Towards a Low-cost Development of MOOCs

Pedagogies and Communication

Sílvia Simon and Miquel Duran

University of Girona

@silviasimonr @miquelduran #moocs4all

What does Low-Cost mean as far as communication and pedagogy are

concerned ?• Optimizing everything to save – Time– Money– Personal energy

• Having a clear answer of when, who and how

What does Low-Cost mean as far as communication and pedagogy are

concerned ?

1. Sustainable approach to MOOCS

• Assessing differences between MOOCs and MOODLE

2. xMOOC vs cMOOC

• xMOOC – higher cost preparation• cMOOC – higher cost during the Course

2. xMOOC vs cMOOC

• Thinking of a MOOC as a project• Relevance of communication issues for

cMOOCs

2. xMOOC vs cMOOC• Linking goal with competences• Clear learning path• Surveys at the beginning, in between, and just

before finishing course

3a. Maximizing registration

• Find an enticing subject• Have an expertise on the contents• Think about tentative audience

3a. Maximizing registration

• Publish an attractive promotional videoclip• Create an interesting presentation video• International marketing

3b. Minimizing dropouts

• Surveys during the course• Mixing evaluation types• Gamification, providing badges to students• Provocative questions and discussions

4. Team and Schedule

• Getting most of the Team• Yielding optimal time schedule– Each WHAT need to have a WHEN, WHO and

HOW

4. Team and Schedule

• Using simple cloud services (e.g., google docs)• Using simple corporate/enterprise/groupal

social networking• Using instant messaging for fast, simple,

ephemeral question/answer

5. Sustainable Interpersonal Communication

• Rational use of E-mail• But using:– Hangouts– Livestreaming + twitter backchannel– Open discussion and forums– Clubs, groups and regional meetups– Social networks– Contests

6. MOOCs and Open Knowledge

• Maximizing reuse and aggregation of Open Educational Resources (OERs)

• Shooting short videos thus easy replacement and edition

• Maximizing future reuse of – OERs– learning flow– social network/forum activity

6. MOOCs and Open Knowledge

• Open Video Annotations• Fast subtitling through Youtube service

(e.g., accessibility, multilanguism)• Multilinguism: platforms that allow for

multiple languages - in the future not likely to be an issue hindering learning

• Optimal use of free instant translation services

Question open for discussion 1/2

Should xMOOCs be favored vs. cMOOCs when considering a

low-cost approach?

Tell us about your opinion !

Question open for discussion 2/2

Any ideas enhancing openness of MOOCs while keeping them low

cost?

Discuss them at http://magsci.eu !

Thanks for your attention.