THE MERITS AND DEMERITS

OF MOOCs
A Report By:
Varad Joshi
Arnav Vijaykar
Shantanu Seth
Dev Shah
Shreyansh Chajjer
Pradyot Kumar Khatua
Hardik Verma

Introduction to MOOCS

What is a MOOC

A massive open online course is an online

course aimed at unlimited participation and
open access via the web, with the option of
free and open registration, a publicly-shared
curriculum, and open-ended outcomes.

A MOOC is designed for the participation of

large numbers of geographically dispersed
students.

MOOCs are a recent development in distance

education which was first introduced in 2008
and emerged as a popular mode of learning in
2012

MOOCs integrate social networking, accessible

online resources, and are facilitated by leading
practitioners in the field of study.

About MOOCS

Different MOOC courses have different requirements and

also different mode of capturing mass participation.

There are several different types of MOOC, some

requiring participants to sign up, others with content and
activities openly available to anyone with a web
connection. Some are free of cost and others charge a
minimal amount of fee for providing the participants with
the certificate of completing the course.

The main features of MOOC is freely accessible online

resources, no age restriction, and it can be accessed
anywhere and can be completed in any timeline , i.e.,
flexible provision, allowing learners to increasingly
determine where, when, what and how they learn, as well
as the pace

Massive
Typically free and credit-less
Being offered by elite universities through partnerships with MOOC providers
(such as Coursera)
Open
Open to anyone with an Internet connection

Online
Very large and often have a student enrollment so big (as many as 50,000 or
more) that faculty cannot respond to everyone individually
Course
Designed to give students automatic or peer-generated feedback

History of MOOC
! The

word MOOC was coined in 2008 by

Dave Cormier , from the university of
Prince Edward Island for a course
offered by the University of Manitoba .

The History of MOOCs

!

A MOOC is an open education movement that is found online.

It influences connectivism where learning is successful and

networks are created in different fields.

2004- The term connectivism was developed by George Siemens

and Stephen Downes.

2008- The first MOOC was presented at the University of

Manitoba, Canada and it consisted of 2200 learners.

STEPHEN DOWNES

GEORGE SIEMENS

The History of MOOCs Continued

2010 Cormier made a video about MOOCs and it was
uploaded onto YouTube.
! 2011 MOOC prepares freshman college students for
college requirements.
! 2012 Harvard's first MOOC has 370000 students taking
part in it. New York Times calls 2012 the year of the MOOC.
! 2013 There are so many cMOOCs and xMOOCs to count
accurately .
!

Characteristics
Scale of numbers no participation limit
No formal entry requirement
Connectivism
Use a variety of (new) social media and online
tools
Learner-centred
Increased student participation and self-direction
Facilitators create the environment not way of learning

Scattered chaos
High drop out rate

RESOURCE REQUIREMENTS
!Production

Resource Requirements

Platform Costs
Platform providers enter revenue sharing
agreements
Most of the revenues earned remains with
them
Other Optional Services means extra
additional fees

!Assessment
Evaluating

a large number of students

Enough professors to attend the all the
students
Enough TAs to make sure queries of each
student is solved

!Obtaining

Copyright

Personal Time

involved in obtaining various

permissions
Copyright of texts and images
Modifying content before every new
iteration

Consumption Resource Requirement

Time

required to find a MOOC that is relevant to the

instructors existing course
Adaptation Cost: Familiarity with the material
Finding supplementary material
Space Cost
Professors Salary
Cost Of Technology
Certification Cost

CHALLENGES AND CRITICISM

NO ESTABLISHED CRITERIA
! Dont

have set learning objectives that applies to all

participants.

! Lack

of validated assessment criteria.

LOW COMPLETION RATES

! Providing

value that enables higher completion rates.

CREDIT vs. NO CREDIT

! Credit-earning

students connect better than the rest.

! The word open seems contrary to mooc philosophy.

ACCESSIBILITY
! Lack

of accessing, understanding or engaging with

course content.

VARIED INSTRUCTION
INVOLVEMENT
!Role

of instructor varies.

!Students

must be responsible for their own

learning.
!Grading

is imperfect.

!Cheating

is a reality.

CONCLUSION
ACCESSIBLE:

Students can access courses online

offered by foreign institutions without actually going
there help in improving lifelong learning skills by
providing easy access to global resources

Flexible:

MOOCs help to create an opportunity

for sharing knowledge and ideas

COST EFFCETIVE:

Students can access these

courses free of cost or at a low cost

RECOMMENDATIONS
IMPROVING THE CURRENT KNOWLEDGE
DATABASE

Improve and innovate on pedagogical aspects:

methodologies, content formats, and assessment.

Promote research about MOOCs. Innovation and new

practices such as MOOCs can be improved with research.

Analyse the possibility of mutual benefits.

Improving the Quality of MOOCs

Keep moving towards quality. Beyond

quantity of MOOCs and users, the focus
on quality is essential for sustainability
Include national, regional and
transnational cooperation as a great
opportunity in developing MOOCs and
MOOC-like concepts
Work on standards related to MOOCs:
quality standards and technical standards

Considering Various Aspects

Be aware of cultural and linguistic context to

avoid a new intellectual colonialism

Build on the experience of open and distance

education universities when developing
MOOCs

Promote the development of public policies

about open learning (including MOOCs) at
country and institutional levels