MOOC Review: The Ancienct Greek Hero

         While sifting through the rapidly expanding list of MOOC offerings that are available, I elected to participate this semester as part of my AHE 602 course in a MOOC entitled “The Ancient Greek Hero”.  This course was offered through EdX and taught by Gregory Nagi, a professor at Harvard University.  The course offered students an opportunity to explore ancient Greek culture and history.  I selected this course for two reasons: first, I have a natural interest in history and have a background as a history teacher; secondly, I can now say that I have taken Harvard coursework! Although I cannot say that I have actually finished Harvard coursework, I must point out that I share this in common with Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg.  So, I do fully expect tremendous success in my near future.  This particular course had a start date in mid-September, and the only completion date for the course is for those students who want a certificate of completion.  In order to earn this certificate a student must complete all of the self-assessments with an average of 50% or higher by the end of 2013. 

            In regards to the pedagogical structure of this particular course, it could be characterized as an xMOOC due to the highly teacher centered approach to learning (Caulfield, 2013) that it employed.  The course was self-paced, and students could join or drop the class at any point, a fact that I found this to be disconcerting.  I prefer courses that are more linear in structure, and I did not like that after I had participated in some of the earlier discussion opportunities, new students would join the class and start at the beginning.  I felt pulled to continue discussions from the beginning of the course when I really wanted to focus on later content.  The course material was divided into 24 units which were labeled as hours.  Each unit contained a series of video lectures and presentations and assigned readings that were followed by self-administered quizzes and discussion boards.  The vast majority of learning exercises were centralized around the instructor as the disseminator of knowledge, a concept that Sharma (2013) states is problematic.  The only connectivist learning experiences provided in this MOOC were the optional discussion boards associated with each unit.   

            In my opinion, this course failed to offer the quality learning experience that I was hoping for.  The lack of online pedagogical consideration given to this course was obvious.  I attribute the lack of overall effectiveness of this course not to the lack of the professor’s expertise, because Dr. Nagi is brilliant, but to the limitations of the xMOOC structure.  Caulfield (2013) stated that xMOOCs are often cited as lacking in the ability to foster a robust learning community, and through my experience with this course, I would whole-heartily agree.  I will admit that I entered this course with really high expectations in regards to the learning experience that I would encounter, and sadly, as I write this review, I must admit that I am disappointed with the course as a whole.  Although I could envision this type of learning experience serving as a great resource for those individuals lacking the opportunity to learn in the traditional college model (Sharma, 2013), I fail to see how this method could be viewed as superior to any of the college level instruction I received during my academic career.  I certainly feel that greater learning experiences could be had through the traditional classroom model at many of the Universities and Colleges across the globe.  In addition, as Salerno (2013) points out, MOOCs have a fatal flaw in that they do not offer credentials for completed coursework, which I found to be true in my course. The certification of completion in my opinion is not enough to entice students to finish MOOC coursework.  Without these external sources of motivation (college degrees or certifications), I found it difficult to continuously put forth the effort needed to complete the self-paced work.  Finally, the feeling of isolation that I experienced as a student in this course robed me of any sense of community, which is an important part of successful learning environments.  As the student, I would question why anyone would really choose to participate in this course, if more traditional approaches were available. 

            Some experts have hailed MOOCs as the harbinger of revolution (Friedman, 2012), capable of bringing a “tsunami of change in higher education” Kolowich (2013), and who knows, maybe they will be.  But from this singular experience, I have a hard time envisioning that ever occurring in its current state.  It is quite possible that the particular MOOC in which I participated is a poor example of the power of MOOCs, or that cMOOCs provide better learning experiences, but there is very little from what I experienced in this course that would leave me to believe that the MOOC phenomenon will become a serious competitor in the higher education market.  

References

Caulfield, M. (2013, July 11). xmooc communities should learn from cmoocs. Retrieved from http://www.educause.edu/blogs/mcaulfield/xmooc-communities-should-learn-cmoocs

Kolowich, S. (2013, August 8). The mooc 'revolution' may not be as disruptive as some had imagined. Retrieved from http://chronicle.com/article/MOOCs-May-Not-Be-So-Disruptive/140965/

Salerno, C. (2012, August 9). Bitter reality of mooconomics. Retrieved from http://www.insidehighered.com/views/2012/08/09/real-economics-massive-online-courses-essay

Sharma, S. (2013, July 15). A mooc delusion: Why visions to educate the world are absurd. Retrieved from http://chronicle.com/blogs/worldwise/a-mooc-delusion-why-visions-to-educate-the-world-are-absurd/32599

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