1. Dr Jo-Anne Murray
Director of Postgraduate (Taught) and E-learning
Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies
University of Edinburgh
Massive Open Online Courses
(MOOCs)

2. Massive:
Thousands of participants
MOOCs

3. Open:
Anyone can join
MOOCs

4. Online:
Coursera VLE
MOOCs

5. Courses:
Variable duration
Usually 5 to 10 weeks
MOOCs

6. MOOCs
Based on:
Building Connections;
Collaborations;
Sharing Resources
Little/no
tutor input

7. MOOCs
Designed for flexibility
- Time
- Location
- Completion
- Entry requirements
- Assessment
- Subject choice

8. Edinburgh MOOCs
Over 309,000
registrations
Most courses ran
5 weeks
Over 123,000
accessed
course sites

9. Equine Nutrition MOOC
Over 24,000
registrations

10. Equine Nutrition MOOC

11. Equine Nutrition MOOC

12. Equine Nutrition MOOC
3 teaching
assistants

13. Equine Nutrition MOOC

14. Equine Nutrition MOOC
Over 98,000 quiz
submissions
Assessment
- Weekly quizzes (10 questions)
- Final quiz (50 questions)

15. Equine Nutrition MOOC
Course activity
- 19,000 active students (76 %)
- 5,600 active until the end (30 % completion rate)
Surveyed participants on:
- Demographics
- Overall MOOC experience
- Engagement with the course
- Suitability of the learning materials
- Interactions on the course

16. Equine Nutrition MOOC
Demographics
- Over 4,000 responses
- 92 % had not taken a MOOC before
Majority aged between
25 and 54
40 % UK
25 % USA
8 % Canada
5 % Australia
12 % other
49 % had a degree
level qualification

17. Equine Nutrition MOOC
92 % rated course as
excellent or very good

18. Equine Nutrition MOOC
Engagement with the course

19. Equine Nutrition MOOC
Suitability of the learning materials

20. Equine Nutrition MOOC
Interactions on the course

21. Equine Nutrition MOOC
Interactivity
Tutor experiences:
Expectation of tutor support
Time consuming
Difficult to step back
Different type of students
Fun
honestly!

22. Equine Nutrition MOOC
Benefits
- Well received
- Raised profile of PG courses
- Widened participation
- Knowledge dissemination
- Research
Lessons learned
- Set expectations at start
- Keep materials concise
- Short video lectures
- Step back from discussions boards
- State etiquette on boards at start

23. Conclusion:
• Participants rated course ↑
• Videos/quizzes accessed weekly/most weeks
• Discussions forums used less frequently
• Interactions rated ↓ than learning materials
MOOCs

24. Thank you
for listening
Edinburgh MOOCs