The University of Leicester recently ran an online skill-sharing workshop for the EMMA consortium. Its purpose was to identify and share good practice in the design and delivery of MOOCs. Professor Gráinne Conole presented a set of good practice guidelines, based on her work evaluating two MOOCs the University of Leicester are delivering on the FutureLearn platform, and work preparing a Technology-Enhanced Learning MOOC as part of EMMA.
Professor Conole describes good practice in the design and delivery of MOOCs in her recent blog post at http://e4innovation.com/?p=801 and below is presented a summary:
Design
- Articulate the pedagogical approach used, for example is reflective learning encouraged, or dialogic learning.
- Have a clear and logical learning pathway.
- Keep the MOOC four to eight weeks long; longer MOOCs result in high dropout rates.
- Design activities rather than content.
- Consider having a particular structure for each week, for example, “Connect, Activate/Demonstrate, Consolidate”
- Connect – an introductory section to orient the participant to the week’s content and activities.
- Activate/Demonstrate – the main focus of content and activities for the week.
- Consolidate – the reflective element of the week, where participants reflect on what they have learnt and consider the relevance to their own practice.
- Consider carefully what collaborative elements are included and how these are organised.
Content
- Try and ensure that all the resources are open and CC licenced.
- Ensure that all the materials are accessible (variable fonts, suitable colours).
- Consider including extension (optional) activities which are both remedial and advanced in nature, to cater for a diversity of participants.
- Ensure content is coherent and logically structured, with a clear beginning, middle and end.
- Consider having a short (5 minutes) video introducing the week’s content and activities, this provides a more personal touch.
- Have a number of synchronous hour-long sessions, perhaps one at the beginning of the MOOC to provide an overview and enable participants to outline what they hope to get out of the MOOC, one in the middle providing a space for Q&A and any points for clarification, and one at the end to provide a space to reflect on their experience.
- Include mini quizzes at the end of each week, to enable participants to assess their learning.
- Use an appropriate mix of multimedia, ensure that images add something to the text, and consider the benefits of audio versus video. Audio is good as participants can listen to whilst doing other things, video is good if it shows or demonstrates something.
- Keep videos under 10 minutes, audio can be longer.
- Keep text simple and to a minimum.
- Try and ensure active participation as much as possible, for example: get participants to write reflective blog posts and to comment on the blog posts written by peers, or participate in a discussion forum.
- Enable participants to monitor their learning progress, by providing a means of seeing how they are progressing.
- Make it easy for participants to navigate around with clear signposts, headings, labelling etc.
Delivery
- State how much time is expected on each activity.
- Indicate what, if any, tutor support is provided.
- Describe learning outcomes for each week – use active verbs that are measurable.
- Be clear with learners about their overall time commitment – around 3-4 hours per week is recommended.
- Make clear why participants are expected to use digital technologies (such as forums, wikis, blogs, etc.) and their benefits.
- Keep participants motivated and on track by providing a weekly email update, summarising the key points covered and signposting to the following week’s activities.
- Try and ensure that each week is organised in the same way so that it is easy for the participants to orientate themselves.
- Provide a discussion thread on the forum to enable participants to introduce themselves, their experience of the subject to date and what they hope to get out of the participation in the MOOC.