Recommendation to consider micro course format
We are for the general idea but it is not always that easy and seamless to do. The main issue for now is that the research project was supposed to be worked on throughout the course, not just at the end. Doing a research project usually involves a lot of feedback and help from an instructor in early stages...not easy to do in an open situation with no instructor and a short timeframe. I suggested to the writer he speak to two audiences at same time if possible 1) those who want to go on and do a research project and might want to start doing certain activities towards that end early and 2) those who only intend to do the two foundational mOOCs and not think of an actual research project yet. The writer and consultant are talking about it and will let me know tomorrow. The decision will affect how we structure the course and the assessments to match each mOOC.
Gail
Hi Gail,
Thanks for sharing and keeping us up to date with developments.
I agree, in a course like this the learners will need to work on the research project throughout the course rather than cramming this at the end. I was faced with a similar design challenge when developing the Change With Digital Technologies in Education course at the University of Canterbury. In this course, the final output was a research paper but I integrated the project process as a parallel assessment for the three micro-courses by breaking it down into subcomponent parts, for example this is how I broke down the summative assessment for the project component for the course:
- Micro 1: Annotated bibliography of 10 resources, literature review essay plus project proposal.
- Micro 2: Annotated bibliography of 10 more resources, plus research instruments (possible data collection?)
- Micro 3: Final research report.
In this way, the research project can be spread across the course with clear milestones where each milestone builds on previous work. Consequently the summative assessment for each mOOC would be the assignment plus the research project milestone.
The approach of speaking to "two audiences" can work (as it did when we ran the University of Canterbury course). The project component was entirely optional for OERu Learners who were participating out of self interest, but should they want to challenge for credit, they would be required to complete all the 3 components of the research project required for the final assessment (i.e Annotated Bibliography, review essay, research instruments and final report.) I designed and incorporated mini e-Activities (formative) as part of the learning sequences, for example publishing and sharing 1 annotated bibliography or publishing and sharing a draft research question. You can see that the e-Activities were designed to function as building blocks for the summative assessment components. As small doable e-Activities, a number of the free OERu learners completed these activities even though they were not planning to submit a final research project. For our registered students, we encouraged learners to publish their e-Activities as blog posts and the lecture provided comments and feedback for the full-fee paying students. Working openly provided opportunities for peer-learning support.
I agree, doing the research project without iterative feedback for the free OERu learners will be hard - but to be fair, they are not paying for tutorial support. The model could be designed to offer a "Certificate for Participation" on a fee for service basis where learners are required to complete a specified number of the e-Activities but not the research project. Learners wanting to challenge for credit, would need to submit the research project components and successfully pass the challenge exam.
All great suggestions I will share with writers. It's great to keep thinking of new ways of doing things. The PSYC 2111 writers are committed to our open philosophy and are genuinely willing to listen to our ideas.
Gail
