{"id":247,"date":"2013-10-16T10:08:00","date_gmt":"2013-10-16T10:08:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/scqa.hult.edu\/en\/news\/hult-labs\/2013\/october\/whats-in-a-mooc-part-1\/"},"modified":"2026-05-06T15:35:38","modified_gmt":"2026-05-06T14:35:38","slug":"whats-in-a-mooc-part-i","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hult.edu\/blog\/whats-in-a-mooc-part-i\/","title":{"rendered":"What’s in a MOOC? Part I"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s autumn, and for many people the change of seasons brings on a pavlovian desire to be in school. Fortunately for those people, we live in fantastic times. Many of the world\u2019s top schools are actually giving away a little piece of education via the Internet. These classes, called MOOCs (Massively Open Online Courses), are distributed by companies such as Coursera and NovoEd (Udacity, my current favorite, has a slightly different model), who work with top-tier institutions to create the video lectures and online quizzes that are ultimately consumed by the learning-starved masses.<\/p>\n

So what\u2019s it like to actually take one? I have now personally participated in many MOOCs, with varying levels of commitment and completion. I have some very specific thoughts and analyses of this trend, but that will have to wait for another time. Right now, I really just want to tell you, the MOOC novice, what it\u2019s like to be a MOOC student.<\/p>\n

Day One:\u00a0 Excitement! Hurray, it\u2019s finally the first day of the class I registered for weeks ago! I can\u2019t wait to dig into the material and get started! Why can\u2019t I login? That\u2019s strange; the class isn\u2019t available yet. Is something wrong? I got an email reminder just yesterday. I\u2019ll re-read that, maybe I wrote it down wrong\u2026nope, it\u2019s today, at\u202610pm<\/em>\u00a0Pacific Time? Oh. (Checking clock). Sigh. I guess I\u2019ll get started tomorrow, then. No way I\u2019m watching a lecture tonight.<\/p>\n

Day Two: Finally! Here we go\u2026oh. Week 1. What we\u2019re going to cover: \u201cWhy the professor is doing the course\u201d; \u201cHow to earn a certificate of completion\u201d; \u201cThe school doesn\u2019t make any representation about the value of the course or actual learning\u201d\u2014 blah, blah, blah. Okay, so the real lectures start\u2026at 10pm Pacific Time a week from yesterday. Can\u2019t wait.<\/p>\n

Maybe I\u2019m being a little harsh. That\u2019s not always how it goes, just often enough that any MOOC-takers out there probably chuckled in recognition. I\u2019ll spare you the running diary from here on out. I\u2019m sure you\u2019re much more interested in what the lectures are like and what it\u2019s really like to be a student in one of these \u201cclasses\u201d.<\/p>\n

Generally speaking, they are a lot like college lecture courses. That is, a professor talks a lot and gives reading assignments. The video lectures are interrupted by \u201cpop quizzes\u201d to check if you are actually learning anything. It\u2019s a pretty passive learning experience for the most part. If you look back at high school or college and remember that you were really bored in lecture-style classes, then be forewarned: MOOCs are\u00a0not<\/em>\u00a0for the faintly motivated.<\/p>\n

When you\u2019re in school, you generally know that on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 10:30am, for example, you have to show up to get your regularly scheduled dose of instruction. When you\u2019re in a MOOC, you have to show up for class\u2026before the deadline. Usually a week after the lecture was posted. So there\u2019s a lot of time and self-management required, which means you need to be really, really interested in the topic or really motivated to get that certificate of completion. Even if it\u2019s meaningless to potential employers.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s also a lot of reading. Usually, there\u2019s some sort of text to go with the class, but in my experience, the assigned reading is pretty light. What is really time consuming is reading through all the posts associated with the class. In an attempt to create student engagement on the subject at hand, many classes now require that you participate in an online class forum. If you\u2019ve participated in these before, you know there\u2019s a lot of noise through which you have to filter.<\/p>\n

Anyone who\u2019s logged onto Facebook \u201cfor a few minutes\u201d usually discovers that it\u2019s pretty easy to kill a couple of hours a night sifting through topics, and posting or replying to the ones in which you\u2019re interested. Most of the MOOCs I\u2019ve taken have less than three hours of lectures a week. So the class forums can actually take up more of your time than the course lectures, if you let them. And there are TAs monitoring forum activity. The penalty for not participating? Your certificate level is downgraded, which goes on your \u201cpermanent record\u201d.<\/p>\n

In my next post I\u2019ll discuss what it\u2019s like to actually engage with fellow MOOC students, grade peers\u2019 assignments\u2014a big part of the MOOC model\u2014and whether or not I\u2019d take a MOOC again. Stay tuned!<\/p>\n

\"Hult<\/a><\/p>\n

Photo courtesy of\u00a0Lynn Friedman<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Guy Larkin is a recent MBA graduate of Hult International Business School looking for opportunities to apply design thinking and service thinking to business problems. He is also the father of two curious and ravenous children.<\/em><\/p>\n

Hult offers a range of highly skills-focused and employability-driven business school programs<\/a> including a range of MBA options and a comprehensive one year Masters in International Business<\/a>. To find out more, take a look at our blog Webinar: Hult\u2019s Masters in International Business<\/a>. Download a brochure or get in touch today to find out how Hult can help you to learn about the business world, the future, and yourself.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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