Questions and answers sesions at MOOC Lab: Guiding others in online education - Part 2

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Q&A with Ankit Khandelwal: 18th to 22nd JanuaryDiscussion in 'Q&A Sessions' started by Carolyn, Jan 10, 2016.

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practices with Online Education &

MOOCs

Ankit Khandelwal, Jan 19, 2016 Edit Delete Report #21 + Quote Reply

Nico Marzian, Susan and Sky like this.

Susan said: ↑

Hi Susan,

This is a very tricky question. It can vary completely from person to person. Let

me think about it for a day and I will come up with an answer tomorrow. Thanks

for the question and patience.

Regards,

Ankit

Ankit Khandelwal said: ↑

Ankit KhandelwalActive Member

Hi Ankit,

Soft skills play a very important part in becoming a successful

manager and should be very much part of any MBA program. The

problem is, how can you actually demonstrate these skills to a

potential employer?

Hi Sky,

Thanks for your question. My entire project was based on

"Learning by doing" pedagogy. I have used online course

projects/self-designed projects/solving social

problems/volunteering assignments/ freelance consulting/essay

competitions etc to put the best usage of my gained knowledge


4 of 22 2/7/2016 10:49 PM

SkyMember

into practice. It is not possible to list every single project or new

methodologies developed to practice knowledge, but you can at

least glimpse of it through the following bullet points:

1. General projects: I have shared some of them in this article at

LinkedIn.

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/2014...y-personal-experiences-

iii?trk=mp-author-card

2. Learning business strategy: I have written a 3 part series at

Saylor.org website telling more about learning Business Strategy

using simple tools. It can be read here:

http://www.saylor.org/2014/07/blog-maximizing-

your-learning-through-online-tools-strategic-planning/

3. More different projects: I am copying a portion of entire article

published at the University Post at your reference. This

information can also be read at http://ankitkhandelwal.in

/implementation-phase/

Practicing knowledge in real life

I was living in my home town to reduce my expenses and trying to

finish this entire project without extra financial burden. I did not

have luxury to do internships, buying cases to read to practice my

knowledge. In such situation, I turned to my surrounding

environment. And I make the best use of available online/offline

situations to practice my knowledge.

1. Course project/essays/other competitions:Many of the online

courses have projects as requirement of getting course completion

certificate.My course projects included strategic analysis on an

African Bank, comparative economic analysis between 2 Latin

American countries, globalization project on Kazakhstan, solving

a dispute in context of EU Legislation, checking environment law

violation disputes at a farm in USA and also modifying traffic

plan of my own city. I have also written essays covering cultural

aspects of Iran, China, Latin America and Middle-East. Using the

knowledge from courses, I have participated in several

competitions. Important of them were ‘Improving competitiveness


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of Eastern Europe’ and ‘Improving cultural cooperation between

India-Russia’.

2. Side studies/helping others/volunteering projects: Using my

knowledge of finance, I helped in planning debt reduction plan of

a street vendor. I have planned plan of increasing income for

another street vendor. I have helped an NGO in Sierra Leone in

improving their agricultural activities. Later, I have helped a

Mexican firm to improve their packaging efficiency. Some of the

side studies that I have taken to practice my knowledge were,

‘Investment potential of green technologies in India’, ‘How to

maintain discipline in lines in crowded temples of India to reduce

Stampede ’, ‘Marketing in megacities in 2020’ etc.

3. Social Media/Other readings:Living in my hometown offered

me very little possibility to have face to face interactions with

other people on topics of my interest. So, I turned to virtual world

and became more active at different groups of

LinkedIn/Facebook. There, I have exchanged information and put

my thoughts on issues of public policy, culture, project

management, leadership, international trade etc. I have read

easily available resources like company annual reports, published

reports of international institutions (world bank, IMF, EU etc) to

gain necessary depth in different economic sectors.

(Maximizing your learning through professional networking

platform LinkedIn, my experiences)

4. Newspapers/Public libraries:To understand more about global

trends, by late May 2012, I started to read news (mostly business)

from 8-10 different major countries of the world. Through such

readings, I have put many of economic, finance, strategic theories

in practice to understand their relevance in day to day real events.

I have also created a knowledge database of different economic

sectors with associated trends.Using the card borrowed from my

friend, I have extensively used private libraries to study areas not

covered through newspaper readings.


6 of 22 2/7/2016 10:49 PM

Sky, Jan 19, 2016 Report #22 Like + Quote Reply

Nico Marzian likes this.

Muvaffak GOZAYDIN, Jan 19, 2016 Report #23 Like + Quote Reply

Thank you so much Ankit for your detailed reply. The things you have achieved

are truely inspirational and show such commitment to your cause. I

congratulate you and thank you for sharing your expertise with us.

Thanks Ankit

All you say " online courses are as good as even better than f2f courses "

I agree with you 100 % provided delivering online school is a high performing

school .

So go to www.digital-university.blogspot.com

Get online courses from Stanford, Harvard, MIT, Yale, Princeton, Duke, Cornell,

Columbia, University of Illinois, University of Michigan Ann Arbor, PennState,

University of Pennsylvania, New York University, Peking University, Tokio

University, + many more .

It is all free. If you take 40 courses successfully you get a BA degree . No time

limit .


There were some more approaches in learning language,

developing intercultural competence as part of my entire project.

It will only make my answer very lengthy. You can explore more

through those links.

Thanks for the question.

Regards,

Ankit

Muvaffak

GOZAYDINActive Member

Study Buddy

Expert

Hi Susan,


7 of 22 2/7/2016 10:49 PM

Susan, Jan 19, 2016 Report #24 Like + Quote Reply

Sonia, Jan 20, 2016 Report #25 Like + Quote Reply

Thanks Ankit. I look forward to reading your answer.

Hi Ankit,

Could you share what your best and worst experience was while studying

MOOCs?

CourseTalk said: ↑

Hello Course Talk team,

It is nice to meet you again.Sorry for the delay in answering your question.

There were plenty of things, though they can be summarized in the following

points:

SusanMember

This is a very tricky question. It can vary completely from person

to person. Let me think about it for a day and I will come up with

an answer tomorrow. Thanks for the question and patience.

Regards,

Ankit

SoniaGuest


Hi, Ankit! We at CourseTalk would like to know what would have

made your experience with the Zero-Cost MBA better.


8 of 22 2/7/2016 10:49 PM

Peace of mind: I was not under pressure to be top of my class/batch and I

totally focused on my learning. I put lot of efforts in making it more enjoyable by

taking extra readings, self-designed project, and engaging in discussion forums

outside the course. This made my learning more concrete and more valuable.

Flexibility: I was able to choose the kind of course, I should study to develop

the skill-set I needed. This flexibility allowed me to expand my knowledge base

in coherence with my interests and market requirements.

Experimentation: I experimented a lot while following "learning by doing"

pedagogy. For a course, I have done project on a bank in Africa. I have also

prepared strategic plan for agricultural NGO in Sierra Leone. Participating in

competition in Eastern Europe allowed me to use my knowledge in Economics,

Business Strategy and Market Research Simultaneously. I have also done

projects on Central Asia, Latin America, China, Japan, Russian, and India. Such

projects enhanced my capability towards becoming a global thinker. There were

many more experimentation being attempted and I definitely feel good about

this experience.

Depth: With flexible time frame provided by online courses, I gained lot of

depth in some of the areas of my interest. I like to especially quote 'Economics'.

I have spent lot of time outside the courses in following market trends and

analyzing the information on my own. I can easily say that I have spent 4-5

times more time in many subjects than prescribed by a course. The depth

achieved in a particular subject could not be achieved easily.

Discipline: I had to made my own plans, time schedule, and learning activity.

This was very difficult initially but proper utilization of Project Management

methodology helped to finish multiple courses and gaining satisfaction with my

learning curve.


9 of 22 2/7/2016 10:49 PM


Nico Marzian and Carolyn like this.

Networking: I met people from many different countries in the classroom. I

have also interacted many people on LinkedIn, Facebook, and other forums

while practicing my knowledge. Working with people (or interacting) with

people from different time zones also helped to optimize the time and improved

my intercultural competence. I have also expanded my network in more than

100 countries and recently put it to the test in my 'Global Translation Project'.

Being debt free: It is very personal but unable to fund a conventional MBA

was the reason behind my 'Zero Cost MBA' project. Today, I am debt free and

the feeling of being able to take risks and able to pursue new paths is very

fascinating.

I took a huge risk by going through this project and I do not regret it today

Hopefully, I satisfactorily answered your questions.

Regards,

Ankit


Hello CourseTalk Team,

What suggestions do you have for the online learning industry?


10 of 22 2/7/2016 10:49 PM

Well, the industry is already doing very good. It is continuously innovating to

meet the needs of learners. There are few things, which needs to be addressed.

Such issues many not be directly addressed by the online industry, though they

are necessary to improve the offerings.

Apart from increase in the internet penetration, localization of courses(non-

English), and partnering with companies, certain more things can be done.

[This question is very similar to one asked by Nico, so I am copying the response

given to him ]

- Recent positive development in MOOCs: MOOCs were very new to

everyone. For Professors, Learners, and Universities. In past 3 years, a lot has

been learn. I also helped many researchers in understanding this new format of

learning. Lot of shortcomings were addressed and the following developments

will definitely allow more people to understand benefits of MOOCs.

Some new developments that are in progress:

> Capstone project: Started by Coursera in partnering with companies for real

life projects.

> Nanodegrees: A lot has been said about this already, I do not have to add more

into this

> Prevention of cheating: A lot of work has been done in this area as highlighted

by Anant Agarwal in his 2nd interview.

> Transfer of credits: edX is working to give credits on passing courses on online

platform. Iversity has also tried something similar in past. Overall, this is a good

step.

> Hybrid classroom: On the line of blended learning (online+classroom), this

new concept is there to transform both online and offline learning.

> Verified certificates: It's improving the course completion rate.

- Role of Government: Many Governments are taking MOOCs learning as a

best way of educating population in future. In recent months, I have read news

from USA, India, France , Jordan and other countries. Institutions such as



11 of 22 2/7/2016 10:49 PM





World Bank, IMF(International Monetary Fun), WEF(World Economic Forum)

and recently European Commission are using this format of learning to import

knowledge to wider audiences.

As these developments happen across in future, things will turn in favor of

online learning industry.

Regards,

Ankit

Sonia said: ↑

Well, I prefer to use the word interesting experiences than worst/best. Give me

sometime to collect my memories and post them here.

Thanks for your patience.

Regards,

Ankit



Hi Ankit,

Could you share what your best and worst experience was while

studying MOOCs?

Some new developments that are in progress:

> Capstone project: Started by Coursera in partnering with


12 of 22 2/7/2016 10:49 PM

BMint, Jan 20, 2016 Report #29 Like + Quote Reply

Nico Marzian likes this.

Hi Ankit,

You make some great points in your answers.

I'd like to know which of the new developments you listed is in your view the

most disruptive in terms of helping the MOOC concept progress in the future.

Thanks for all your great input so far in this Q&A.

BMintActive Member

companies for real life projects.

> Nanodegrees: A lot has been said about this already, I do not

have to add more into this

> Prevention of cheating: A lot of work has been done in this area

as highlighted by Anant Agarwal in his 2nd interview.

> Transfer of credits: edX is working to give credits on passing

courses on online platform. Iversity has also tried something

similar in past. Overall, this is a good step.

> Hybrid classroom: On the line of blended learning


13 of 22 2/7/2016 10:49 PM


Carolyn and Nico Marzian like this.

BMint said: ↑

Well, all of them are related to each other. In my view,

Verified certificates in a course with much focus on project based learning with

necessary check points to prevent cheating and option of transfer credits is the

future of MOOC concepts.

Sonia said: ↑

The most exciting was the day, when I got to know about Coursera. That was the

time, when I was not even aware of the term MOOCs. It was back in 2012. You

can also view the tweet from my Romanian friend, which led me to this entire

discovery and project.

[IMG]

- I have checked majority of discussions after the course completion for my first

course, ‘An Introduction to Operations Management’. Not just reading

discussion posts, I approached approximately 2000 course participants using


Hi Ankit,

You make some great points in your answers.

I'd like to know which of the new developments you listed is in

your view the most disruptive in terms of helping the MOOC

concept progress in the future.

Thanks for all your great input so far in this Q&A.


Hi Ankit,

Could you share what your best and worst experience was while

studying MOOCs?


14 of 22 2/7/2016 10:49 PM

their listed contact details (Facebook/LinkedIn/Twitter/Blog/E-mail)and

thanked them for their wonderful opinions.

I have done something similar with the course 'Design Thinking' by Stanford

University at NovoEd platform.

-In September 2013, I have lost fast broadband connection, when I moved to a

new house. It was on outskirts of the city, with no internet provider offering

services those days. I was taking 3 courses at that time. Studying courses were

my full time work, so losing few weeks was not an option. With no solution in

sight, I started to visit a nearby internet cafe every morning. This cafe was

located approximately5-6 km away with no direct public transportation link.

Many times, I had to walk if unable to find public transportation. Even though,

this was the fastest Internet cafe I have found, the speed was very slow. I sat at

least 3 hours regularly to download only 4-5 lecture videos. On my return trip, I

had to face afternoon sun as well as rely on some luck to find public

transportation. Many times, I walked entire distance. Coming back at home,

studying those lectures and repeating this entire process next day became a

routine activity for me for couple of weeks. Fortunately, I have passed all those

courses and i just smile while remembering those difficult days.

-My internet problem did not end so soon. By October 2013, I bought a USB

modem to get slow speed internet access at home. Still, I had to go to Internet

cafe to download videos. Sitting with patience on this slow speed internet, it was

possible to submit assignments and finish quizzes. Soon, I faced one of the most

exciting night of my life.

This internet stopped working hours before the deadline of first peer evaluation

assignment in Designing Cities. I was thinking to submit it in around midnight

(Indian time), which is afternoon(Pacific time). I went up from my house in 5th

floor to 9th floor, assuming that weak signal could be a reason for this error. It

did not work. Then, I came out of my building, walked around the entire


15 of 22 2/7/2016 10:49 PM

housing complex just to get internet working at least for 5 minutes. Nothing

happened!! It was already 1 AM and I was losing patience. Finally, I took my

laptop and came out of housing complex and started walking towards the

telephone tower. I was walking on national highway which is the only route to

tower. I was completely unaware of the fact that this road is generally patrolled

by the Police during night. Soon one of the patrolling van spotted me, stopped

me for identification and asked why I am walking at 2 AM on highway that too

alone?? Initially I was clueless, but later explained them my problem and even

shown them my assignment as a justification . Well, they did not allow me to go

further from that point and even warned me for not doing this again.

I returned back home and tried every possible method to get it work all night. It

worked only at 6 Am after making me sleepless entire night. I will never forget

this experience

- In November 2013, I have moved to another city to stay with my younger

brother and finishing my final phase of this study program. Internet

connectivity is still an issue here. With low signal strength at my current

residence, many times I sat outside in doing important work. Be it sitting

outside in cold nights or eventually working under street lamps, I was able to

submit assignments and take part in discussion forums smoothly in some of the

last courses of my entire project.

- Although, I was very confident in managing my time and especially time zone

difference, I missed submitting some assignments on time. It was either my

miscalculation or lack of proper internet speed in submitting my work on time.

The courses such as 'Latin American Culture', 'Understanding Russians: In the

context of intercultural communications' and few more were just missed. Well,

this may be the worst experience of all. Assignments were ready but I just could

not complete the required criterion of meeting course completion.

There has been many such experiences but these were the most memorable of


16 of 22 2/7/2016 10:49 PM





Nico Marzian, Jan 21, 2016 Report #33 Like + Quote Reply

Carolyn likes this.

all

Sky said: ↑

Thank you for giving me this opportunity and share my work with all of you.

Hello Ankit,

thank you again for the additional answers, not only to my questions but also

the many other highly interesting ones asked in this forum.

Best regards,

Nico


Thank you so much Ankit for your detailed reply. The things you

have achieved are truely inspirational and show such commitment

to your cause. I congratulate you and thank you for sharing your

expertise with us.

Nico MarzianNew Member


17 of 22 2/7/2016 10:49 PM



Kajal Sengupta, Jan 21, 2016 Report #35 Like + Quote Reply

Nico Marzian said: ↑

You are welcome. It is always nice to hear from you Nico. MOOCs is all about

'collaborative learning' and I too learn a lot from your experiences.

Muvaffak GOZAYDIN said: ↑

Thanks for your reply. I presume acceptability of online degrees vary from

region to region. In US online education has been thriving for quite some time.

Others are still not awake.



Hello Ankit,

thank you again for the additional answers, not only to my

questions but also the many other highly interesting ones asked in

this forum.

Best regards,

Nico

Kajal SenguptaGuest

Kajal

I have been employer for 40 years now after getting degrees from

Stanford and doing research at Caltech and having the honor of

working with Mr Hewlett and Mr Packard for 5 years in Palo Alto

California . I do hire people with ONLINE degree. ONLINE or f2f

is not important . Important thing is " where did you get your

degree ? From MIT, Harvard, PennState, University of Illinois,

University of Michigan ? "

If you get your degree f2f from a Dakota University I do not hireClick to expand...


18 of 22 2/7/2016 10:49 PM


Carolyn likes this.

I did not think this while designing or executing my project, but this looks

relevant today. As the technologies and working environment changing more

rapidly than ever, it is better to be adaptable to meet new requirements. It is like

learning, un-earning and re-learning to suit the market needs. Traditional

system cannot do this with a fast pace (or in terms of scale), and my Zero Cost

MBA is the best example of changing according to needs. Just that, in my

project, needs were also driven by personal interest.

Susan said: ↑

Hi Susan,

Sorry for the delay. I spent some time in coming up with an answer. It is always

difficult to judge soft skills on paper. Face to face conversation is the best

possible way. But that cannot happen, as CV is the first step in getting any kind

of job. Before I go further in my answer; let me share an interesting experience

of mine regarding 'perception'.

I remember an incidence from an HR personal. He hired someone simply

because both of them were members of same charity organization at some point

in their life. HR could easily relate the skills demonstrated in his CV(also during

the interview) as he himself experienced those things. Other candidates were

simply failed to make this kind of impression of soft skills they might had

acquired through other activities. It's not just any HR, it also applies to us. It's

more like how we as an individual judge another person? How we relate to each


Hi, Ankit! We at CourseTalk would like to know what would have

made your experience with the Zero-Cost MBA better.


Thanks Ankit. I look forward to reading your answer.


19 of 22 2/7/2016 10:49 PM

other? How we try to build the trust?

This is puzzle, which also comes with hidden biases. Many HR have

pre-determined criterion to only consider person from X university as talented

one and rejecting others. Wheres others who are more interested in 'What you

can do? With what you have? rather than 'How and from where you got the

knowledge' will be able to read other applications with greater interest.

Sorry, I got distracted a bit but this is very difficult to answer. Arrival of

technology only made it more complicated for everyone, especially in the job

search [Key Word Search] This was highlighted by the Nobel Laureate Dale T.

Mortensen in his lecture at Copenhagen. http://ankitkhandelwal.in/2011/06

/14/lecture-by-nobel-laureate-prof-dale-t-mortensen/

Anyway, let me answer your question properly. Soft skills are indeed major part

of not just MBA, but part of our own daily life. It is like how we express,

communicate, and convey our message to the others. I have seen many people

lacking it because they do not try to practice 'expressing themselves'. If one can

express himself/herself very well than rest of the things can be learned easily.

Also, it is necessary to understand that certain soft skills cannot be learn in a

classroom or via the theoretical concepts. They can only be acquired while doing

things(let's working under the pressure, quick decision making, handling

conflicts, consensus building). Even, fluency in a language does not mean

'communication skills', but then again, we do not have any parameter to

measure person's communication skills. So, this can be taken as a good

replacement.

Coming back to convince the employer about your soft skills. If I do not get

chance to meet someone in person; then for the first glance, I will list out my

qualities through my activities. It is possible to raise certain level of projection

by listing your extra-curricular activities, social work, and social media

presence. If you have done public speaking related work, then list it as well.

Relating some skills with work undertaken can be the best way of showcasing

your soft skills. Of course, if you are able to meet than you can always talk about

it.


20 of 22 2/7/2016 10:49 PM


Carolyn likes this.



Hopefully, my answer has made some sense. As I have said before, this is a

tricky question and I may not have the best answer.

Thanks for asking!

Regards,

Ankit

Thank you everyone once again for interesting questions. It has brought my

entire 2 year journey in front of my eyes once again. I do hope that my answers

will help you in your quest.

Regards,

Ankit Khandelwal

www.ankitkhandelwal.in

A huge thank you to Ankit for taking the time to share with us some very

insightful answers from which we can all benefit

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Questions and answers sesions at MOOC Lab: Guiding others in online education - Part 2

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