ELI Short Course: Designing and Delivering a Quality MOOC

The impact of massively open online courses (MOOCs) on higher education is the subject of much debate. In this short course, we reviewed and applied strategies to build a quality design and learning framework, reviewed choices and decision-making processes necessary for MOOCs, and outlined specific technologies to support MOOC delivery. Throughout the course, participants considered their own challenges and opportunities to advance their ideas and goals for learning in a massively open way. The course concluded with issues that require common understanding and information sharing in order to gauge improvement and learning outcomes around the MOOC.

NOTE: Participants were asked to complete assignments in between the course segments that supported the learning objectives stated below and received feedback and constructive critique from course facilitators on how to improve and shape their work.

Learning Objectives

During this online ELI Short Course, participants aimed to:

• Understand how to conceptualize and structure a plan to develop and deliver a MOOC at their institution
• Understand how to design, develop, and deliver a MOOC
• Review tools and technologies to use in the management of the course delivery, interactions, and assessments
• Understand issues and considerations around developing content, learning activities, and assessments for a MOOC
• Consider what can be transferred from what we know of the online learning environment to the MOOC learning model

The following questions were also addressed:

• How do we go about developing content, learning activities, and assessments for a MOOC?
• What do we need to change in order to accommodate the openness and connectedness of the MOOC environment?
• What is the optimal minimum/maximum number of participants that we should allow?