Katie Kormanik
Feb iii, 2013

Picture of Katie Kormanik

Katie Kormanik

You lot may have heard of a new development in college education: MOOCs, or massive open online courses, are challenging traditional notions of higher education. Allowing students to work at whatever time, any place, and whatever pace, MOOCs are free and are open up to anyone. This is why they're massive, oft enrolling tens of thousands of students. This revolutionary medium of higher education may shift the entire image underlying how instruction is delivered.

And so far MOOCs have been an exploration of unknown territory, pushing the frontiers of how we teach and larn. A new pilot program betwixt San José Country Academy (SJSU) and Udacity, 1 of the leading MOOC providers, aims to determine the effectiveness of three particularly designed MOOCs compared to the university'south traditional classes. Anyone may enroll for complimentary, but only 100 students may take the MOOCs for credit for this initial circular. This number includes SJSU students besides as not-matriculated students – with priority for the non-matriculated enrollment slots given to high school students, wait-listed customs college students and veterans.

The format of MOOCs makes them particularly effective for pedagogy statistics. I have been working closely with SJSU professors Ron Rogers and Sean Laraway, who determine and supervise grade content, to develop Udacity's statistics grade. This feel has made me acutely aware of ways in which an online statistics class can be superior to a traditional i, and nosotros are taking advantage of these differences in educational activity the course:

  • Interesting data can easily exist shared online for students to analyze in spreadsheets. (Use of basic analysis software such as spreadsheets is not only essential in today'southward world, just as well promotes algebraic thinking.) If information were presented in a traditional textbook, students would have to manually input each value onto their calculator or graphing utility. This would be tedious with real-life information, which often take hundreds of values. The ultimate goal is for students to have a strong foundation in statistical thinking and to be able to carry basic statistics-based research. The best way to do this is by analyzing real data.
  • Simulations and applets can help visualize circuitous statistical concepts, making information technology easier for students to understand them. These are readily accessed online.
  • Polls given to students throughout the grade can allow students to clarify their ain data. Since each MOOC has thousands of students, the sample size is massive. We use Google Forms to administer these polls, and results automatically appear in shared spreadsheets as soon every bit students input their responses. This is instant information on annihilation, any fourth dimension, anywhere, which students can view in real time.
  • MOOC lessons are prerecorded so students can go over a lesson as many times as necessary to empathise the concepts – specially important for statistics, a subject field many people find intimidating. And unlike in a traditional class, MOOC instructors need not worry about spending time repeating or reviewing concepts since students can replay previous videos at their leisure.

Many people still doubt that online didactics can equip students with skills and knowledge as well every bit or better than traditional in-person schooling, especially in the absenteeism of direct student-teacher interaction. However, "interaction" takes many forms. MOOCs provide constant quizzes, which proceed students thinking; instant feedback, so students know immediately if they understand the material; dynamic visuals, keeping students engaged; guest lecturers (via video); and the ability to interact online with thousands of peers, some of whom may choose to encounter in person to learn the textile. Students can ask questions well-nigh the coursework on Udacity's online forum, and popular questions will be answered in supplemental videos. SJSU students taking the course for credit besides have directly contact with the SJSU professors and myself, likewise as Udacity staff who are available 24/vii.

In full general, for-credit MOOCs bring a whole new level of flexibility into pedagogy, especially for students who tin't fit an in-person course into their schedule; who exercise non have the necessary groundwork cognition to take a class required for their degree; or who failed the intro course and, without the online option, would be forced to await a year to retake it.

The SJSU-Udacity pilot statistics course began terminal week with more than iii,000 students registered. In regular MOOCs, around 5 to 10 percent complete the courses (this still equates to tens of thousands of students earning certificates for completing popular MOOCs similar Udacity'southward Informatics 101, simply this percentage does non include the additional tens of thousands who benefited from pieces of the course and who were non intent on completing the whole thing).

With this pilot plan, we hope that completion rates will be equal to or amend than those of the in-person versions of these courses. We will also clarify and compare student operation on the exams, which are identical to those taken by traditional in-class students. We are continuously improving the courses as we receive feedback, but we nevertheless have a long way to go before we tin can judge their effectiveness with certainty. This volition exist a powerful learning feel for everyone involved.

•••

Katie Kormanik is a math education specialist at Udacity, an organization with a mission to provide high-quality, depression-cost university courses online, and a mathematics education research consultant for Math inquiries Project, a non-profit that focuses on Algebra education. Katie graduated from the University of Utah in 2010 with bachelor'southward degrees in mathematics and economic science, and received her master's caste in International Comparative Didactics from Stanford University. Follow her on Twitter (@KatieKormanik) and read her web log at http://turnthewheel.wordpress.com.

To get more than reports like this one, click hither to sign up for EdSource'due south no-toll daily email on latest developments in educational activity.