioned the use of flexible deadlines, proposed alternatives to course assignments, and introduced multimedia elements, mobile applications, and guest speakers among the ways in which they attempted to personalize their massive courses. A majority of the respondents reported modest or high interest in learning new techniques to personalize their next MOOC offering.

Instructors’ Experience of Designing MOOCs in Higher Education: Considerations and Challenges

“…Not surprisingly, MOOCs have faced criticisms since inception, including insufficient and low-quality instructional design (Ferreira, 2014;Margaryan, Bianco, & Littlejohn, 2015). Meanwhile, instructors also face design challenges, such as the difficulty of personalizing MOOCs to meet individual learner needs (Bonk, Zhu, et al, 2018;Beaven, Hauck, Comas-Quinn, Lewis, & de los Arcos, 2014) and the engagement of diverse learners widely spread across the globe (Adair et al, 2014).…”

“…The large scale and heterogeneity of MOOC participants also bring design challenges (Bonk, Zhu, et al, 2018). The design challenges for MOOCs include promoting active participation of learners (Anders, 2015), nurturing peer assessment (Kulkarni et al, 2015;Phan, McNeil, & Robin, 2016), evaluating learners' work, providing immediate feedback, adjusting to time and cost, and encouraging participation in the discussion forums (Hew & Cheung, 2014;Milligan et al, 2013;Waite, Mackness, Roberts, & Lovegrove, 2013).…”

Six critical dimensions: A model for widening participation in open, online and blended programs

“…However, because the model is based on general Internet use, it needs to be adapted for educational settings. Therefore, I added a sixth dimension , learning materials, which is essential for open online education programs including MOOCs (Bates, 2012;Bonk et al, 2018;Conole, 2013). Learning materials include text, audiovisual materials, tasks and assessment items, which are often presented to the learner side by side in MOOCs.…”

Learning Innovations of Massive Open Online Courses Integrated Hybrid Learning as an Acceleration to Increasing Professional Capability of Prospective Vocational Teachers in the Industrial Revolution 4.0

“…There are no special requirements for joining MOOCs. Regarding blended learning, MOOC media is the media that is most suitable and relevant to the learning model Some experts explain that MOOCs have a main component which includes: (1) learning videos, usually divided into several sections with a duration of 5-10 minutes per video; (2) assessment, using (a) automatic assessment of multiple choice questions, and (b) peer-reviewed assessments where participants assess each other based on specified criteria; (3) forums, where participants can interact with other participants and with instructors; (4) reading, which is available online or provided by the instructor; (5) live video sessions (live), in addition to where participants can interact via video conference directly with the instructor (Antonaci et al, 2017;Wu and Chen, 2017;Bonk et al, 2018;Huisman et al, 2018;Sullivan et al, 2019;Verstegen et al, 2019). These components are more easily synchronized with the blended learning model which is actually a combination learning model between face to face and face to face online (Jani et al, 2018;Han and Ellis, 2019;Kong, 2019;Leeuwen et al, 2019).…”

“…In addition to the use of learning media such as MOOCs, knowledge transactions in the classroom must also be supported by the right learning model. At present, with all the development of the advanced learning model, it is not feasible if the learning process in the classroom is still monotonous so that the acceleration of the improvement in the capabilities of the students is relatively low (Bonk et al, 2018;Li, Ren and Wang, 2018;Spyropoulou, Pierrakeas and Kameas, 2019). Learning in the world of vocational education has been facilitated, as is the case with blended learning.…”