The New York Times dubbed 2012 “The Year of the MOOC”, stating that “MOOCs have been around for a few years as collaborative techie learning events, but this is the year everyone wants in. Elite universities are partnering with Coursera, a MOOC platform that offers free online courses, at a furious pace. It now offers courses from 33 of the biggest names in postsecondary education, including Princeton, Brown, Columbia and Duke” [1]. Since that article was written, MOOCs have only grown in popularity. Here is why.

 

The original MOOC

When Canadians Stephen Downes and George Siemens launched the first MOOC in 2008, they conceptualized the format as the next evolution of networked learning. “Connectivism and Connective Knowledge”, offered by the University of Manitoba, was an online course that people could take from anywhere in the world, and it attracted over 2,200 students [2]. MOOCs embrace connectivist or constructivist approaches to learning. The goal is to allow students to create their own knowledge within a network of learners.

 

The basis of the MOOC format consists of diverse content, with contributions by a variety of experts, educators, and instructors in a specific field, which is aggregated into a central repository, such as a web site. What makes this content especially unique is that it can be “remixed” — the materials are not necessarily designed to go together but become associated with each other through a MOOC.

A key component of the original vision is that all course materials and the course itself are open source and free—with the door left open for a fee, if a participant taking the course wanted university credit points. Since those early days, interest in MOOCs has evolved at an unprecedented pace, fueled by the attention given to high-profile MOOC providers like Coursera, FutureLearn, Udacity, and edX. In these new examples, “open” does not necessarily refer to open content or even open access, but only equates to “no charge.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

MOOCs today

A MOOC is defined as “an online course aimed at unlimited participation and open access via the web. In addition to traditional course materials such as videos, readings, and problem sets, MOOCs provide interactive user forums that help build a community for the students, professors, and teaching assistants (TAs)” [2].

 

MOOCs leverage a multitude of learning theories and tools, using primarily behaviorist learning techniques. The format is blended, and a MOOC generally includes lecture-style videos, assigned readings, discussion forums, online quizzes, and various assignments to assess student learning. The content is provided by established universities and colleges, and is often similar to the content found in traditional on-campus courses.

 

Generally, MOOCs are hosted on a website like Coursera, FutureLearn, Udacity, or EdX (to name only a few) and use cloud-based services such as Wikis, Blogs, YouTube, and Google Hangouts to support discussions, create and share videos, and engage in learning activities. Although there are differences amongst the major MOOC platforms, their basic approaches are very similar.

 

Course materials are located in a hub or central repository and they all use automated software to assess student performance through quizzes and homework assignments.

 

The social structures are also similar, with students participating in online forums, study groups, and (in the case of Coursera and Udacity) organized student meet-ups.

 

Among the major MOOC platforms, Coursera has over 2 million students enrolled in 200 courses, while EdX and Udacity have reached around 500,000 students across 23 courses and 19 courses, respectively. This article provides a review of the three largest MOOC providers.

 

Many benefits of MOOCs for medical education

Daphne Koller, one of the founders of Cousera, outlined a number of benefits that MOOCs may have for medical education [3].

 

When Harvard University and MIT launched the digital platform EdX in 2012, they began with two MOOCs. One was Harvard School of Public Health’s class in epidemiology and biostatistics, which drew more than 50,000 students around the world, demonstrating a huge potential for outreach.

 

Replace passive learning

It has been reported that nearly half of all accredited schools of public health in the United States have online educational offerings. Online teaching is a regular part of some faculty members' teaching responsibilities [4], which increases faculty interest in the possibilities of MOOCs. In this context, a MOOC can be used in one of two ways: to supplement current course materials or to replace the passive lecture-style university classroom.

 

By having students learn material online before they come to class, you can use the lecture hall as a place of collaboration and enquiry, a place students can ask questions and interact with experts and fellow students.

 

Create learning communities

Social learning doesn’t need to be limited to the classroom, however. Within a MOOC, communities are created around the material and connections can be formed across disciplines, countries, and socioeconomic barriers.

 

These communities of learning can be particularly important for medical students or professionals working in remote or isolated areas, who may lack access to peers in the same area of specialty.

 

Communities built around MOOCs may also offer the opportunity to connect with a specialist who has experience with rare cases, encouraging collaboration and problem solving on a scale that was previously unimagined [3].

 

Gather data on learners

MOOCs also make extensive use of learning analytics and reporting features. This data can provide you with valuable insight into student progress, allowing you to take immediate remedial action when you see that students are falling behind or not grasping certain concepts.

 

This video describes how "each keystroke, quiz, peer-to-peer discussion, and self-graded assignment builds an unprecedented pool of data" [5] that you can use to improve learning.

 

Educate and connect patients

MOOCs can also be used to help educate patients on the critical points they need to know in order to help them maintain their health when faced with a serious disease. A high-quality MOOC can help patients learn to interpret their medical symptoms in a sound and rigorous way.

The social nature of the courses can also help connect patients to other people who may be suffering from the same illness, increasing their support network beyond their immediate circle of acquaintances. This is particularly valuable in eliminating the sense of isolation patients may have when they are homebound due to an illness.

 

Stay up to date

For medical professionals, a MOOC may be a viable way to keep up to date with the knowledge and developments in your field. In fact, over 80% of Coursera’s students are people who already possess degrees and just want to expand their knowledge about a topic.

 

There are numerous MOOCs available in the field of Health and Education. Class Central is a website that provides a central location to search for courses that you might be interested in taking yourself or using as supplemental information for your classes.

 

Challenges of implementing MOOCs

Critics have a number of concerns about MOOCs. Specifically, the fact that they represent a return to the "sage on the stage" mentality that technology-enabled learning practices were meant to eliminate and that they represent a form of cultural imperialism from the "North" and the "West".

 

MOOCs also seem to encourage a “two-tier system of global higher education, with a small number of elites able to participate in education the 'old-fashioned way' in small, intimate, face-to-face groups in close contact with their professors, while the vast majority of students, especially those in developing countries, have to make do with participating in an inferior educational experience delivered through MOOCs” [6].

 

In addition to these macro-level issues, implementers must consider the following practical issues:

• Access to digital technologies

• Technical literacy

• Language and culture.

 

Access to digital technologies

Research has shown that a large majority of MOOC participants are from North America and Europe, with limited participation from Asia and even less from Africa [7].

 

Researchers indicate that access to technology is most likely a prohibitive factor, noting that in developing countries, while there are often pockets with good infrastructure (usually the capital city and a few other major urban areas), many of the towns and almost all of the rural areas will have only unreliable or part-time electricity and no internet connectivity [7].

 

Technical literacy

The technical complexity of MOOCs, which often have a number of learning areas for students to meet and share ideas, may pose a real challenge to a student with low technical literacy.

 

To help students who have not had much previous exposure to technology succeed in a MOOC, Liyanagunawardena et al (2013) recommend the “development of background advice or even a ‘MOOC-survival’ MOOC” [7].

 

Another adaptation a MOOC creator could consider is to offer “suitable engagement tools such as: lower resolution versions of videos, facilitating offline ‘burst connectivity’ tools which download the minimum text-only information during connection, allow offline reading and composition of replies and then upload interaction in a second ‘burst’” [7].

 

Language and culture

The majority of the MOOCs today are run in English and this prevents students in developing countries from fully participating.

 

Many students from developing countries are not competent enough in English to take an online course; they may not understand the colloquialisms used in discussion forums or the mode of interaction typical for North American and European students.

 

These difficulties can be mitigated by ensuring that local instructors have the ability to create their own content and conduct classes in the local language.

 

Conclusion

Despite the challenges, MOOCs seem to be here to stay. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has funded a significant research initiative that has attracted scholars from some of the largest universities in North America. The format continues to evolve, with each organization taking MOOCs in a slightly different direction. But how can they work for you?

 

For ideas, read how other institutions use MOOCs for medical education in the paper Many Shades of MOOCs. It describes four case studies of MOOC implementation projects, including one at the University of Texas in Arlington.

 

Then, read the interview [link to interview] with two scholars from the University of Texas at Arlington to gain a better understanding about their MOOC project.

 

The top 5 highest-rated MOOCs on Class Central are:

 

• Good brain, bad brain: Parkinson’s disease 
(University of Birmingham/Futurelearn)

• PH201x: Health and Society
(Harvard University/EdX)

• Medical Neuroscience 
(Duke University/Cousera)

• Understanding Dementia 
(University of Tasmania/Independent)

• Data Management for clinical research 
(Vanderbilt University/Coursera)