Now, imagine you\u2019re taking a class with 35,000 other people. That\u2019s right\u2014thousands of people from around the world\u2014all taking a MOOC. Everyone has a different background, different education level, different level of interest in the material, and different level of ability to process information and communicate their thoughts in English. And everyone is required to participate in a class forum outside of the class lectures.<\/p>\n
This means that the mass of information you have to process on a weekly basis is HUGE. My experience as a busy MBA student taught me to develop strategies for dealing with a lot of data\u2014I expected this would happen. But when it comes to taking a MOOC, no one really talks about the fact that all MOOCs have one thing in common, irrespective of subject matter: they can be a rabbit hole that will suck up all your free time if you let it.<\/p>\n
On the flip side, MOOCs also offer one really big opportunity: the chance to interact with students from around the world, with whom you would never have contact otherwise. Of course, this is virtual interaction. That is, it\u2019s written; it\u2019s generally not immediate (posting to message boards) and therefore, it\u2019s heavily mediated. And a lot can get lost in the process of communicating this way, as you probably already know just from using email or Facebook. But you still have a chance to learn from fellow students\u2014especially those particularly passionate about the subject.<\/p>\n
Creating lasting relationships in this kind of virtual, atemporal environment can be challenging, however. Many MOOCers express a lot of enthusiasm for the forums and the informational\/cultural\/educational exchanges that take place. But I remain a little ambivalent. It may be a reality of the world we live in, but it can be fatiguing to consume temporally disjointed read\/write exchanges. Perhaps I haven\u2019t committed enough of my time to extract a lot of the value that can be found in the forums. And herein lies a big challenge for MOOC producers: the forums are their attempt to create student engagement, but they fail to realize that time is a precious resource. The \u201cpayoff\u201d of forum involvement needs to be more immediate for those of us who are balancing a lot of demands on our time.<\/p>\n
Then there\u2019s the homework. Homework, you ask? Oh yes, it exists. It varies by topic and type of course, but there are usually assignments to be completed. Everyone is still experimenting right now, but some courses have different certificates for different levels of engagement. One recent course, I ummm\u2026audited<\/em>, had three levels, depending on how much homework students completed. One of the differentiators between the top and middle level depended on the length of the essay homework for each assignment.<\/p>\n But wait, there\u2019s more! If you\u2019re doing the assignments, then you also have to\u2026grade assignments! What, you thought you could get a free education and get your paper graded by someone with expertise on the subject matter? You can\u2019t. If you think about the numbers, it makes perfect sense: 35,000 students submitting 3-12 page papers. That\u2019s a minimum of 105,000 pages to read and evaluate. For simplicity\u2019s sake, let\u2019s say that can be done at a rate of one page per minute (it can\u2019t; this is just a demonstration). That\u2019s 105,000 minutes. Minimum. Which is 1,750 hours. Or 72.92 days. 73 days of grading? We can\u2019t do that! Hmmmm\u2026what if we crowdsource it? Perfect! Peer grading!<\/p>\n For those of you unfamiliar with the horror that is peer grading, here\u2019s how it works: as a participant, you have to read and evaluate some of the work submitted by your classmates. In return, your classmates will be reading and evaluating your work. Having your peers assess your work can be incredibly valuable. And not. A sampling of some of the feedback I have received includes:\u00a0 \u201cGood.\u201d \u201cDidn\u2019t see the (required element).\u201d \u201cGreat work on the (required element).\u201d These three comments were all on the same assignment. So you can see that there\u2019s some variability in the process.<\/p>\n As I learned in one particular course, the real value of peer grading is doing the grading. I learned a lot more from assessing my fellow students\u2019 work, and reading other assessments of the same submission, than I got from any comments on my own work. There\u2019s an enormous amount to be learned from stepping out of the role of student and into the role of teacher. After that experience, I take peer grading very seriously.<\/p>\n Giving feedback can be just as valuable as receiving it\u2014especially when you do it well. This is one transferable skill I\u2019ll be taking with me to my next job, now that I\u2019ve graduated. Because receiving completely useless feedback demonstrates just how important it is to take the feedback process seriously. Relating this to the real world, if your coworker is seeking feedback (or needs it but doesn\u2019t seek it), how you provide the feedback may be even more important than the feedback itself. I\u2019ll certainly be putting real thought into my feedback in the future. And, going back to MOOCs, if I sign up for a course that involves peer grading and I don\u2019t have time to do it, I will drop the course.<\/p>\n That\u2019s right, I drop courses. I drop courses like they\u2019re on fire. Heck, I dropped two courses last week. I\u2019m gonna drop a couple more tomorrow. Joking! I\u2019m joking! But the fact is, I\u2019m getting choosey, and the MOOC model allows it. See something you\u2019re interested in? Stick your toe in! I dropped one course because I really didn\u2019t have the time to spare. And I can think of two courses that I dropped because I wasn\u2019t excited by the material; I didn\u2019t see the point of slogging through content that I wasn\u2019t excited to learn.<\/p>\n And that\u2019s another benefit to MOOCs. There\u2019s no penalty for dropping. If you\u2019re paying at your local college, dropping a course after it starts has a financial penalty. For good reason: a physical school has fixed costs associated with their courses that don\u2019t go away if students drop the courses. Once a course actually starts, a physical school is on the hook for those costs. To be sure, there are costs associated with producing a MOOC. But for the most part, those aren\u2019t passed on to the student.<\/p>\n Now it\u2019s time for my final recommendation. I\u2019m actually a big fan of MOOCs. I think they provide a great way to get a solid understanding on a topic in which you have interest. For some topics, I think the learning is just as valuable as taking a class at your local college or university. For other topics, however, I don\u2019t think they\u2019re a substitute for in-person learning. And that may be why my experience shows that technical or quantitative subjects lend themselves more easily to MOOC-style learning. A theoretical, soft-skills business course like Leadership or Organizational Analysis benefits from the back and forth of class discussion. I\u2019ve found that softer skill courses usually involve theories that are often written about (or lectured about) in abstract, overly-academic language. They\u2019re open to interpretation. If you\u2019re taking a class in Statistics, you\u2019re going to be doing problems that have an answer. You can\u2019t argue about a confidence interval.<\/p>\n I\u2019m still signing up for MOOCs, which may say more about me than it does about the courses themselves. I\u2019m curious and I love to learn. So sometimes I see a course and think, \u201cOooh, interesting!\u201d And if I can fill the gaps in my education by dedicating a few hours a week in front of my computer, why wouldn\u2019t I? Employers want more creativity and different perspectives. By expanding my knowledge base, I think it will serve me well personally and professionally. Computer Science 101? Wow, that never fit into my schedule in undergrad! Why yes, Udacity, I\u2019d love to! And thank you. Thank you for the opportunity.<\/p>\n Photo courtesy of\u00a0Danisabella<\/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 My Masters in International Business: Looking back on a life-changing year<\/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":" Now, imagine you\u2019re taking a class with 35,000 other people. That\u2019s right\u2014thousands of people from around the world\u2014all taking a MOOC. Everyone has a different background, different education level, different…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[24],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n