# MOOC
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MOOC: Concept and Definition
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With the help of the development of
internet technology and the diffusion of IT infrastructure, a newly formed type
of e-Learning platform draws worldwide attention in that it makes use of IT
resources to help facilitate students and faculty members in education. MOOC,
terminology first coined in 2008 by Dave Cormier and Bryan Alexander, stands
for massive open online courses
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Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) are a new addition to
the open educational provision. They are offered mainly by prestigious
universities on various commercial and non-commercial MOOC platforms allowing
anyone who is interested to experience the world class teaching practiced in
these universities.
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The word MOOC is ‘Massive
Open Online Course’. An online course which is Massive i.e. available to many, it is Open, implying it is
free of cost, it also implies there is no pre-requisite qualifications or level of performance to join the course and participants can join anytime and leave anytime. The term ‘Online’ means the course is available
digitally and that is why participants can access it from anywhere. The term ‘Course’ indicates it has a structure, a syllabus, a design.
It provides participants an opportunity to join learning
community. The term MOOC has
all these characteristics. MOOC’s aims
at a large-scale interactive participation of users with the help of web. Various features of MOOC are like videos,
study materials, quizzes and online exams. and trying to make it
more efficient than traditional education
system. The basic philosophy
of MOOCs is 3A’s
i.e., Anytime, Anyone, Anywhere.
MOOC has no barriers of economic, geographic, academic, age, and
gender. The major English- medium
MOOC platform providers are Coursera,
edX, Canvas and FutureLearn
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Various Aspects of the Concept
MOOC, Designed by
Plourde, 2013:
Fig 1: Explanation
of MOOC
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Historical background of MOOC
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The first large open online course recognised as a MOOC was conceived
by the University of Manitoba in 2008.
Wide public interest in MOOCs followed later in 2011, with an open online course in artificial intelligence by Stanford University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). This course attracted over
160000 students from more than 190 countries.
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Two Stanford Computer
Science professors founded
Coursera in 2012.
In 2015 Coursera was the largest platform provider,
with a third of all MOOC courses on offer. Many more Universities, Platforms, Subjects, Academicians, Participants joined the MOOC wagon in the
year 2012. The New York Times
announced 2012 as ‘the Year of the MOOC’. Now we can say that after 2012-13,
MOOCs started growing exponentially.
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MiriadaX
became
the first non-United States MOOC provider to
cross one (1) million registered users, tapping into the large Spanish- speaking market worldwide. The top three
subject areas in 2013 and 2014 were
in the Humanities, Computer
Science and Programming, and Business
and Management. In 2014, the number of Universities offering MOOCs
doubled to 400 Universities. MHRD,
India have also taken MOOCs seriously and a platform ‘SWAYAM’ (Study Webs of Active-Learning for Young
Aspiring Minds) has been launched on 2016
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Importance of MOOC
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Engagement: It is possible to engage with a large number of students via discussion forums;
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Re-Watchable: Students are able to watch and re-watch lecture videos;
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Scale:
MOOCs
are designed to reach a large number of students;
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Customised Learning
Experience: Participants can learn at their own pace and choose which material they engage with;
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Educator Involvement: While
educators are involved
in the design and production of the MOOC;
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Assessable:
Most
MOOCs include in-video, concept-check questions,
with immediate feedback, as well
as peer review;
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Strengths and limitations of MOOCs
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Although MOOCs have recently become a
topic of discussion in higher education, there are no shortages of scholars
sharing their views on the relative strengths and limitations of MOOCs for
teaching and learning. Some of the identified strengths of MOOCs throughout the
research include their ability to provide potentially rich, mobile scalable
content; a broader access (and potential open access educational material),
significantly more arguments, and subsequent; influence on moving the
discussion of education as a human right forward; a healthy and potentially
disruption of linear, low-level education; and an elevated potential for crowd
sourced, democratized reform.
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Limitations of MOOCs might include a
lack of perceived value; the chance of inconsistent quality; yet to be seen
movement from traditional ineffective instruction to engaging, highly
interactive learning; a business as usual philosophy (talking heads videos),
which may only move the real issue around and not actually enhance higher
education; uncertain, traditional leaders preventing forward movement; and a lack
of rewards and recognition (Canbek & Hargis, 2015).
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References
Bhattacharyya, D. A. (2020). MOOC. University
of Calcutta.
Canbek, N. G., & Hargis, J. (2015). Educational innovation in e-learning: MOOCs and OER movements in Turkey. Glokalde, 1(1), 19-32.
Daniel, J. (2012).
Making sense of MOOCs: Musings in a maze of myth, paradox, and possibility. Journal
of Interactive Media in education .
Plourde,
M. (2013). MOOC Poster (V3). Retrieved on Oct. 23,
2014 from https://www.flickr.com/photos/mathplourde/8620174342
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