Discussion Online Learning vs Traditional Learning

[MattB]

• Content?

• Quality of teaching?

• User Experience?

• Human interaction?

• Usability in life or profession?

• Technical support?

• Feedback?

• Good assignments?

• Certification?

These are some of the factors that have been highlighted as important in a MOOC.

If you had to select 5 key factors, what would they be?

 

[Nina]

1. Quality of teaching
2. Content
3. Good assignments
4. Feedback
5. Usability

 

[Sky]

1. Content
2. Usability in life or profession
3. Certification
4. Quality of teaching
5. Good assignments

 

[Jaffa]

• Content?

• Quality of teaching?

• User Experience?

• Human interaction?

• Usability in life or profession?

• Technical support?

• Feedback?

• Good assignments?

• Certification?

1. Content
2. Teaching
3. User experience
4. Good assignments
5. Feedback

 

[Laurence Cuffe]

Sometimes it takes for ever to load course material. Not sure if it's me or them!

Its trying. If you have mandatory navigation and slow loading video that you have to watch, death by a thousand....

 

[Duke]

1. Quality of Teaching
2. Content
3. Good assignments
4. Uer experience
5. Human interaction

 

[Susan]

What about the length (as in number of weeks) and work load? If the time required to complete the course is over 6 weeks, I probably would be put off.

 

[Usha Ramani]

• 1. Usability in life or profession
• 2. Content
• 3. Quality of teaching
• 4. User Experience
• 5.Human interaction

I also think ASSESSMENTS are an important factor in a MOOC.

 

[Jaffa]

If they were equivalent courses, would you choose the online or campus-based version?
And why?

 

[MDH]

If the online version offered the same accreditation as its campus-based equivalent, I would definitely choose the online course. Online learning gives you the flexibility to fit the course around other commitments.

 

[BMint]

Although doing a course online has a lot of advantages, it will never give you the same learning experience as a classroom based program.

 

[Susan]

People tend to think that online learning requires less time investment than a campus program. In reality, online learning requires as much, and probably more, time. Having said that, the advantage of scheduling coursework around family and work commitments far outweighs any additional time investment in an online course

 

[Noreen Mullin]

It would be great to know which MOOC you think is the best you've taken so far and why.

Post your replies below.

Best so far was definitely A Brief History of Humankind (Dr. Harari,Hebrew Univ. ); matched equally by Constitutional Struggles in the Muslim World (Dr. Ebrahim Afsah,Copenhagen). Of the 16 I've taken so far, those are the tops. However, I am currently able to recommend two more:
Emergence of the Modern Middle East (Dr. Asher Susser, Tel Aviv), and Surveillance Law (Jonathan Mayer, Stanford). All are articulate, substantive, engaging, highly informative and, among those where controversy could reign, totally unbiased.

 

[Noreen Mullin]

• Content?

• Quality of teaching?

• User Experience?

• Human interaction?

• Usability in life or profession?

• Technical support?

• Feedback?

• Good assignments?

• Certification?

These are some of the factors that have been highlighted as important in a MOOC.

If you had to select 5 key factors, what would they be?

Top key factors for me are:
Content
Quality of teaching
human interaction
user experience
The other factors are relatively unimportant to me.

 

[Carolyn]

Post your thoughts below...

 

[Nina]

Given the speed at which technology is evolving, I think all education will encorporate far more digital technology than it does today. Online learning will become an integral part of curricula across the board without necessarily replacing face to face learning. I think the edtech revolution is yet to come.

 

[Sky]

The 21st century is a 24/7 environment. And the next decade will see the traditional boundaries between home, work and school disappear.

 

[Jaffa]

Teachers who aren't tech-savvy will be out of a job. Technology will become the foundation of education.

 

[Ashish Payasi]

Anything Free does not have intrinsic Value unless a learner has a specific interest and reason to learn.

Knowledge can be provided free but Skills should be charged.

 

[Carolyn]

In a recent paper entitled MOOC Completion and Retention in the Context of Student Intent by Justin Reich, he suggests that we need answers to the question,

"Why do people leave [MOOCs]?"

What do you think the answers are?