{"id":286,"date":"2022-05-03T11:44:42","date_gmt":"2022-05-03T18:44:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0209\/?p=286"},"modified":"2022-05-03T11:44:42","modified_gmt":"2022-05-03T18:44:42","slug":"just-a-number-in-the-massive-mooc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0209\/just-a-number-in-the-massive-mooc\/","title":{"rendered":"Just a number in the massive MOOC?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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image source<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

As part of our critical inquiry into MOOCs, I have reflected on switching my thought process from consumer to critical observer.\u00a0\u00a0Personally, I have a lot of experience with distance education, more so in the formal education realm but web-based nonetheless. My experience with reviewing a MOOC has been an exercise in self-reflection as well as critical observation.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We chose to review The Science of Well-being<\/a> course through Yale University and hosted by Coursera. To date this course has over 3.9 million students \u2018enrolled\u2019 and a 4.9 star rating with over 11,000 reviews. Despite this seemed popularity, most MOOCs and even courses from Coursera can have a dropout rate above 90% (Reich & Ruiperez-Valiente, 2019) . I\u2019m sad to say I will only add to this statistic as myself and my team enrolled in the course and will not complete it.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Initially I had the idea that this type of learning technology would be similar to other courses I have taken through distance. What I have found to date is this MOOC has a distinct flavour of commercialization to it. There are pop ups and \u2018atta boys\u2019 that keep prodding you along the course material in response to completing a section. These are clearly autogenerated and start to become ironically less motivating as they pop up. The video lectures seem more staged than a low budget daytime TV show with a strategically placed culturally diverse audience sitting pleasantly in the background.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Several of the exercises link the learner to other data heavy online quizzes or characteristic surveys that I can only imagine is benefitting from the web traffic in some hidden way. The focus seems to be on volume not learning.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My concern with this MOOC is the subtle feeling of being just a number. Much like McDonalds’ advertising its massive success in the \u201cbillions and billions served\u201d campaign, I get the distinct feeling that the term \u201cmassive\u201d in MOOCs is spot on. Call me old fashioned, but I still feel that I\u2019d rather learn in an environment where I feel like a person.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

References<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Coursera. (2022). https:\/\/www.coursera.org\/learn\/the-science-of-well-being<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reich, J. & Ruiperez-Valiente, J.A. (2019). Science<\/a>\u00a0363(6423):130-131<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DOI:10.1126\/science.aav7958<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As part of our critical inquiry into MOOCs, I have reflected on switching my thought process from consumer to critical observer.\u00a0\u00a0Personally, I have a lot of experience with distance education, more so in the formal education realm but web-based nonetheless. My experience with reviewing a MOOC has been an exercise in self-reflection as well as … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Just a number in the massive MOOC?”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":222,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-286","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-lrnt526"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0209\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/286","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0209\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0209\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0209\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/222"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0209\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=286"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0209\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/286\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":288,"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0209\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/286\/revisions\/288"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0209\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=286"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0209\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=286"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0209\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=286"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}