1

MOOCs, OER, Online Learning ... Aren’t They All the

Same?Barbara Illowsky, Ph.D.

De Anza College & California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office

illowskybarbara@fhda.eduAMATYC 2013

2

Open Educational Resources (OER) is a catch-all phrase that includes some open

textbooks, some Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) and some online learning.

But some open textbooks, some MOOCs

and some online learning are not OER. Learn the similarities,

the differences, and how to choose what your

students need.

3

Open Educational Resources (OER)

“Teaching, learning, and research resources that reside in the public domain or have been released under an intellectual property license that permits their free use or repurposing by others.”

- U.S Department of Education

4

or… OER"teaching, learning, and research resources that reside in the public domain or have been released under an intellectual property license that permits their free use and re-purposing by others. Open educational resources include full courses, course materials, modules, textbooks, streaming videos, tests, software, and any other tools, materials, or techniques used to support access to knowledge".

- William and Flora Hewlett Foundation

5

Distance Learning“Distance education means

instruction in which the instructor and student are separated by distance and

interact through the assistance of communication technology...”

- CA Title 5, Division 6, Section 55200

6

MOOCsMassive: > 1000 students

Online: videos lectures, automated quizzes, discussions

Open: open enrollment but NOT OER

Course: learning experience

7

8

OER

e-text-books

MOOCs?

online learnin

g

9

e-textbooks

OER $$

Free, but

pass-word

10

online learning

OER $$

Free, but

pass-word

OER “Killing” (concerns) Academic Freedom•Pressure from legislature

•Pressure from administration•Forced to use cr*% instead of “real” texts•Forced to learn to teach differently

OER Enhancing Academic Freedom

• provides faculty with more choices for their courses• allows for permission-free

editing and adaptation• promotes customization• eliminates forced revisions

Here a MOOC, there a MOOC …

or

MOOC Concerns• Poor instruction quality (why assume

this???)• Low Completion rates: 5-15% is typical

• Learner support is minimal• Assessment for credit: costs $; in early

stages• Sustainability is unknown

Community College MOOCs for non-

credit??• Hundreds of thousands of students taking

basic skills & pre-transfer level English, reading, writing, ESL and mathematics courses

• Huge subset of above population, at one time, had learned the content using taxpayer $$

• Many just need to review before taking an assessment test for placement

What if …• community college faculty develop and teach

pre-transfer level MOOCs • a large subset of the “huge subset” take

MOOCs to review content?• a VERY small subset of the “large subset of the

huge subset” complete 1 MOOC and place into 1 higher level course in just 1discipline?

Need to Review

Take MOOC

Pass MOOC

Population - pre-transfer level

placementstudents

Very small subset of the large subset of the huge

subset…• will save at least one semester to degree

completion• will save taxpayers $$• may be encouraged to take more ownership in

their education• may take more than 1 MOOC and multiply

their time savings and taxpayer savings

In other words …

• if 100,000 students take at least 1 MOOC

• if just 6% of MOOC folks complete their course

• if this 6% of MOOC folks place into 1 course higher

• then, 94% of MOOC students are FAILURES!!!

BUT …

… 6000 students have succeeded!!!!!

…. and, so ….

… but hoping for …

shorter time to completion?