MOOC! Massive Online Open Courses

1. MOOC!Massive Online Open Courses Implications for Enrollment Management, Student Retention, and Student Success A Discussion Led by Thomas Hilton At the 29th Annual IT Conference of WTCS IT Instructors Holiday Inn – Campus Area, Eau Claire, WI March 7, 2013

2. Topics • Definition • Examples • Enrollment Management • Student Retention • Student Success • Conclusions

3. Definition • A massive open online course (MOOC) is an online course aiming at large-scale participation and open access via the web. MOOCs are a recent development in distance education and often use open educational resources. Typically they do not offer academic credit or charge tuition fees. Only about 10% of the tens of thousands of students who may sign up complete the course. • From “The big misunderstanding about MOOCs” by Larry Cuban, Stanford University professor of educationhttp://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2013/02/24/the-great-divide-over-moocs/ • “Many academics question the premise of learning online as opposed to face-to-face in lecture halls and seminars. A recent poll had nearly 60 percent expressing ‘more fear than excitement’ for expanding online courses. Some urge the professoriate to take action or computer screens will emerge victorious, replacing professors.” • “MOOCs…open up doors to anyone in the world…with an Internet connection. MOOCs [are] a powerful tool to make fundamental changes in the organization and delivery of higher education in the next decade. To them, MOOCs encapsulate a “disruptive innovation” that will transform higher education…for the better.”

4. Examples • Courserahttps://www.coursera.org/ • Udacityhttps://www.udacity.com/ • edX (MIT, Harvard, Stanford, etc.)https://www.edx.org/

5. Enrollment Management • Proposition“MOOCs will decrease student applications for admission to brick-and-mortar higher education institutions.” • Proposition“MOOCs will increase student applications to brick-and-mortar higher education institutions.”

6. Student Retention • Proposition“MOOCs will decrease student retention at brick-and-mortar higher education institutions.” • Proposition“MOOCs will increase student retention at brick-and-mortar higher education institutions.”

7. Student Success • Student success = graduation (?) • Proposition“MOOCs will decrease higher education student success.” • Proposition“MOOCs will increase higher education student success.”

8. Conclusions • ?