MOOCs transitioning from higher education to K-12


High school teens completed more than 15,000 courses last summer from Udacity, a MOOC platform.

According to one of the most popular International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) 2013conference speakers, Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) are on the verge of revolutionizing K-12 education.

MOOCs—often free and non-credited online courses taught by educators—are currently transforming higher education. [Visit our higher-education site, eCampus News, for more MOOC news.]

But soon, MOOCs will begin to change the way high school courses are taught as well, said Dr. Scott Garrigan, professor of practice for instructional design and technology and teacher education at Lehigh University’s College of Education, during an ISTE highlighted session, “How will the MOOC explosion affect K-12 schools and students?”

According to Garrigan, last summer (2012) high school teens completed more than 15,000 courses from Udacity, a MOOC platform.

“Clayton Christensen also predicted in his book, Disrupting Class, that by 2019, 50 percent of all high school courses will be online. I believe it,” he emphasized.

Many factors contribute to MOOC success, explained Garrigan, with the basic understanding that people want to learn.

“Lots of people want to learn if they think it’s interesting and there’s no risk,” he said.

Another major reason is the complete change of teaching methods and tools used during a MOOC. For example:

  • Each video is usually 10 minutes, holding student attention span.
  • There’s a high instructor presence, lending to a personal, collegial feel. “Many students say they choose courses based on instructor personality,” said Garrigan.
  • “Retrieval” feedback occurs every five minutes or so during a MOOC. According to Garrigan, this means that after five minutes students are asked to complete a short quiz to determine whether or not they understand the concepts presented. If they don’t pass the quiz, they cannot move forward and are asked to review the material.
  • Deadlines still exist for tests and homework.
  • Q & A forums are popular, as well as online student study groups.

Another interesting characteristic of MOOCs is the software behind the videos offered by many MOOC platforms (Coursera, Udacity, Khan Academy, and edX), allowing the educator to give students a first-person point-of-view.

“You see the educator writing through the problem, solving the equation, or drawing a concept, and you see him or her as you would if you were drawing the concept. There’s no lecture and blackboard happening. It not only lends a feeling of connection to the educator, but helps students better visualize what’s being explained,” said Garrigan.

Tools available through MOOCs also include the ability for an educator to write out a question, or set of questions, through the video and then have the video turn those hand-written questions into an interactive online quiz.

The interactive quizzes then provide students, and the educator, with instant feedback.

Garrigan gave the example of Sebastian Thrun, CEO of Udacity, a Google fellow and VP, and a research professor at Stanford University, who resigned his tenured position at a prestigious university to start a MOOC platform.

“Here’s this man who was what we call a ‘rockstar teacher;’ he had over 200 students enrolled in his class, and when he heard that Salman Khan [of Khan Academy] was reaching thousands of students at once, he changed completely,” said Garrigan.

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