Content
- E-learning and blended learning
- MOOCs
- Flipped classroom
Activities
1. After the class, write a group essay:
If you are the MITE(MSC) programme director/teacher and would like to start MOOCs from one of its modules, which one you will choose, why, what are the major features of this MOOC, and what are the major challenges?
2. Our Reflection: What do you think the challenges and implications of MOOCs in Hong Kong and China?
1. After the class, write a group essay:
If you are the MITE(MSC) programme director/teacher and would like to start MOOCs from one of its modules, which one you will choose, why, what are the major features of this MOOC, and what are the major challenges?
2. Our Reflection: What do you think the challenges and implications of MOOCs in Hong Kong and China?
1.Our Group Essay
Why we choose 6333( Mobile and ubiquitous technology in education)
MITE6333 provides a hands-on oriented and in-depth exploration of smart-phone/mobile devices in general, together with essential concepts and the impact of ubiquitous technologies for education and training.In addition to the theoretical and conceptual issues, students will develop practical knowledge in the design and development of simple educational applications for delivery via mobile technologies (e.g., iPhone, iPads iPods or Android devices).
The reason why we chooes this module to start MOOCs is the content of this course is practical and useful.When the participants finish their first MOOC class, the product is a simple App which is visible and applicable somehow. So they can easily gain a sense of achievement and continue to learn in a long run. Whatsmore, this class is more intereting than theoretical courses and easy to follow.There is no requirement for participant to have programmning background knowledge.
Target student
Features of 6333 MOOCs
Our MOOC course can be divided into 4 parts as below:
(2)Related references as the theoretical support.Some useful resources like teaching materials and references will be uploaded for learners’ information for a better understanding of what they are learning.
(3)Samples of work give students an overview of what they are going to acuire in every session.
(4)Exercise(homework): teachers can challenge students by leaving some tasks using what they have learned in the courses.
(2)Discussion zone: students can upload their ideas, questions, or something useful they learned themselves outside of MOOC in the communication zone.
(3)Solutions of questions.Solutions to frequently-asked questions in course can be put in this part,which is able to assist others who may have similar problems in the future.
Major Challenges
References:
[1]Li Yuan, Stephen Powell(2013).MOOCs and Open Education: Implications for Higher Education
[2]Cross, Simon (2013). Evaluation of the OLDS MOOC curriculum design course: participant perspectives, expectations and experiences. OLDS MOOC Project, Milton Keynes.
MITE6333 provides a hands-on oriented and in-depth exploration of smart-phone/mobile devices in general, together with essential concepts and the impact of ubiquitous technologies for education and training.In addition to the theoretical and conceptual issues, students will develop practical knowledge in the design and development of simple educational applications for delivery via mobile technologies (e.g., iPhone, iPads iPods or Android devices).
The reason why we chooes this module to start MOOCs is the content of this course is practical and useful.When the participants finish their first MOOC class, the product is a simple App which is visible and applicable somehow. So they can easily gain a sense of achievement and continue to learn in a long run. Whatsmore, this class is more intereting than theoretical courses and easy to follow.There is no requirement for participant to have programmning background knowledge.
Target student
- a)Students who are majored in MITE
- b)People who are interested in making educational application but have no prior-knowledge about programming
Features of 6333 MOOCs
Our MOOC course can be divided into 4 parts as below:
- a)Course Information
- b) Course content
(2)Related references as the theoretical support.Some useful resources like teaching materials and references will be uploaded for learners’ information for a better understanding of what they are learning.
(3)Samples of work give students an overview of what they are going to acuire in every session.
(4)Exercise(homework): teachers can challenge students by leaving some tasks using what they have learned in the courses.
- c)Feedback system
(2)Discussion zone: students can upload their ideas, questions, or something useful they learned themselves outside of MOOC in the communication zone.
(3)Solutions of questions.Solutions to frequently-asked questions in course can be put in this part,which is able to assist others who may have similar problems in the future.
- d)Personal Pace
Major Challenges
- Motivation of engagement
- The design of teaching styles
- Individual Instruction
- Student Performance
References:
[1]Li Yuan, Stephen Powell(2013).MOOCs and Open Education: Implications for Higher Education
[2]Cross, Simon (2013). Evaluation of the OLDS MOOC curriculum design course: participant perspectives, expectations and experiences. OLDS MOOC Project, Milton Keynes.
2.Our reflection on the challenges and implications of MOOCs in Hong Kong and China
Phoenix Zhao
Firstly, the emergence of MOOC gives opportunity to low-end community who have no access to higher education or prestigious university, which could balance the literacy disparity to some extent. And then, because of the international spread of MOOC, it gives China an opportunity to increase its status and to spread Chinese culture and thoughts. Some local MOOC platforms such as XueTangX(same as edX) and Kaikeba give a good opportunity to innovate the class design. China can develop the MOOC by the existing technology, which helps cut the cost. The intimate collaboration with foreign countries will push the development of China. Furthermore, the appearance of for-profit MOOC help China develop economy somehow.
On the other hand, since the commencement of MOOC is not originated from China, so the development and engagement of Chinese university is relatively slow, and the popular platform of MOOC is mainly from other countries, it means that there is a long way to go. And the MOOC courses given by Chinese university is too limited with several school with reputation, (1) the future dominance of MOOC risking a monopolization of prestigious school. (2) And the lack of digital literacy is also a concern for most teacher and students. (3) Due to the policy reason, the foreign websites load slowly in China, this is an obstacle for Chinese learners who hope to get access to foreign MOOC website. Youtube is even blocked in China. The following chart demonstrates the several MOOC platforms, we can tell that China started to develop MOOC later than the other countries and the members of it is only 3 and 2 of them are Chinese university. More Chinese university choose to join the MOOC platform founded by foreign countries. This phenomenon demonstrates that the immaturity of MOOC in China.
In the future, the concord efforts from more Chinese universities are needed to develop MOOC and to tackle these challenges. Active engagement of commonplace universities is a win-win result for both the construction of MOOC and the culture spread of themselves.
Reference:
[1]. Situation Analysis:Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) inChina. 2,2014. LNO Beijing.
Catherine ZHENG
As disruptive innovation, the challenge of MOOC is that it is going to meet a serious of opponent factors. How to live with these challenges and gain social acceptance determine whether it can ensure a sustainable development in the future.
A)How to deal with the gap of education? Effective leaning in MOOCs requires students’ autonomy and learning abilities. Students with higher qualifications(e.g. Master) are likely to acquire more knowledge than whom with lower learning abilities. Students in rich families will ensure a favorable hardware devices for learning online while some students in less rich families may not have the opportunity to use the computer or broad band to support fluent video play. Thus may cause the gap of education--“winner takes all”, the students who have already well-educated learn more while people who lack of education learn less.
B)How to be approved by the offline education? Could the certificate offered by MOOC demonstrates the learners’ ability in the specific field and to be used as the proof of qualification to apply for HE in offline school? To enhance the authority of certificate, the process of online examination and assessment must be impartial. So the problem of how to prevent the surrogate exam-taker and cheating behaviors should be solved.
C) How to be systematic? The offline courses have a coherent and progressive system, when you graduate from junior high school, you have a systematic series of knowledge in mind and generally are ready for further learning in high school. In contrary, as you can see in the MOOCs’ website, even though courses are sorted into different categories, they are still messy and lack of a logical continuity since there are many teachers teaching in different ways with different contents, and some of them may just post very limit amount courses, when students want to learn more, they cannot find the following courses anymore. Students learning in MOOCs by themselves may not easily set up a thorough knowledge system in their mind.
D)How to ensure high quality courses? To provide free access to education for as many students as possible, the content of courses have to be popularized in plain terms, which will be less appropriate for students who need knowledge in a more professional field. To create high quality courses, MOOC need to build a win-win relationship with teachers who have high pedagogical skills. That is to say, if the MOOC have a good reputation, teachers will probably post their courses online to gain more academic influence in their study fields. A good strategy of brand marketing may help increasing the reputation.
E) How could MOOC with diversified teaching method and content adopt to the situation in China? Will MOOC survive in the test-centered education?
These are some challenges i see but cannot find out the solution because of the lack of experience and knowledge in this field. I’m expecting anyone who see my reflections could leave some comment for further discussion.
References:
1.Li Yuan and Stephen Powell(2013), MOOCs and Open Education: Implications for Higher Education
Joyce Zhu
China government actually has awareness of the significant of ICT in education. You can find it in the long-term education reform and development plan as below:“信息技术对教育发展具有革命性影响,必须予以高度重视。”was written into《国家中长期教育改革和发展规划纲要(2010-2020年)》The impact of MOOCs comes from the following parts: elite schools, star teachers, elaborate curricula, open, free of charge, convenient and so on. The challenge MOOCs will face in China is partly institutional and partly conscious.
1.The changing role of teacher and break down of system
Nowadays, although there are some assistant for teacher, under most circumstance , teacher need to do on their own from preparing materials to giving lessons. The status quo is that high schools in China cannot afford one supporting team for each teacher, in other words, only for those top or elite teachers, they can get the chance to give lessons on MOOCs. Teacher in high education who has in-depth achievements on academic field doesn’t mean that he or she masters teaching skills and separates knowledge well. It seems a paradox but a truth. Universities in China now usually protect those teachers in some ways. However, if MOOC became popular in China and students can choose the best teacher without population limited, it will break the balance which keeps for a long time in the conservative education system. The spread of MOOC in high education depends on the of the specific leaders and schools to some degree. Also, the push from the main government is rather important based on the particular condition of China.
2.The change of education framework
Students in China choose their major before they enter college and it is difficult for them to change their major, while overseas colleges give quite part of general education for undergraduates. Just imagine, in one day, the MOOC is the most popular in the world, but for students who got exam-oriented education for 10 years and just passed the strict college entrance examination, is it possible to choose what major they want and which lessons they want to attend? MOOC provides the opportunities for learners to choose and access without level, position limitation but also increase the disparity between learners. MOOC will absolutely take a big impact to the education but if the education framework doesn’t change, MOOC can only be the assistant tools for learning ,rather than acceptable by the majority as their main learning method.
China government actually has awareness of the significant of ICT in education. You can find it in the long-term education reform and development plan as below:“信息技术对教育发展具有革命性影响,必须予以高度重视。”was written into《国家中长期教育改革和发展规划纲要(2010-2020年)》The impact of MOOCs comes from the following parts: elite schools, star teachers, elaborate curricula, open, free of charge, convenient and so on. The challenge MOOCs will face in China is partly institutional and partly conscious.
1.The changing role of teacher and break down of system
Nowadays, although there are some assistant for teacher, under most circumstance , teacher need to do on their own from preparing materials to giving lessons. The status quo is that high schools in China cannot afford one supporting team for each teacher, in other words, only for those top or elite teachers, they can get the chance to give lessons on MOOCs. Teacher in high education who has in-depth achievements on academic field doesn’t mean that he or she masters teaching skills and separates knowledge well. It seems a paradox but a truth. Universities in China now usually protect those teachers in some ways. However, if MOOC became popular in China and students can choose the best teacher without population limited, it will break the balance which keeps for a long time in the conservative education system. The spread of MOOC in high education depends on the of the specific leaders and schools to some degree. Also, the push from the main government is rather important based on the particular condition of China.
2.The change of education framework
Students in China choose their major before they enter college and it is difficult for them to change their major, while overseas colleges give quite part of general education for undergraduates. Just imagine, in one day, the MOOC is the most popular in the world, but for students who got exam-oriented education for 10 years and just passed the strict college entrance examination, is it possible to choose what major they want and which lessons they want to attend? MOOC provides the opportunities for learners to choose and access without level, position limitation but also increase the disparity between learners. MOOC will absolutely take a big impact to the education but if the education framework doesn’t change, MOOC can only be the assistant tools for learning ,rather than acceptable by the majority as their main learning method.
Jane Wang
The investment of a high quality MOOC courses is very high.It needs a dedicated teacher who focus on teaching, an excellent team and a elaborate editing process. MOOC courses are by no means simply equivalent to a move traditional courses online, but need to redesign the course to adapt to the online learning mode. MOOC courses are not suitable for traditional teacher-centered education.If you can not make the courses interesting and attractive, it is very difficult to succeed online.Comparing with traditional courses,MOOC courses are requires to use more concise and refined language, and take more advantages of the multimedia.Besides,considering the way we accept knowledge,open questions that are able to trigger the students' thinking and discussion are important,so BBS is an indispensable part of MOOC. Elaborate course assignments design and effective testing are also good ways of learning.So the teacher who design and run MOOC course is a more critical role than MOOC platform itself.Teacher is the leader of the course design team,the platforms just meet the requirements of the teacher to some extent.
In my opinion,nowadays,the success of China MOOC platform depends primarily on the teachers.China MOOCs need more excellent teacher to join. One of the key obstacles is the evaluation system in Chinese universities,which is academic research achievement is far more important than teaching.Those outstanding teachers may pay more attention to the development of their own academic field and ignore to improve their teaching skills. That may result in two problems.One is outstanding teachers are unwilling to spend time and energy to start a MOOC course,another is those teachers can not attract learners in a long term because of the boring teaching style.
The investment of a high quality MOOC courses is very high.It needs a dedicated teacher who focus on teaching, an excellent team and a elaborate editing process. MOOC courses are by no means simply equivalent to a move traditional courses online, but need to redesign the course to adapt to the online learning mode. MOOC courses are not suitable for traditional teacher-centered education.If you can not make the courses interesting and attractive, it is very difficult to succeed online.Comparing with traditional courses,MOOC courses are requires to use more concise and refined language, and take more advantages of the multimedia.Besides,considering the way we accept knowledge,open questions that are able to trigger the students' thinking and discussion are important,so BBS is an indispensable part of MOOC. Elaborate course assignments design and effective testing are also good ways of learning.So the teacher who design and run MOOC course is a more critical role than MOOC platform itself.Teacher is the leader of the course design team,the platforms just meet the requirements of the teacher to some extent.
In my opinion,nowadays,the success of China MOOC platform depends primarily on the teachers.China MOOCs need more excellent teacher to join. One of the key obstacles is the evaluation system in Chinese universities,which is academic research achievement is far more important than teaching.Those outstanding teachers may pay more attention to the development of their own academic field and ignore to improve their teaching skills. That may result in two problems.One is outstanding teachers are unwilling to spend time and energy to start a MOOC course,another is those teachers can not attract learners in a long term because of the boring teaching style.