As an agriculture school with leading programs in the food industry, Geith wants to elevate the learning experience by leveraging what the University already has online and adding customized features for more meaningful and engaging offerings–a goal he believes EdCast can help accomplish: “MOOCs are one important tool in the tool kit that we should take advantage of and combine it with what we already have online (we have 30 online food programs including food law and regulations).”
Karl Mehta, the founder and CEO of EdCast, added that what differentiates EdCast is this customization and ability to create a centralized user experience. “It’s a next-generation digital learning ecosystem. It’s completely reimagined how we learn and how we teach. It stretches across traditional courses to non-based courses.”
The new partnership with MSU will allow for multiple pedagogies on the platform, since “MOOCs are just one format that is supported,” explained Mehta. “EdCast goes beyond MOOCs to peer-to-peer learning, and group based learning. It is cloud-based. They are all public courses, which help provide an amazing reach. The platform can support free and paid courses and non-credit and for credit courses. There are even capabilities to support mobile learning.”
Because learning effectiveness can suffer with scaling, personalization and peer-to-peer research can help balance scale and engagement, he said. “When learners learn in teams and groups they can be more engaged. We aim to provide the power of scale online and in cloud-based technologies with the personalization of mobile and social technologies to achieve a deeper achievement. Building communities is more important than building content.”
(Next page: MSU’s courses on EdCast)
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