5 MOOCs e-Pedagogy models, and 7c’s Learning Design framework

By Ramón Talavera-Franco
@ratafra

I would like to share with you two main lessons learned from The pedagogy of MOOCs webinar presented by Terese Bird and Gráinne Conole, from the University of Leicester, during the Open Education Week 2014:

1. Differences between Open Educational Resources (OER) and Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs).
2.  MOOC’s pedagogical perspective.

After listening to the webinar and conducting some research, my understanding of OER and MOOCs is:
OER

• Digital learning resources openly available for educators, learners, and researchers such as: instructional modules, syllabi, audio lectures, video lectures, reading material, teaching notes, assessments, etc. 
• Released under a creative common license.
• Used as online libraries rather than courses.
• Open to anybody who wants to use it. 
• Free of charge. 
• Promotes individual learning.
• There are not starting and ending dates.
• There are not indicators of progress.

MOOCs:

• Online courses. Use of Learning Management Systems (LMS). 
• Learning is through video lectures, reading material, assessments (multiple choice quizzes, exercises, papers, final projects) discussion forums, and peer-review.
• Learning is asynchronous; however, Google hangouts sometimes are used to connect professors with students.
• Use of social media, (Facebook and Twitter) to stimulate exchange of knowledge between:
• student-student 
• student-teacher
• Built upon Connectivism Learning Theory.
• Enrollment is open to anybody who wants to take the courses.
• Massive registration (sometimes +10 thousand students).
• Provide starting and ending date. 
• Tuition free. However, there are Institutions that are charging fees ranging between $29.00 to $200.00 ish in exchange of certain kind of certification or accreditation.
• Academic credit and certification depends on the Institution policies. 

5 e-Pedagogy models of MOOCs, and 7c’s of Learning Design framework

Terese Bird and Gráinne Conole argue that open learning could be achieved through Open Education Resources (OER), Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) and social media. However, they claim that MOOC is an instructional model that facilitates interaction, communication and collaboration due to its connectivist-learning approach. During the webinar, Gríanne Conole discussed 4 e-pedagogy models connected with open learning: 1) associative, 2) constructivist, 3) situative, and 4) connectivist. However, Terese Bird, added the cognitive model to the list, since she argues that MOOCs regularly implement it as part of their instructional design.

Here is a brief snapshot of the 5 e-pedagogy models and the 7c’ to consider in open learning design discussed by Bird and Conole:

• Associative. Focuses on individual learning through association and reinforcement (stimulus- response conditioning). For example: language courses.
• Constructivist. Building on prior knowledge. Task oriented. For example: Springpad.
• Cognitive. Learning by experiencing stimuli but not doing anything. The person is encouraged to contemplate.
• Situative. Learning that occurs in the same context in which it will be used. For example, a clinical neurology course.
• Connectivist. People as resource. Reflective and dialogic learning. Learning in a networked environment, i.e., Twitter, Facebook, and discussion boards. This is the pedagogy model used in MOOCs instructional design.

7c’ of learning design framework:

• Conceptualize
• Create
• Communicate
• Collaborate 
• Consider
• Combine
• Consolidate

I just wanted to share with you some traits that can help us understand the differences between OER and MOOCs, as well as its pedagogical framework. However, the webinar also discusses a new MOOCs classification proposal that should be further examined. Therefore, I strongly suggest watching the webinar and following the links a long this post. I’m sure you are going to enjoy the information embedded in it!