What you need to know before Developing a MOOC

Development of a MOOC can be a fun and rewarding process, but it is not for the light-hearted. Developing from scratch takes time, and altering an existing course for online delivery also has its own unique challenges.

See below some of the things we have learned from other ANUx courses, and some tips to work out if a MOOC is the right delivery mode for your course.

.

Lessons Learned and tips for smooth sailing

• MOOCs cater to a very broad audience, thus the level at which you “pitch” your course is important.
• A MOOC is smaller than a 6-credit point single-session on-campus course. For example a first year Astrophysics course was delivered in the MOOC space as 4 separate courses.
• MOOC courses typically run 6-8 weeks long.
• Learners in MOOC engage voluntarily, and do not have the same motivations or pressures as on campus students.
• Online assessment methods are different to those available in-class and online (Wattle/Moodle).
• A larger course team generally means better support with delivery.
• You will need to monitor forums during the delivery of your course even if your teaching strategy does not focus on interaction directly with students.
• Development of media artefacts needs to be well planned prior to starting development of the course.
• Learners watching a video will typically "tune out" or stop viewing in 7 minutes.

.

Building

• An academic author typically spends as much time to develop a MOOC as a new course.
• The workload of the rest of the team is usually greater than the academic author.[1]
• Unlike a classroom course, the whole MOOC must be complete and reviewed before it opens.

.

 

References