FutureLearn Academic Network meeting 27th Jan 2017, Barcelona

1. Integrating MOOCs into
university practice: education
and research
@lisaharris & @nic_fair
University of Southampton Web Science Institute
Innovation in Higher Ed Blog

2. Lisa Harris & Nic Fair
• Dr Lisa Harris :
• Nic Fair: PhD student Web Science & Education and Digital Educator.
Connect with me at www.nicfair.co.uk / @nic_fair / nsrf1g12@soton.ac.uk
• Find out more about us at www.efolio.soton.ac.uk/blog/innovationinhe/

3. ECAR Study of Undergraduate Students and IT,
2014
• Technology is embedded into students’ lives, and students are
generally inclined to use and to have favourable attitudes toward
technology.
• More students than ever have experienced a digital learning
environment. The majority say they learn best with a blend of online
and face-to-face work.
• MOOCs can provide that blended learning effectively.

4. The Web Science Series of mini-MOOCs
• Web Science: how the web is changing the world
• Digital Marketing
• Power of Social Media
• Linked Data and the Semantic Web
• Learning in the Networked Age
• Southampton’s Futurelearn MOOC page

5. Digital Marketing MOOC #FLdigital
• Our on campus MSc students (70) posted in the platform and write blogposts
reflecting on the learning experience of 1) participating and 2) blogging
• Digichamps & PhD students joined educators in weekly video reflections
• Showcases ground breaking research by our
PhD students and educators
• Students as co-creators, facilitators and active
learners
• Curriculum innovation through research-led
teaching

6. Experiential learning for all

7. Encouraging student reflection
Digichamps and MOOC Facilitators
Hannah Watts & Amanda Herron
recording the weekly feedback for our
YouTube Channel with educators Lisa
Harris and Mike Molesworth
• Only 12% of the campus-based
group had any prior
knowledge/experience of MOOCs
• 62% liked the MOOC from the
start
• 15% initially disliked the idea, but
came to like the MOOC by the end
• 15% were neutral before/after
studying the MOOC
• 8% disliked the MOOC throughout

8. Student reasons FOR and AGAINST the MOOC
• flexibility of study timing
• ability to repeat sections to aid
understanding
• accessibility on mobile device
• Up to date content
• Access to different cultures and
examples
• learned there was “no one right
answer”.
• Opportunities to network
• Difficult to motivate to complete
tasks due to lack of attendance
deadlines/class time.
• Disliked FL platform structure -
hard to keep conversations
going.
• Why take a free online course
when they had paid for F2F

9. The Power of Social Media MOOC
#FLsocialmedia
• Integrated with an existing on-campus ‘Curriculum
Innovation’ module in May 2016 (and upcoming in
May 2017) to encourage interaction and aid exam
revision
• Students posted their group videos on YouTube and
shared with MOOC learners for feedback/discussion
• Students wrote a short reflection on the additional
learning achieved from their MOOC interactions

10. Results...rather mixed 

11. My reflections and changes for next time…
• Some useful interactions but many students struggled 
• Assume no prior knowledge of MOOCs – provide very specific
instructions
• Assume no prior knowledge of how to engage with other learners –
provide specific examples
• “I blame the system!” – students are too used to essay formats and
traditional tasks. MOOC puts them outside that comfort zone.
• This year student preparation and their digital literacy skills will be
improved via the new Learning in the Networked Age MOOC in the
previous two weeks

12. MOOCs as Research Methodology
“What if your next research dissemination exercise could
also help you gather unique data for your next research
project, while at the same time providing your students with
unique learning opportunities?” (Moon, D, 2016)
“MOOCs have the potential to benefit learners, educators,
and researchers through the crowdsourcing of data.”
(Ferguson et al, 2016)

13. Previous examples

14. Benefits & Considerations
• Access to global sample on a large scale
• Adds strategic and institutional value to MOOC resources
• Can contribute to Research Excellence Framework reporting (in the UK context)
• Must have an educational benefit and pedagogical purpose (help meet learning
outcomes)
• Must be suitable to the topic/subject/field of study
• Self-selection sample bias and lack of control groups
• Ethics – data protection, consent
• Access to research findings
(based on: Hodge, R, 2016)

15. Learning in the Network Age
“Universities should prioritize [MOOC] courses that will
be designed from the outset to address fundamental
questions about teaching and learning.” (Reich, 2015)

16. Learning in the Network Age – data collection
Example of the survey questions
used in the MOOC

17. Learning in the Network Age – learner
feedback
https://yourPLN.co.uk
Example PLN network map

18. Conclusion
• MOOCs are be a teaching resource for blended
learning modules
• MOOCs are be a way to crowdsource large
research samples
• MOOCs need to be intelligently designed from
the outset with these pedagogic and research
goals in mind

19. References
• ECAR, 2014. ECAR Study of Undergraduate Students and Information
Technology.
• Ferguson, R, Scanlon, E & Harris, L, 2016. Developing a Strategic Approach
to MOOCs
• Hodge, R, 2016. Adapting a MOOC for Research: Lessons Learned from the
First Presentation of Literature and Mental Health: Reading for Wellbeing
• Moon, D, 2016. Crowdsourcing for social sciences researchers: data
gathering, teaching, learning and research dissemination from a single
project
• Reich, J, 2015. Rebooting MOOC Research