Stephen Downes

Title

What Can We Do To Engage Students in a MOOC?

Abstract

In traditional online learning a course syllabus and grading system are used to define and encourage student participation in a series of activities leading to progressively greater engagement with the subject material. In a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) neither mechanism is inherently available; the defining features of MOOCs include both a very fluid curriculum (if any at all) and an absence of structured activities. This leaves the course in danger of descending into a malaise, in which participants might read the materials, if they do anything at all. So how do we encourage engagement in a MOOC? Some courses – such as the Stanford AI course – have opted for a strict regimen of assignments. Others – such as Jim Groom’s Digital Storytelling course – depend on an assortment of multimedia assignments. In the MOOCS we have run, we’ve focused on a combination of discussions and live online sessions. Is that enough? What else could we do?

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Bio

Stephen Downes is a senior researcher for Canada’s National Research Council and a leading proponent of the use of online media and services in education. As the author of the widely-read OLDaily online newsletter, Downes has earned international recognition for his leading-edge work in the field of online learning. He developed some of Canada’s first online courses at Assiniboine Community College in Brandon, Manitoba. He also built a learning management system from scratch and authored the now-classic “The Future of Online Learning”.

At the University of Alberta he built a learning and research portal for the municipal sector in that province, Munimall, and another for the Engineering and Geology sector, PEGGAsus. He also pioneered the development of learning objects and was one of the first adopters and developers of RSS content syndication in education. Downes introduced the concept of e-learning 2.0 and with George Siemens developed and defined the concept of Connectivism, using the social network approach to deliver open online courses to three thousand participants over two years.

Downes has been offering courses in learning, logic, philosophy both online and off since 1987, has 135 articles published in books, magazines and academic journals, and has presented his unique perspective on learning and technology more than 250 times to audiences in 17 countries on five continents. He is a habitual photographer, plays darts for money, and can be found at home with his wife Andrea and four cats in Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada.

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