Thinking about mOOCs and structure
I've been doing a lot of thinking about micro Open Online Courses. The "optimal" unit size for an OERu mOOC is 30 notional learning hours -- optimal because this is the best fit taking the differences between the North American Credit system and the credit systems used in countries like New Zealand, Australia, South Africa etc.
So for example, in North America students would need to complete 4 mOOCs for 3 credits where each mOOC is the equivalent 0.75 credits. In New Zealand, by comparison, students would need to complete 5 mOOCs for the equivalent of a first year-level course in our system. The modular and component design of a mOOC will facilitate greater flexibility and reuse options.
Is it possible to structure the OERuArt1 course into 4 units of 30 notional learning hours, each with its own assessment constituting 25% of the overall assessment?
Something to think about. I think you've developed outstanding assessments - -just wonder if we can mix and match these to fit 4 individual assessments for each "mOOC"
Depending on the answer to this question - we can then think about the optimal way to structure the course guide.
I also have a number of ideas for tweaking the presentation of the course outline to improve navigation - -but more about that later.
Hi Wayne,
I suppose anything is possible, but I am headed off on vacation this week and couldn't work any more on this until I return in Sept. I think I get what you are thinking of...small manageable pieces (mOOCs) so folks could try their hand and meet with success in small bits...then everything could add up to the 3 credits if they complete the 4 mOOCs. Each mOOC might take 30-36 hours to add up to our regular courses....from our Math yesterday, it's about 36 hrs for us, isn't it?
Dividing the course into 4 equal parts of content and matching assessments will take some thinking...and more work...but it's doable. Hope this helps...one thought though, some content and skills would be based on skills learned earlier so would students take course in set order?
Gail
Enjoy your well deserved vacation!!!
Glad we could catch up on skype. Thinking again critically about the suggested number of mOOCs for a 3 credit North American course -- I would recommend 3 (i.e. each mOOC being the equivalent of 1 credit). So that would translate to 35 -45 notional learning hours.
