Understanding many of the current problems with MOOCs means first understanding the conditions associated with four of the largest MOOC platforms commonly used by colleges and universities.
Coursera, currently used by over 80 universities, prohibits its participants from reproducing, duplicating, copying, selling, reselling, or explaining the content of the site, which includes code, images, text, design styles, illustrations, audio and video, HTML, and any other content, thus allowing only the downloading of the content for personal use without commercial exploitation, notes Atenas.
Udacity (6 universities), and EdX (29) have similar conditions, while Future Learn (27) implements similar conditions, yet “paradoxically declares that openness of teaching material to be used and reused is a moral good and supports its staff and partners to contribute to repositories of OER,” says Atenas.
These conditions are “the key problem of MOOCs,” she emphasizes. “Some of the higher education institutions that develop and offer MOOCs consider that selling the course content might help them to recover the investment on course production cost,” but perhaps they should consider alternatives or urge platforms to reconsider their conditions.
Consideration of alternatives, like OER, to using platforms that lock down content could help alleviate three main problems of MOOCs, she says; specifically:
Problem #1: Lack of pedagogy leads to low retention: According to Atenas, MOOcs lack valid instructional design because promoters are more focused on hiring programmers to develop the platform than experts in tech-enhanced teaching and learning. This can be linked to high dropout rate, as participants are affected by a lack of elements that “facilitate and motivate their learning, as this seems to be fragmented, diffuse, and diverse due to missing official certification.”
Solution: By opening up content as OER or OpenCourseWare (OCW), other educators may be able to tweak content for better online learning design.
Problem #2: Not reaching intended audience: One of the main criticisms of today’s MOOCs is that in trying to open access to education worldwide, MOOCs instead reach participants who already have a degree and are digitally literate. Atenas explains that this lack of reach is mainly due to language barriers and lockdown of content. For example, Future Learn says that the official language of the courses is English; therefore discussions must be carried out in English only. Coursera is the only provider that offers courses in multiple languages. “Course organizers should design content that can be used transversally and adapted to the different participants’ profiles, aiming to provide, regardless of their skills, a positive learning experience.”
Solution: Other educators or institutions may be able to work with MOOC content for translation and customization for specific user-profiles and demographics.
Problem #3: Lack of funding leading to contracts with locked-down content: Many universities are looking for a way to recoup costs associated with MOOCs, turning to platform providers with strict copyright conditions. These contracts can then lead to the problems listed above.
Solution: Urging both platform providers and a commitment from governments as funding agencies to provide either relaxed copyright conditions or more funding [respectively], in order to allow for teaching to “truly democratize access to information, education, and knowledge,” says Atenas. “Commercial and non-commercial organizations must converge in providing a high quality and sustainable offer that promotes authentic learning experiences…”
(Next page: The three paths to MOOC OER)
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