What a difference a month makes. I published my last post from Miami during February break and today, about a month later, I’m publishing this post from my apartment where I’ve been for most of the last week or so due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
School is closed for at least three weeks and I, along with many other teachers across the country, am doing my best to provide my students with assignments from a distance. In my district of Medford, Massachusetts, teachers were told to post what we can. Our administration knows that we had very little time to prepare for this long closure and are not pushing us to continue with our regular assignment workload. It is much appreciated.
But all of this distance learning has got me thinking about Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs). MOOCs provide anyone with access to the internet a structured way to learn almost anything. Courses range from mathematics to art to history to cooking and more. Popular MOOC sites include Khan Academy, Courseva, and EdX.
MOOCs, however, have not lived up to their initial hype. Why? Here are some reasons outlined in two articles:
Very low completion rate (just 3-10%!) and low retention rates
A non-dynamic format with no exchange of ideas as typically available in a classroom
No live instructor to give feedback or encouragement
Having completed a MOOC myself, I am not surprised with these points. In the fall of 2019, I completed a MOOC through HarvardX, one of the schools available through EdX. The course focused on quantitative analysis and I was very much looking forward to expanding my knowledge in this area after having completed quantitative statistical analysis for my dissertation. The MOOC, however, was tough to get through. I often felt frustrated that I could not ask questions. I also felt alone in the course without a classroom of peers or even an online group to connect with. I successfully completed the course but don’t plan on signing up for another anytime soon.
As I post assignments on Google Classroom for my middle school students this first week of Covid-19 school closures, I hope their experience with my assignments isn’t as frustrating as my experience with EdX. For one, my students know I am only an email away and I hope that helps.
The future of MOOCs is uncertain. Their lack of success over the past decade speaks to the importance of real classrooms and real teachers.
Sources:
https://www.insidehighered.com/digital-learning/article/2019/01/16/study-offers-data-show-moocs-didnt-achieve-their-goals
https://www.wired.com/insights/2014/08/whats-wrong-moocs-arent-changing-game-education/