Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) and Remedial Education

The EvoLLLution, an online newspaper publishing articles and interviews on post-secondary education, recently interviewed Alexandera Sasha Thackaberry,  District Director of eLearning Technologies at Cuyahoga Community Colleges.   In this interview, Ms.Thackaberry shares her experience launching the first community college Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) in the nation.  She shares her thoughts on the future of this new approach to learning, and its potential impact on developmental education.

In this interview, Ms. Thackaberry comments, "[M]ore and more community colleges have started using MOOCs or MOOC-hybrid models to attempt to accelerate progress through developmental math courses...".  These innovative MOOCs are using open educational resources and game structure,  to provide a competency-based model where students are provided leveled instruction, and take assessments as many times as they need to demonstrate competency.  

Questions: Do you know any examples of MOOCs supporting developmental education, in either math or reading?  What are your thoughts on learners in remedial education accessing content via MOOCs?  What do you see as the potential challenges and advantages of this means of remedial instruction?

Best,

Mike Cruse

Disabilities in Adult Education Moderator

michaelcruse74@gmail.com 

 

 

 

Comments

After discovering edX.org last March, I’ve become a steady user of the site. This experience from the learner side of MOOCS gives me a little perspective on their strengths and weaknesses, which I will share.

First, I agree with A. Sasha Thackaberry’s observation that “things like MOOCs might be contextualized more as college preparation in general.” To that, I would add that MOOCs also provide a way to sample college-level courses without actually enrolling, to see if they hold any interest, and if so, to see what kinds of prerequisite knowledge they require. They are also a way to take courses on nice-to-know subjects that you normally wouldn’t consider if it were offered as a formal college course.

If you are not locked into fixed completion dates for weekly lessons, they also allow you to pause when something is not sinking in and research it or review previous lessons, resuming when you feel you are ready.  Again, as Thackaberry states, you need at least a B understanding for the course to be truly preparatory.

On the other hand, MOOCS are not a one-size-fits-all solution or a panacea. For self-motivated learners, they are great; for those who need a lot of hand holding, they are not. You also need to be comfortable with using a computer; have semi-advanced computer skills, such as being able to download videos for offline viewing; and be capable of using the Internet for researching answers to questions on your own.

The MOOCs I’ve taken do offer an opportunity for class discussions in a manner similar to a LINCS CoP, but I find the quality lacking, even when participation is mandatory. Actually, the highest-quality discussions I’ve found are the moderated reader comments on articles in the New York Times. I think online editions of major newspapers can also play an important role in online learning.

There are also numerous websites that give help on specific math and English problems, that can be used to compensate for the lack of face-to-face access. But again, a learner has to be self-motivated to use them effectively.