1. Teach a MOOC …
what are you, crazy?
Maria H. Andersen, Ph.D.
Director of Learning & Research

2. Me: “You couldn’t pay me to
teach Calculus to
500 students online.”

3. Josh (CEO at Instructure):
“Well, technically,
I think I could.”

4. Many of us already have
experience with SPOCs.
Small
Private
Online
Courses

5. And of course, you’ve all
heard the term: MOOC
Massive
Open
Online
Courses

6. Pre-MOOC Thinking:
Take all the student problems and
grading in a SPOC and multiply them
by 100 or 1000. No thanks!

7. Post-MOOC Thinking:
Please don’t make me go back
to teaching SPOCs.

8. Teaching a MOOC has been
the purest and most fun form
of teaching (and learning)
that I’ve ever done.

9. [but it is also hard work]

10. I hear this a lot: “I’ve already
got an online course for this.
I can make it a MOOC in no
time.”

11. It’s not quite that easy.

12. Paradigm shift? No.

13. Paradigm shift? No.
Paradigm shifts.

14. SPOC vs. MOOC
Students Students
Level of Education
Location
Primary Language
Reason for Learning
Time Commitment
Access to Resources

15. Level of
Education

16. Primary
Language
Location

17. Reasons for Learning

18. Time
Commitment

19. Access to Resources

20. SPOC vs. MOOC
Learning Learning
Assessments
Resources provided
Required Materials
Length of Course
Discussions
Activities

21. For the record,
I volunteered.
[but not to teach Calculus]

22. Canvas Network Social Media

23. Social Media SPOC
for-credit course
Small class
web-enhanced
team taught
access to library

24. Social Media MOOC
not-for-credit course
large course
online
one teacher
all open resources

25. Social Media MOOC
learn.canvas.net/courses/1

26. Resources Provided
Wherever possible, provide resources that are
freely accessible in most of the world.
Consider your role to be the curator of the
millions of resources on the Internet.

28. Assessments
The assessments should provide another
opportunity to learn and be low stakes.

29. Example: In-Depth Facebook

31. Activities
The activities should provide a chance to apply
what you’re learning in the real world.
Activities should provide a way for students to
share and delight in what they are learning.

32. Example: First 50 Followers

35. Discussions
Discussions provide a place to truly leverage
the diversity and life experiences of your
participants.
Discussions don’t have to be required unless
the purpose of participating will be valuable to
every student individually.

36. Example: SoMe Goals and Objectives

37. Example: SoMe Outside the U.S.

38. Example: SoMe Lessons Learned

39. Length of Course
MOOC students want to spend fewer hours per
week and commit to less weeks.
This doesn’t mean you teach a less rigorous
version of the same course. It means you teach
a different course. It might mean you teach
three courses instead of one.

40. What’s
it really
like to
teach a
MOOC?

41. While teaching a
MOOC isn’t easy,
it’s not as crazy
as it might first
seem.

42. MOOCs on
Canvas Network come
in all shapes and sizes.

43. Questions?
maria@instructure.com
@busynessgirl