CITERS2014 - Learning without Limits? http://citers2014.cite.hku.hk/program-overview/keynote-spector/ 13 June 2014 (Friday) 14:50 – 15:40 Keynote 3: A Critical Examination of MOOCs with Remarks about Mini-MOOCs Speaker: Professor J. Michael SPECTOR (Visiting Professor at HKU, Professor of Learning Technologies at the University of North Texas) Chair: Dr. Sam CHU (Deputy Director, CITE, Faculty of Education, HKU)

1. “ G A T H E R E D F R O M C O I N C I D E N C E ”
A Critical Examination of MOOCS
with Remarks on Mini-MOOCS
CITE 2014 Research Symposium
J. Michael Spector, PhD
Visiting Professor, Hong Kong University
Professor of LearningTechnologies
University of NorthTexas, Denton,TX USA
Spector@hku.hk / Mike.Spector@unt.edu
University of Hong Kong
June 2014

2. Context
The history of educational technology is long.
Technologies change; new technologies are
introduced and replace older technologies.The rate
of change has accelerated significantly. In 1914, no
one was thinking about personal computing or the
Internet, yet these now dominant the world of
education. In the past, technology fads have come
and gone with little significant and sustained
impact on learning. Will the current focus on such
things as MOOCs and Wearable Devices suffer the
same fate?
June 2014J. Michael Spector 2

3. Abstract
A hierarchical framework of components to support
learning and instruction includes information objects,
knowledge objects, learning objects, instructional
objects, courses, programs and ongoing efforts, with
each subsequent component building on the former
components. For example, a course is a structured
collected of instructional objects, which in turn are
structured collections of learning objects with learning
activities, feedback, and assessments (both formative
and summative). Based on that hierarchical perspective,
most of the current MOOCs (Massive Open Online
Courses) are not actually courses.This presentation
proposes taking what is good about the MOOC concept
and transforming it into something that could be
considered a course – namely, a Mini-MOOC.
June 2014J. Michael Spector 3

4. “The times they are a changing”
 It is the best of times
 Powerful and flexible mobile technologies
 Rich repositories of educational resources
 Support for just-in-need/time feedback
 Adaptive tools and techniques for personalization
 It is the worst of times
 Providing equitable access for all
 Selecting and sequencing learning activities
 Integrating technology effectively
 Adapting to adaptive learning and instruction
June 2014J. Michael Spector 4

5. Here we are … where are we going?
A thought experiment:
 Imagine it is 1914 …
 There are no smartphones, no computers, no Internet,
no television, no world wars …
 You are asked what knowledge and skills you will need
to be successful in the 20th century, and how you plan to
develop that knowledge and those skills
 What would you say?
 The pace of technology change is accelerating …
 Now it is 2014 …
 Why believe we know what knowledge and skills will be
needed to be successful in the 21st century or how
knowledge and skills can best be developed?
June 2014J. Michael Spector 5

6. Indication of change
June 2014J. Michael Spector 6
96.2
38.8
16.5
29.5
9.8
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012* 2013*
Per100inhabitants
Global ICT developments, 2001-2013
Mobile-cellular telephone subscriptions
Individuals using the Internet
Fixed-telephone subscriptions
Active mobile-broadband subscriptions
Fixed (wired)-broadband subscriptions
Note: * Estimate
Source: ITU World Telecommunication /ICT Indicators database

7. Definition
MOOC – Massive Open Online Course
 Massive – as many as the system will support,
often in the thousands
 Open – anyone can participate, usually at no cost
 Online – available via the Internet (asynchronously
for the most part)
 Course – some institutions call them courses, and
some offer certificates of completion to
participants; many are more like communities
June 2014J. Michael Spector 7

8. MOOCs and More MOOCs
 Early examples:
1. Connectivism and Connective Knowledge - George Siemens and Stephen
Downes, 2008, more than 2200 participants
2. ALISON (Advanced Learning Interactive Systems Online) in Galway, Ireland,
2007, focusing on developing countries
3. HASTAC’s InformationYear, 2007, more than 100,000 participants
4. SebastianThrun and Peter Norvig’s AI MOOC at Stanford, 2011
 See the following resources for more on MOOCs:
1. Bill and MelindaGates Foundation project at Athabasca University –
http://www.moocresearch.com – takes a realistic and balanced view
2. http://www.mooc-list.com/?gclid=CLW8_pbNr74CFdd7vQodIKUABg –
shows 60 MOOCs
3. Educause MOOC site - http://www.educause.edu/library/massive-open-
online-course-mooc
June 2014J. Michael Spector 8

9. Educational Goals and Technology
 Educational Goals
 Generally stable although there are disagreements
and differing emphases
 Develop (a) critical thinkers, (b) productive problem
solvers, (c) responsible citizens, and (d) lifelong
learners – emphasis varies
 EducationalTechnologies
 Change rapidly
 Can facilitate or inhibit learning
 Create a requirement to learn effective use
 Tend not to focus on all educational goals June 2014J. Michael Spector 9

10. Conceptualizing Education
 Education involves:
 A. Basic skills such as reading, writing, and arithmetic
 B. Competency in an area such as plumbing or physics
 C. Higher order critical thinking/reasoning skills
 D.The ability to solve complex, ill-structured problems
 E. Cognitive development
 F. Ethical and social responsibilities
 G. None of the above
 H. Some of the above
 I. All of the above (careful now)
June 2014J. Michael Spector 10

11. Education
That which contributes to the
development of responsible,
thoughtful, productive,
learning oriented (as opposed
to opinion oriented) members
of a group or society
June 2014J. Michael Spector 11

12. 12
J.
Micha
el
Spect
or
Instructional Planning Context:
Levels and Representative Concerns
Levels of Planning Representative Concerns
Global (national) Cultural and political climate
Institutional Alignment with mission
Program Evaluation; Accreditation
Curriculum Professional requirements
Course Requirements; Goals; Evaluation
Module Coherence; Sequencing; Context
Lesson Objectives; Assessments;
Content
Unit Content; Context; Control; Relevance
Activity Feedback; Meaningfulness; Timing
Spector, 2013 12
June 2014

13. Example Debates
 Lesson level
 Collaborative learning: promoting thoughtful
interchange vs. pooling ignorance; didactic vs. open-
ended approaches
 Open-ended inquiry learning: promoting self-regulation
and metacognitive skills vs. further disadvantaging
those already disadvantaged
 Curriculum level
 Developing basic knowledge and skills: producing
certified students vs. discouraging creative and
innovative students
 Focusing on job markets and placements vs. focusing on
problem-solving and flexible thinking skills
June 2014J. Michael Spector 13

14. A Need for Measureable Goals
 Is per-student funding a reasonable measure of
support for education?
 How important is support for educational
research?
 How important is support for professional
development?
 What are reasonable measures of progress at the
state and national level?
 Similar disparities and debates exist with regard
to health care in the USA and elsewhere.
 Does evidence matter? What evidence?
June 2014J. Michael Spector 14

15. The New Normal – New Directions
 Rhetorical Analysis – no significant change …
education is great
 Budget Analysis – spending less and less on
education at every level (at least in the USA)
 Cost Analysis – charging more and more for
education at every level (in the USA anyway)
 Tools to Support Learning and Instruction –
beyond the wildest imagination
 Ability to Make Effective Use of NewTools –
beneath the lowest expectation
June 2014J. Michael Spector 15

16. The 2014 NMC Horizon Report
http://www.nmc.org/
June 2014J. Michael Spector
KeyTrends
 Fast: Growing ubiquity of social media
 Fast: Integration of online, hybrid and collaborative
learning
 Mid-range: Rise of data-driven learning and
assessments
 Mid-range: Shift from students as consumers to
students as creators (xMOOCs vs. cMOOCs)
 Long-range: Agile approaches to change
 Long-range: evolution of online learning
16

17. NMC: Significant Challenges
 Solvable
 Low digital fluency of faculty
 Relative lack of rewards for teaching
 Difficult
 Competition from new models of education
 Scaling teaching innovations (MOOCs)
 Wicked
 Expanding access (MOOCs)
 Keeping education relevant
June 2014J. Michael Spector 17

18. Important Developments
 Near-term
 Flipped classroom (MOOCs)
 Learning analytics (MOOCs)
 Mid-term
 3D printing
 Games and gamification
 Far-term
 Quantified self
 Virtual assistants (MOOCs)
June 2014J. Michael Spector 18

19. 2013 NMC Report of Significant
Challenges (good to look back on occasion)
 Digital media literacy important in every discipline
 New forms of scholarship, authoring, publishing and
research outpacing scalable modes of assessment
 Educational processes and practices limiting adoption
of new technologies
 Personalized learning not adequately supported by
current technologies and practices
 Unprecedented competition for traditional education
 Most academics not using new technologies for
teaching, learning or research
June 2014J. Michael Spector 19

20. The NSF Roadmap for Education
Technology - http://www.cra.org/ccc/edtech.php
Seven Grand Challenges
 Personalizing education (MOOCs?)
 Assessing student learning (MOOCs?)
 Supporting social learning
 Diminishing boundaries (MOOCs!)
 Alternative teaching methods (MOOCs!)
 Enhancing the role of stakeholders
 Addressing policy changes
June 2014J. Michael Spector 20

21.  Unit of analysis = learner, learning groups,
support (e.g., teacher, assistants, etc.)
 Focus = desired outcome plus associated
outcomes (e.g., interest in the subject domain,
higher order thinking skills, etc.)
 Basic assumption = intermittent rationality
 Sometimes learners select things that violate the
principles or appearance of rationality – understanding
why is important if the overarching goal is to improve
and better support learning and instruction
June 2014 21
A More Holistic Approach
J. Michael Spector

22. June 2014J. Michael Spector 22

23. Tension & Troubled Waters
 MOOCs (massive open online courses)
 Opportunities to investigate learning (learning analytics)
 Making sense of MOOCs – Sir John Daniel
 Early cMOOCs based on connectivism and networking (e.g.,
the Univ of Manitoba course by George Siemens and
Stephen Downes on Connectivism and Connective
Knowledge)
 Recent xMOOCs based on a behaviorist approach (e.g.,
efforts at Stanford, MIT, Harvard and UC-Berkeley)
 High attrition rates; e.g., 155,000 registered for an MIT
MOOC, only 7,157 passed the course
 Little empirical research – anecdotal evidence; current use
may create additional support for the promises of MOOCs to
cure educational problems – advocacy vs. research
June 2014J. Michael Spector 23

24. MOOC – Massive Open Online Course
They lack instructional design, feedback and assessment
June 2014J. Michael Spector
MOOOC – Massively Overhyped Open Online Course
MOOC – Massive Open Online Community
24
Current MOOCs may be appropriate for:
 Introductory Courses – a knowledgeable, dynamic and inspiring
instructor can encourage interest
 Lessons with Well-defined Learning Goals – task analysis and
assessments are more likely to be obvious and easily integrated and
supported
 Lessons where a live instructor will provide the missing instructional
components
Truth in Advertising

25. Badges and Mini-MOOCs
 Badges (certificates) – recognition of achieving a level
of competency for a particular well-defined task
domain (e.g., knot tying, scuba diving, CPR, etc.)
 Competency based – performance on a series of
related tasks comprise the competency (also some
basic knowledge components)
 Activities are designed to develop skill in performing
specific tasks
 Formative feedback on the performance can often be
automated
 Instructional objects can then be constructed
June 2014J. Michael Spector 25

26. An Example – Khan Academy Badges
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27. A Khan Academy Lesson
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https://www.khanacademy.org/math/probability/statistics-inferential

28. Use of Khan Academy Lessons in Schools
June 2014J. Michael Spector 28
 Sometimes video lessons are assigned as homework –
implementing the flipped classroom
 Sometimes video lessons are viewed in class – gives
the teacher a chance to catch up on other duties
 Most of the time, follow-up exercises are worked in
class with the teacher going around the classroom and
providing help to those who are struggling or giving
more challenging problems to those making good
progress – a flipped classroom model, with the teacher
providing the components (activities, feedback and
assessment) to turn Khan lessons into instructional
objects – this instructional strategy works

29. Related Technologies
 Personalized Learning & Learning Analytics
 Individual one-on-one tutoring can create two sigma
improvements in learning (Bloom, 1984 –The 2 Sigma
Problem in Educational Researcher, 13(6), 4-16).
 Significant effects from timely and informative feedback,
time-on-task, cooperative participation in activities,
completing homework, prerequisite knowledge, and the
home environment.
 Personalized learning is supported by just-in-task feedback
(e.g., DEEP, HIMATT, AKOVIA) and by customizing learning
activities based on learning analytics (what worked for others
similarly situated).
 How to determine ‘similarly situated’ and how to make the
customization genuinely meaningful at a personal and
individual learning level?
June 2014J. Michael Spector 29

30. Related Synergies?
 Learning analytics developed for MOOCs have
potential for personalizing learning … BUT
 Games can improve interest and motivation … BUT
 MOOCs can increase access to courses and
knowledge BUT judge success by completion rates
 Still a need to provide timely, informative,
constructive, formative feedback – a challenge
 Still need to understand individual interests and
inhibiting factors – a huge challenge
June 2014J. Michael Spector 30

31. Related Learning Technologies
June 2014J. Michael Spector
MOOCs
Mini-MOOCs
Personalized
Learning
Gamification
Learning
Analytics 31

32. Promises, Promises, Promises
 TV will bring experts and interest to the
classroom teaching
 Personal computers will make learning easy and
ubiquitous
 ITSs will individualize learning and ensure
mastery
 The Internet will revolutionize teaching and
learning
 MOOCs will revolutionize university education
 But, the gains due to technology since 1950 are
not so great
June 2014J. Michael Spector 32

33. What is a teacher?
 The voice that encourages, the ear that listens,
the eye that reflects, the hand that guides, the
face that does not turn away (Rabbi Joseph
Spector)
 A teacher is someone who helps students have
questions – having a question requires humility
(admitting that one does not know something),
will (committing time and effort to finding
answers/explanations), and openness
(willingness to consider alternative explanations)
June 2014J. Michael Spector 33

34. To have a question is to be in a state
of uncertainty or not knowing AND
to be engaged in a search for
knowledge.
We may know less than we are
inclined to believe.
Mike.Spector@unt.edu / Spector@hku.hk
June 2014
Questions – Perhaps Answers
J. Michael Spector
34

35. An Ending
Questions of Conscience
What will come from what I am now doing and likely
to do in the next few years? What am I doing to
improve learning, instruction and performance?
Mike.Spector@unt.edu
Spector@hku.hk
June 2014J. Michael Spector 35