1. BASIC SKILLS WRITING MOOC
“CRAFTING AN EFFECTIVE
WRITER”
Roger
Schultz
Pat James
Mt. San Jacinto College http://msjc.edu
Crafting an Effective Writer: http://coursera.org/course/basicwriting

3. The CEW Team

4. How did this happen to us?
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There’s always a story…..

5. Don’t try this at home!
Translation: Don’t try this alone!
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Great partners! Coursera and Gates
Development time: 8 QUICK months!
Cost: $65,000! $50k from Gates, $15k in-kind
Additional help: 7 peer writing tutors
Total: 14 people in the discussions! (session 1)
Session 2: 5 faculty/staff, 2 peer writing tutors,
10 Community TA’s

6. Some quick figures…
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45, 089 enrolled
29, 195 actively participated
11,147 students completed the surveys
10,214 attempted the first quiz
8,091 accessed final week of content
3,774 attempted the final quiz
2,749 earned a certificate of completion
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These numbers were from the first class offered May 2013,
numbers are almost identical for 2nd session offered October 2013

7. Why would you take this class?
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As a pre-Assessment activity
As a petition for English placement
As a brush-up for students while in writing
classes
As a brush-up for students who don’t/can’t
enroll in an English class
As a resource for flipped/blended classrooms
To become a better writer

8. Who was our intended
audience?
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College bound, underprepared students: The course
provides fundamental writing skills for college bound
students prior to taking placement tests, saving them
from spending unwarranted time and money for
remediation should they be placed below transfer
level. Successful completion of the course may be
accepted as an alternative to a placement test.
Current high school and college students in regular
classes: This course provides writing support for any
student taking any course at any time.
Global Community Members: This course will assist
people in improving their writing skills to satisfy their
need to be productive citizens in a global society.

9. What Motivated you to enroll in this
course? 50% to Increase success.
Get a jumpstart on college
while I’m still in high school.
Reason for Enrolling
Number=15, 457
2% 2%
Prepare to take the community
college assessment test (you
have not taken it yet).
3%
17%
4%
22%
Improve my score on the
community college assessment
test (you took it and want to
improve your score).
Get support for a college class I
am currently taking.
Increase success in my
academic field of study.
50%
Increase success in my
profession or career.
2nd session

10. 70% not enrolled in any other
school.
Entry Survey Participants by Ed Status
Not a student--goal:
to learn and personal
growth
Not a student-goal:
career enhancement
2%
6%
5%
Student in BA or
university institution
17%
50%
CC student
High school
20%
Below high school
2nd session

11. Who was our intended
audience?


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College bound, underprepared students: The course provides
fundamental writing skills for college bound students prior to
taking placement tests, saving them from spending
unwarranted time and money for remediation should they be
placed below transfer level. Successful completion of the
course may be accepted as an alternative to a placement
test.
Current high school and college students in regular classes:
This course provides writing support for any student taking
any course at any time.
Global Community Members: This
course will assist people in improving
their writing skills to satisfy their need to
Type it in
chat
be productive citizens in a globalthesociety.
window, preface it with
???, and raise your hand.

12. Some Quick Demographics
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166 Countries Represented
70% Students from outside U.S.
33% had never taken an online class, 51% had
taken 1-3 online classes
Female 65% Male 32% (some chose not to
answer)
Among Californians (927 respondents), the
participation rate of community college
students was much higher than among the
general population of survey respondents (25%
in California compared to 5% overall).

13. Age and Gender
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30% between 25 and 34 years old
20% between 18 and 24 years old
18% between 35 and 44 years old
11% were 50 or older
5% were 18 or younger
“Learning knows no
age”

14. Show the class!

15. Review some videos on your
own.
End of week 1 “pop” video:
http://youtu.be/9a6h-mgGbCI
Week 2 lecture Video:
http://youtu.be/cVtyZsEG7sw
Our farewell video:
http://youtu.be/PYZVZEtWUjo
Approved by Quality Matters (score:

16. Link to the Course
To enroll in the course, please visit
http://coursera.org/course/basicwriting