Research Article
Cristina Diordieva, Curtis J. Bonk
CONT ED TECHNOLOGY, Volume 15, Issue 3, Article No: ep425
ABSTRACT
This qualitative phenomenological study investigates international instructors’ perspectives and experiences in designing a successful language-based massive open online course (L-MOOC). Detailed information was gathered during Summer 2018 about the instructor’s challenges and strategies through semi-structured interviews with seven participants in six different countries: Ireland, Italy, Norway, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The findings indicated that curating and facilitating a learning environment with a design team helps create an efficient L-MOOC delivery. Additionally, having multiple moderators per course and using forums helps with monitoring learners’ progress. Moreover, according to these seven L-MOOC instructors, having a course platform with rigid structures prevents using multiple activities and assessment tools for language learning. Interviewees argued that it is important to implement a learner-centered approach in L-MOOC, where learners can interact with each other and construct their knowledge. Future research studies may include exploring L-MOOC to address the best instructional practices and contribute to expanding research in language education in massive open online course environment.
Keywords: language-based massive open online courses, online language learning, learner-centered approach, instructors’ perspectives, qualitative approach
Research Article
Olga Pilli, Wilfried Admiraal
CONT ED TECHNOLOGY, Volume 7, Issue 3, pp. 223-240
ABSTRACT
Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) as a new approach to distance education, which originated from the open education resources (OER) movement, are becoming widespread throughout the world. Over time, early versions of cMOOCs have undergone changes in terms of use, name and structure. In their short life, MOOCs have been categorized into different taxonomies depending on, for example, their types, pedagogies, orientations, target participants, resources and content. This article proposes a new taxonomy to position MOOCs on two dimensions: massiveness and openness, which brings a fresh perspective for understanding varieties of MOOCs based on the two definitional elements. The dimensions of massiveness and openness are identified and discussed. Based on these, we conclude two dimensional matrix with four categories: (i) small scale and less open, (ii) small scale and more open, (iii) large scale and less open, (iv) large scale and more open. This classification provides a comprehensive description of different types of MOOCs which could be helpful to answer the necessities of MOOC providers, educators, students, and researchers.
Keywords: Massive open online courses, MOOCs, Open learning, Distance education, Online courses, Taxonomy of MOOCs