Behind the scenes in the making of a MOOC — from forbes.com by Michael Horn

A couple of thoughts hit me here:

1) This article is a great example of the use of TEAMS of people to create and deliver learning materials. Consider some quotes:

…we’ve been working for the past few months with Silicon Schools Fund and the New Teacher Center to create a MOOC on Coursera about high-quality blended learning.

Without the hard work of an entire team—from our team at the Clayton Christensen Institute to our partners and friends at the Silicon Schools Fund and New Teacher Center and from our videographer Eric L. Wong to The Learning Accelerator, which provided support—it’s been clear to me that we could not have pulled this off.

We could not have created this course without the amazing cooperation and insights from the students, teachers, and leaders at these schools.

 

Also see this posting on this topic.

 

2) There is no silver bullet in how to achieve learning objectives. Again, consider some quotes:

What we’ve learned–and what emerges in the course–is that there is no definitive way to do blended learning. The schools that we profile have made many different decisions and all produced wonderful results for students.

In the process, we believe that they will create a host of new innovations and make a series of novel choices around blended-learning design.

 

 

 

Harvard Business School launching online learning initiative — from businessweek.com by Louis Lavelle and Erin Zlomek

Excerpt:

Harvard Business School is quietly developing its first online learning initiative, which it hopes will make HBS the world’s top provider of high quality online business education.

The move has the potential to shake up the nascent online education market and give the elite business school a toehold  in the world of MOOCs, or massive open online courses.  It’s a high-stakes gamble for HBS, which has one of the world’s best-known—and carefully burnished—educational brands.

 

Microsoft joins Degreed’s crusade to ‘jailbreak the degree’ – from gigaom.com by Ki Mae Heussner

Excerpt:

Degreed, a San Francisco startup taking on traditional degrees and diplomas with a digital credential that reflects lifelong learning, has recruited its first corporate partner to its corner.

This week the startup said it will launch a partnership with Microsoft Virtual Academy, the tech giant’s online IT training site, which will give students who complete the program’s classes a way to display their achievements on Degreed.

 

From DSC:
AT&T and Georgia Tech.
Google and edX.
Microsoft and Degreed.

IBM sending Watson to school and partnering with 1000+ universities (see here and here).
JP Morgan and University of Delaware (see this addendum from 10/7/13)

Is there a new trend forming here?

 

 

GoogleGarage-EverythingOnWheels-Sept2013

 

 

From DSC:
Many of our learning spaces — if not all of them — need to be completely interchangeable, flexible, mobile, adaptive.  Putting chairs and tables on wheels is a great place to start!  I also like what they did w/ the electricity here; very flexible.

 

Also see:

 

and

 

The Kinetic Desk from Stir

 

Circle Twelve introduces new video conferencing and immersive multi-user collaboration system — from businesswire.com

 

DiamondTouchImmersion-Sept2013

DiamondTouch Immersion is a new video conferencing system from Circle Twelve designed for connecting two remotely located teams. It combines a the multi-user DiamondTouch table with a second display for video conferencing. It features several patented technologies, including the multi-user DiamondTouch table hardware used for interacting with shared content and collaborative whiteboarding, a method for indicating which remote user is interacting (check out the virtual arms at 3:45), and a multi-camera system so you can see all the people at the remote table. More information at http://www.circletwelve.com/products/…

 

From DSC:
Can you imaging this type of web-based collaboration in blended learning environments?!!

 

Also see:

 

 

 

EdX announces partnership with Googlefrom web.mit.edu; w/ thanks to Mr. John Shank for the Scoop on this
Google and edX to collaborate on an open-source learning platform and research, among other things.

Excerpt (emphasis DSC):

As part of the collaboration with Google, edX plans to build out and operate MOOC.org, a new website that will help educational institutions, businesses and teachers build and host online courses for a global audience. The site — slated to go live next year — will be powered by Open edX and built on Google infrastructure.

EdX, founded in 2012 and headquartered in Cambridge, is a nonprofit organization comprised of 28 leading global institutions, called the xConsortium. According to EdX, its aims are to transform online and on-campus learning through novel methodologies, gamelike experiences and research, among other things.

 

Also see:

EdXPartnershipWithGoogle-9-10-13

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Excerpt:

Today, Google will begin working with edX as a contributor to the open source platform, Open edX. We are taking our learnings from Course Builder and applying them to Open edX to further innovate on an open source MOOC platform. We look forward to contributing to edX’s new site, MOOC.org, a new service for online learning which will allow any academic institution, business and individual to create and host online courses.

 

Also see:

 

MOOC-dot-ORG-Coming2014

 

Also see:

udacity-dot-com-opened2-sep-2013

 

udacity-dot-com-opened-sep-2013

 

 

From DSC:
Creating media-rich, professionally-done, well-designed, interactive materials can be expensive — especially if back-end analytics, programming, AI, etc. are called for.  Such capital-intensive work may require the use of teams…of partnerships…of alliances…of consortia. 

Once created though, such materials could be made available at a low cost, as the costs would be spread out on a large number of people/institutions — i.e. The Walmart of Education.

 

 

IBM-WatsonAtWork-Sept2013

 

From DSC:
IBM Watson continues to expand into different disciplines/areas, which currently include:

  • Healthcare
  • Finance
  • Customer Service

But Watson is also entering the marketing and education/research realms.

I see a Watson-type-of-tool as being a key ingredient for future MOOCs and the best chance for MOOCs to morph into something very powerful indeed — offloading the majority of the workload to computers/software/intelligent tutoring/learning agents, while at the same time allowing students to connect with each other and/or to Subject Matter Experts (SME’s) as appropriate.

The price of education could hopefully come way down — depending upon the costs involved with licensing Watson or a similar set of technologies — as IBM could spread out their costs to multiple institutions/organizations.  This vision represents another important step towards the “Walmart of Education” that continues to develop before our eyes.

Taking this even one step further, I see this system being available to us on our mobile devices as well as in our living rooms — as the telephone, the television, and the computer continue to converge.  Blended learning on steroids.

What would make this really powerful would be to provide:

  • The ability to create narratives/stories around content
  • To feed streams of content into Watson for students to tap into
  • Methods of mining data and using that to tweak algorithms, etc. to improve the tools/learning opportunities

Such an architecture could be applied towards lifelong learning opportunities — addressing what we now know as K-12, higher education, and corporate training/development.

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The Living [Class] Room -- by Daniel Christian -- July 2012 -- a second device used in conjunction with a Smart/Connected TV

 

 

 

Inside Higher Ed 2013 Survey of Faculty Attitudes on Technology — by Scott Jaschik and Doug Lederman

From DSC:
I would like to propose some additional — and/or different — questions for next year’s survey:

 


 

Original question:

  • Can online courses achieve learning outcomes that are equivalent to inperson courses?

Another potential question:

  • How will face-to-face courses compete with what’s being achieved via online/digitally-based courses and mechanisms? (One potential answer, go hybrid.)

 

Original questions:

  • What do professors and administrators see as the most important indicators of quality in online education? How does the quality of online courses compare with the quality of inperson courses?

Another question:

  • If we turned the level of scrutiny (which is good and appropriate, BTW) that’s being applied to online courses to our face-to-face (F2F) courses, how would our F2F courses look/perform? How would they compare in terms of quality, achieving learning outcomes, and in terms of long-term ROI?

 

Original question:

  • What do faculty and technology officers make of MOOCs (massive open online courses), and how do they perceive media coverage of the phenomenon?

Another potential question (to students, ed tech staff, admins, faculty members):

  • What might MOOCs morph into and how might those innovations affect the higher education landscape?

 

 


Other questions:


 

  • Should we be looking to faculty members to initiate change? Or somewhere else? 
    (Faculty members’ plates are full, they may or may not believe in the value/benefits of technology, they may or may not be gifted in using technology, and many faculty members don’t have the incentive systems necessary to move forward with online learning or even enhance their F2F courses with more hybrid-based learning approaches.)

    .
  • Will it take a team-based approach to be competitive in the future?
    .
  • (Addressed to faculty members teaching F2F courses)
    Do you know each student’s name in your F2F course and what each of them are majoring in?  How often do you talk to them?  Do you keep track of who you’ve talked to and when?  Do you know what goals each of your students are pursuing? How often can/do they contact you?
    Do you find it more difficult to engage your students in the year 2013 as opposed to 2000?  Do you hold the power to change things at your institution? If so, what have you done with that power?
    .
  • Are curriculums keeping up with what’s needed or are institutions of higher education falling behind? Are we being responsive enough, realizing that the rate/trajectory of change is now exponential, not linear?

 

 

 

‘Shake Up’ for Higher Ed — from insidehighered.com by Scott Jaschik

Excerpt:

President Obama vowed Wednesday that he would soon unveil a plan to promote significant reform in higher education — with an emphasis on controlling what colleges charge students and families.

“[I]n the coming months, I will lay out an aggressive strategy to shake up the system, tackle rising costs, and improve value for middle-class students and their families. It is critical that we make sure that college is affordable for every single American who’s willing to work for it,” said Obama, in a speech at Knox College.

“Families and taxpayers can’t just keep paying more and more and more into an undisciplined system where costs just keep on going up and up and up. We’ll never have enough loan money, we’ll never have enough grant money, to keep up with costs that are going up 5, 6, 7 percent a year. We’ve got to get more out of what we pay for,” Obama said.

From DSC:
At a $175 billion per year support for postsecondary education, if the Federal Government starts redirecting this flow of $$$…I’ll bet we’ll see some change…and rather quickly I might add. 

The Walmart of Education (as predicted back in December 2008) is now here, but I don’t think we’ve seen anything yet. To what will we change? At least one major piece of the answer to that question is that we will see the continued — but increasing — use of teams of specialists that will be commissioned to create low-cost, highly-engaging content. Though expensive to create originally, such teams will more than make their money back because of the massive number of students such “courses” will serve.

 

From the Walmart of Education page on 4/11/09:

…I wanted to offer another idea that might help fund engaging, multimedia-based, online-based learning materials:
(NOTE: The figures I use are not accurate, but rather, they are used for illustration purposes only.)

Let’s reallocate funds towards course development, and then let’s leverage those learning materials throughout the world!

Reallocate funds to course development, and bring costs WAAAAYYYY down and ACCESS WAAAYYY  UP!

.

For students: Bring costs waaaayyyyy down and access waaayyy up!

Plus, no more defaulted loans, students could experience richer content, students wouldn’t have to wait as much on financial aid decisions. There would be fewer financial aid headaches; and the resources devoted to figuring out & processing financial aid could be reduced. The issue will be how an institution can differentiate itself in such a new world…but that issue will have to be dealt with in the future anyway.

 

 

 

How to make online courses massively personal — from scientificamerican.com by Peter Norvig
How thousands of online students can get the effect of one-on-one tutoring

Excerpt (emphasis DSC):

Educators have known for 30 years that students perform better when given one-on-one tutoring and mastery learning—working on a subject until it is mastered, not just until a test is scheduled. Success also requires motivation, whether from an inner drive or from parents, mentors or peers.

Will the rise of massive open online courses (MOOCs) quash these success factors? Not at all. In fact, digital tools offer our best path to cost-effective, personalized learning.

I know because I have taught both ways.

Inspired by Nobel laureate Herbert Simon’s comment that “learning results from what the student does and thinks and only from what the student does and thinks,” we created a course centered on the students doing things and getting frequent feedback. Our “lectures” were short (two- to six-minute) videos designed to prime the attendees for doing the next exercise. Some problems required the application of mathematical techniques described in the videos. Others were open-ended questions that gave students a chance to think on their own and then to hash out ideas in online discussion forums.

That is why a properly designed automated intelligent tutoring system can foster learning outcomes as well as human instructors can, as Kurt van Lehn found in a 2011 meta-analysis in Educational Psychologist.

 

From DSC:
A potential learning scenario in the future:

  1. “Learning Agent, go find me a MOOC (or what the MOOC will morph into) about ________.”
    Similar to a Google Alert, the Learning Agent returns some potential choices.  I select one.
    .
  2. Once there… “System,  let’s begin.”  I begin taking the online-based course — which is stocked full of a variety of media, some interactive, that I get to choose from for each module/item based upon my personal preferences — and the intelligent tutoring system kicks in and responses at relevant points based upon my questions, answers, responses. The system uses AI, data mining, learning analytics, to see how I’m doing. It tracks this for each student.  Humans regularly review the data to begin noticing patterns and to tweak the algorithms based upon these patterns.
    .
  3. If at any time I find the responses from the automated intelligent tutoring system confusing or weak, I will:
    • Make note of why I’m confused or disagree with the response (via an online-based form entry on the page; this feedback gets instantly sent to the Team of Specialists in charge of the “course.” They will use it to tweak the course/algorithms.)
    • Ask to speak with a person, at which point I am asked to choose whether my inquiry would best be handled by a Subject Matter Expert (SME) at $___/hour/request (more expensive price) or by an entry-level tutor (at a lower $___/hour/request).  I then enter into a videoconference-based tutoring session with them, and they can access my records and even take over my screen (if I let them).  Once I get my questions answered, I return to the course and continue.

     

From DSC:
A twist on the above scenario would be if a cohorted group of people — not age-based — met in a physical place/room and were able to bounce ideas off of each other before anyone ante’d up for additional expenses by contacting a tutor and/or an SME. They could even share the expenses of the “call” (so-to-speak).

 

 

 

 

From DSC:
Yesterday, I had posted an item re: interactive video. As I looked at the credits for the piece out at the Wall Street Journal, it made me reflect upon this thought:

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UseOfTeams-DChristian-July2013

 

This will be true whether we’re talking about K-12, higher ed, and/or the corporate training/L&D world.

 

Gazing through mud: The campus and you in 50 years — from evoLLLution.com (where LLL stands for lifelong learning) by John Ebersole, President, Excelsior College
Excerpts:

Both types of institutions will be fewer in number as consolidations and closures continue, at an accelerated pace. Those that overcome the academy’s inherent aversion to change and risk are the most likely to survive.

Let’s remember that the half-life of knowledge is falling at an astonishing rate. What is relevant today, especially in technical fields, can become obsolete within a matter of a few years, if not months. At the same time, there is an explosion in information. It has been noted that we’re now exposed to more information in one year than our grandparents were in a lifetime.

In summary, the units extending the reach of universities in the future will no longer be on the fringe. Their academic and professional development offerings will instead become central to the institution’s mission.

 

From DSC:
Some additional reflections:

1)  Curated streams of content — broken out by discipline/topic — will be key.  Lifelong learning. Keeps you relevant/informed throughout your career.  A potentially-prominent format might be learning “channels” — populated with information from bots, presented on “Smart TV’s,” with quick access available to a human Subject Matter Expert (SME) or tutor upon request.   Perhaps there will be different levels of SME’s, tutors, mentors, etc. with corresponding $$ rates. 

2)  Interactive video — such as we’re beginning to see with Touchcast — could be very powerful in online-based learning materials.

3)  Educational gaming will likely be a powerful, engaging format.

4)  We could likely be moving towards more of a team-based approach –as one person likely won’t be able to do it all anymore (at least not at a level that will successfully compete).  The higher production qualities and sophistication necessary to compete may force many institutions to pool their resources with other institutions (i.e. more consortia).

5)  The unbundling process will likely continue throughout higher ed (i.e. think of iTunes and the album/CD).

 

Heads up Jony Ive! You need to see this brilliant concept for the Apple TV! Superb work by Sam Beckett!

BrilliantTVConceptBySamBeckett-May2013

 

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From DSC:
Now picture this from the educational standpoint — and what MOOCs could morph into.  The foundation for some serious learning power (from the living room) seems to be developing!

Streams of content/learning channels/cloud-based applications that each of us can create and make available.

Voice recognition, learning analytics, machine-to-machine communications, transmedia and more!  Wow!

 

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The Living [Class] Room -- by Daniel Christian -- July 2012 -- a second device used in conjunction with a Smart/Connected TV

 

 

 

Watch a replay of today’s Adobe MAX 2013 keynote.
Even if you can’t join us in person, you can still connect with the Adobe community. Watch the Adobe MAX 2013 keynotes live from Nokia Theatre L.A. LIVE. We’ll explore the creative evolution – how to use the latest tools to give shape to ideas, and what are the trends that will shape how you’ll work in the future.

A Creative Evolution
Monday, May 6, 9:30-11:30 a.m. PDT

The process of where and how we create is dramatically changing thanks to major advancements in technology, and there has never been a more exciting time. Join Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen, Adobe’s SVP and GM of Digital Media David Wadhwani, and a collection of Adobe visionaries across digital photography, web design, illustration, video and more as we unveil brand new creative workflows and capabilities. We’ll take a look at the present and set our sights on the endless possibilities in our creative future.
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Over20CreativeCloudApps-AdobeMaxMay62013

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AdobeMax-May62013

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Join us tomorrow at 10 a.m. PDT to watch the keynote – Community Inspires Creativity – live.

Tagged with:  

The folks needed to create the next generation of learning: Computers can’t touch this. [Christian]

From DSC:
What we need is a major hackathon — or an organization with deep pockets — that can bring together folks from a variety of disciplines including:

  • Subject Matter Experts
  • Instructional Designers
  • Cognitive Psychologists
  • Computer Scientists and/or those exerienced with learning analytics/data mining, Artificial Intelligence (AI)
  • Those gifted in film/media/videography/photography
  • Great storytellers/writers (including writing for transmedia-based learning experiences)
  • Folks who can create engaging, educational games
  • Designers
    • Web
    • Graphic
    • Interface
    • User experience
    • User interaction
    • Those gifted in creating multimedia-based content
  • Musicians
  • Human Computer Interaction (HCI) experts
  • Mobile learning experts
  • Those knowledgeable with second screens/M2M communications
  • Animators
  • Illustrators
  • Social media experts
  • Accessibility experts
  • Researchers
  • Those gifted in creating augmented reality-based apps
  • Legal/copyright experts
  • & others

We need for these specialists to collaborate in order to create the next generation of learning.  Anyone who can bring these skillsets together and experiment with creating materials will have significantly contributed something to the current generations and to future generations! 

And, in the words of M.C. Hammer,  computers “can’t touch this!”  Why? Because “learning is messy!”

What fields did I miss?
Please leave your thoughts and
feedback in the comments section.

 

 

 

 
© 2025 | Daniel Christian