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Image sourced from Flicker. (CC 0). <\/span><\/i>Giulia Forsythe<\/span><\/i><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n Our team chose a modality of Educational Apps and the instance we selected was edX (and the edX app). \u00a0As edX is essentially a hub for Universities around the world to deliver MOOCs, I decided that for my individual critical inquiry I would investigate how quality assurance is handled at edX, and by extension MOOCs in general.<\/span><\/p>\n MOOCs, xMOOCs, cMOOCs…<\/b><\/p>\n First of all, it seems almost impossible to pin down what a MOOC specifically is, it is a moving target as they are fluid and their formats and delivery are ever changing. \u00a0One thing most scholars can agree on is that at it\u2019s very basic level a MOOC is:<\/span><\/p>\n The next issue I came upon was to determine whether edX was delivering xMOOCs or cMOOCs, two terms that I had never encountered before. \u00a0Apparently a cMOOC focuses more on a connectivist learning environment as participants take on the role of both learner and teacher, it mirrors the openness of the web \u201cbecause the educational content is continuously generated by the online community and shared with others in an open manner\u201d (Admin, 2013). \u00a0The xMOOC uses a different format that resembles more of a traditional classroom structure instead of an open online community. Another notable factor that distinguishes an xMOOC is that there is usually a higher education institution behind it rather than, perhaps, a group of like-minded individuals building a cMOOC (D Morrison, 2013).<\/span><\/p>\n After navigating through edX, from what I have seen it is definitely a hub for xMOOCs. <\/span><\/p>\n Are MOOCs Up To Snuff?<\/b><\/p>\n My initial investigating turned up little\u00a0 hard evidence on MOOCs and how quality assurance was being applied to them. \u00a0One study I did find was on applying the Quality Matters\u2122 (QM) standard to various MOOCs that are delivered on various platforms. It studied two MOOCs delivered by Coursera, two MOOCs delivered by edX, and two MOOCs delivered by Udacity and determined that none of the courses received the required 85% to achieve QM standard. \u00a0The study did however note that some of the courses would have passed if certain standards had not been applied (Lowenthal & Hodges, 2015).\u00a0 This idea of not applying certain standards to MOOCs got me thinking…should a traditional quality assurance process even be applied to MOOCs. Stephen Downes suggests that the determinant for success in a MOOC should be process defined and not outcome defined as they should be platforms for discovery and experience (Creelman, Ehlers, & Ossiannilsson, 2014, p. 81). \u00a0Martin Weller suggests that MOOCs should only be compared to each other rather than to traditional online courses since their development has been so recent\u00a0 and their delivery is not the same (p. 84).\u00a0 Some point to the fact that low retention rates amongst MOOCs indicate that the quality or learning must be suffering, however, Downes (2016) suggests that participants withdrawing from MOOCs are just a product of the design of MOOCs themselves, where learners slip in and out at their own learning leisure.<\/span><\/p>\n EdX\u2019s Approach to MOOC Quality Assurance<\/b><\/p>\n Although deeper investigation is required into what EdX\u2019s expectations are for the development and delivery of its MOOCs, I was able to find a general checklist for educators and institutions on basic expectations for MOOC development. \u00a0The <\/span>MOOC development checklist<\/span><\/a> (<\/span>EdX MOOC Development Checklist, 2018) closely resembles many standards that are in the QM rubric for online quality assurance (<\/span>Higher Ed Program, n.d.). \u00a0I have been QM trained and am very familiar with the expectations of courses that achieve the QM standard, and as such I am planning on contacting edX to see to what extent they utilize the QM standard.<\/span><\/p>\n What\u2019s next?<\/b><\/p>\n I had many questions when I started to research the topic of quality assurance in MOOCs, and now that I have conducted a little research the number of questions I have has grown:<\/span><\/p>\n These are just some of the questions, and it seems with every article I read more questions than answers come up.\u00a0 I plan on approaching my inquiry with a simple Know-Wonder-Learn\u00a0<\/a>framework that I was introduced to by my team member Bobbi.\u00a0 I like it’s simplistic approach that allows you to maximize your efforts on the research rather then trying to understand a confusing framework.<\/p>\n I welcome any comments that you have and feel free to add to my list of every growing queries.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n References<\/b><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Admin. \u00a0(2013, August 7). \u00a0What is the difference between xMOOCs and cMOOCs?. \u00a0[web log]. Retrieved from <\/span>http:\/\/blogs.onlineeducation.touro.edu\/distinguishing-between-cmoocs-and-xmoocs\/<\/span><\/p>\n Creelman, A., Ehlers, U-D., & Ossiannilsson, E. \u00a0(2014). Perspectives on MOOC quality – An account of the EFQUEL MOOC quality project. \u00a0<\/span>The International Journal for Innovation and Quality in Learning. \u00a03. <\/span><\/i>78-87.<\/span><\/p>\n D Morrison. \u00a0(2013, April 22). \u00a0The ultimate student guide to xMOOCs and cMOOCs. \u00a0[web log]. Retrieved from <\/span>http:\/\/moocnewsandreviews.com\/ultimate-guide-to-xmoocs-and-cmoocso\/<\/span><\/p>\n EdX MOOC Development Checklist. (2018). Retrieved from https:\/\/courses.edx.org\/c4x\/edX\/edX101\/asset\/edX_MOOC_Development_Checklist-a11y.pdf<\/span><\/p>\n Higher Ed Program > Rubric | Quality Matters Program. (n.d.). <\/span>Higher Ed Program > Rubric | Quality Matters Program.<\/span><\/i> Retrieved January 30, 2014, from https:\/\/www.qualitymatters.org\/rubric<\/span><\/p>\n Lowenthal, P. R., & Hodges, C. B. \u00a0(2015). In search of quality: Using quality matters to analyze the quality of massive, open, online courses (MOOC\u2019s). \u00a0<\/span>International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning. \u00a016<\/span><\/i>(5). \u00a083-101.<\/span><\/p>\n S Downes. \u00a0(2016, December 11). \u00a0The quality of massive open online courses. \u00a0[web log]. Retrieved from https:\/\/www.downes.ca\/post\/60468<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Image sourced from Flicker. (CC 0). Giulia Forsythe Our team chose a modality of Educational Apps and the instance we selected was edX (and the edX app). \u00a0As edX is essentially a hub for Universities around the world to deliver MOOCs, I decided that for my individual critical inquiry I would investigate how quality assurance … Continue reading Unit 1 Activity 3- Quality Assurance in MOOC\u2019s (Focusing on EdX)<\/span> \n
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