eduMOOC OERu Planning Group

Defining a MOOC

Definition

An online phenomenon gathering momentum over the past two years or so, a MOOC integrates the connectivity of social networking, the facilitation of an acknowledged expert in a field of study, and a collection of freely accessible online resources. Perhaps most importantly, however, a MOOC builds on the active engagement of several hundred to several thousand “students” who self-organize their participation according to learning goals, prior knowledge and skills, and common interests. Although it may share in some of the conventions of an ordinary course, such as a predefined timeline and weekly topics for consideration, a MOOC generally carries no fees, no prerequisites other than Internet access and interest, no predefined expectations for participation, and no formal accreditation. McAuley, Stewart, Siemens and Cormier. 2010. The MOOC Model for digital practice,

Characteristics of a MOOC:

1. Course
2. Based on OER
3. Connectivity of social networking
4. Facilitated
5. Large numbers of learners
6. Self organisation
7. No fees
8. No prerequisites
9. Usually no formal accreditation

Course examples

Examples of courses representing the MOOC approach are listed below for comparison and further analysis.

Code	Date	Course	Institution	Facilitators	For credit option	Estimated No. of Participants	Case study link
eL4C	Feb 2007	Learning4Content pilot workshop	Commonwealth of Learning	Mackintosh	No	148 (check)
INST 7150	Fall 2007	Introduction to Open Education	State Univeristy of Utah, USA	Wiley	Yes	55 (? for credit)
EC&I 831	Fall 2007	Social Media and Open Education	University of Regina, Canada		Yes	363 (16 for credit)
	Mar 2008	Composing free and open online education resources	University of Art and Design Helsinki	Leinonen, Poldoja	No	35
	2008	Facilitating online	Otago Polytechnic	Blackall, Hegarty	Yes	?
CCKO8	Fall 2008	Connectivism and Connective Knowledge Online Course	Extended Education and Learning Technologies Centre, University of Manitoba	Siemens, Downes	Yes	+400? Moodle: 178
CCK09	Fall 2009	Connectivism and Connective Knowledge Online Course	Extended Education and Learning Technologies Centre, University of Manitoba	Siemens, Downes	Yes	? Moodle: 122
eL4C41	Jul 2010	Learning4Content (Wikieducator gives back).	OER Foundation	Mackintosh, Schlicht, Mathur, Sharma, Parker, Radney, Jones, Snieckus, Stewart	No	421
PLENK2010	Fall 2010	Personal Learning Environments Networks and Knowledge	National Research Council of Canada and TEKRI, Athabasca University	Siemens, Downes, Cormier	No	? Moodle: 206
OCL4ED	Mar 2011	Open Content Licensing for Educators	OER Foundation	Mackintosh, Hornibrook	No	334
CCK11	Spring 2011	Connectivism and Connective Knowledge Online Course	Extended Education and Learning Technologies Centre, University of Manitoba	Siemens, Downes	Yes
LAK11	Spring 2011	Introduction to Learning and Knowledge Analytics	TEKRI, Athabasca University	Siemens, Dron, Cormier, Currie, Elias	No
MobiMOOC	Spring 2011	Mobile learning		Traxler, de Waard, Metcalf, Black, Sanford, Duncan, Winters and Brown	No	553 (Google group)
DS106	Summer 2011	Digital storytelling	University of Mary Washington	Groom	Yes	?
eduMOOC	Summer 2011	Online learning today .. and tomorrow	Univeristy of of Illinois Springfield	Schoeder	No	+2500