Making moocs on a budget/Design blueprint

Target audience

Creating a course with thousands of participants is no longer something that only well-funded universities can do. Even individuals who are experts in their subject matter, but not necessarily experts in technology and pedagogy, can create a MOOC, simply by using the right set of tools and techniques.

This course provides you with the know-how to create your own MOOC, and connects you to a community of others with the same goal.

• Are you a lecturer whose courses ought to be available to thousands of students rather than a few dozen?
• Are you a teacher whose style and approach can inspire many students — and other teachers?
• Are you a trainer who wants to showcase his or her educational skills?
• Are you an artisan who can introduce others to the tricks of the trade?

If you consider yourself an expert in the subject matter you want to teach, and have a working knowledge of computers and the Internet, you’re ready to go.

Development and delivery approach

This course was developed as part of a wider project funded by the Erasmus+ programme of the European Union. A beta test of the course was run on the EdX edge platform in 2015. In mid 2016, a second iteration of the course was run again on the EdX edge platform, and the third delivery ran in October/November 2016 on the Canvas platform. All materials from the course are presented here for anyone to use to learn about making MOOCs on a budget or the use the resources to build courses on the subject.

Course aims and learning outcomes

The aime of the course is to prepare learners to:

• Identify the pedagogical and technological considerations for developing your low-cost MOOC
• Prepare content in a variety of formats for your MOOC
• Produce a project plan to develop and market your MOOC
• Assess various technological tools and platforms to develop and host your MOOC

Assessment

This resources does not include assessments as the purpose is only to share the resources developed for the MOOC so that others may refer to them, learn from them and re-use them for their own purpose. For anyone who wished to use the resources for a specific purpose, it may be interesting to consider the assessment strategy used in the live delivery of this MOOC in 2015/2016. The information on assessment which was shared with registrants was as follows:

You may choose to participate in this course at any of the levels described below, depending on what  you want to get out of this course:

1. Viewing and reading the course materials to gain an insight into the low-cost techniques that can be used to build MOOCs - You may go through the materials each week without doing the quizzes - though you are welcome to participate in this way, there is no certification if you choose this option.
2. Viewing and reading the course materials + taking the quizzes at the end of each week to gain a Certificate of Completion. You need to score 60% or above to attain this certificate.
3. Viewing and reading the course materials + taking the quizzes at the end of each week + completing assignments to gain a Certificate of Accomplishment. You will also be asked to do a short exercise at the end of each week, which may include preparing a plan, recording a video, etc.. You may upload these exercises to the platform (instructions will be given on how to do this after each exercise) for your peers to comment on. You should keep an electronic copy of all of your completed exercises and these will be submitted as a portfolio towards your final grade in week 6. 
4. All of the above + building your own MOOC to gain a MOOC Builder Certificate You will have access to the course materials, tutors and fellow participants for a period of three months after the end of the course, as a source of additional support to anyone who wishes to build a MOOC. Completion of your MOOC within this time frame will earn you a MOOC Builder Certificate. 

Opportunities for collaboration

You may connect with the community through our Linkedin account and join in/ add questions/discussions at the moocs4all group (Links to an external site.) where you can comment and discuss with fellow learners and developers.