Conceptual and Practical Foundations of MOOC

MOOCs

 https://www.slideshare.net/vandanapunia2/moocs-251333307

  (click it)

This presentation is concerned with the development of MOOCs.

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A MESSAGE ON TEACHER DAY 

https://anchor.fm/vandana756/episodes/A-Message-on-Teacher-day-e16t81q 

Swami Vivekanand

Blended Learning: Thoughtful Blend of Face to Face and Online Experiences

 

CORONA-19 experimentation with learning experiences witnessed the blunder of Online Teaching. Blended Learning is now becoming a popular and buzzword for the educational world. Blended learning is the mashing of face-to-face classroom teaching methods together with technology for the same learners learning in the same class. Garrison & Vaughan, 2008 stated that it is a thoughtful fusion of face-to-face and online learning experiences. It is a term applied to giving classroom instructions and learning experiences through a combination of face-to-face and technology-enabled learning. This is also called hybrid learning. We should remember always that blended learning is a combination of pedagogy and technology in the classroom. There are some guidelines from which we can prepare our own Blended Learning Design. Beams (2017) had reported that just integration of technology without its appropriate role is meaningless. She had suggested some basic specific procedures.

1. Emphasis on the Pedagogy: In blended learning, we must not forget that we have not slaved to the technology, but technology is to act as a slave. For this purpose, we must know about Pedagogy and its principles concerning Pedagogical Knowledge. It includes Classroom Management, Instructional objectives and strategies, learner engagement, assessment, and evaluation strategies.   

2. Choose your technology carefully: After going through Pedagogical Knowledge, then choose appropriate digital tools and technologies to plan and implement your lesson.

 3. Think of the Curriculum. Now design your lesson with the following steps.

• Design your lesson plan with learning outcomes 
• Give Descriptions of technology devices that will map your desired titles and outcomes. 
• Choose your instructional strategy mapping with digital tools.  
• We must remember that there must be a variety of exercises in our lesson to engage the learner with inbuilt assignments and exercises. Here is the role of digital tools to design and develop all these assignments and exercises.  

(Prof. Vandana Punia, Dean Faculty of Education, Human Resource Development Centre. Guru Jambheshwar University Of S&T, Hisar. She is also the Course Coordinator of National Resource Center, Pedagogical Innovations and Research Methodology.  (MHRD, Govt. of India).

9th Series MOOC Structure

 It is now clear that there are essential inputs to design, develop and deliver MOOC course in form of Hardware with internet excess ( Laptop or Desk Top of High configuration with high internet access, Inbuilt Camera and Mike ( It may be external also), Software: LMS ( free or paid), Digital Tools and Technologies and E-contents as discussed in previous posts. Now we will discuss the Four Quadrants of MOOC s  Structure:

Four Quadrants of MOOC s  Structure: Indian MOOC follows four quadrants approach as such:

 Quadrant-I - (e-Tutorial): First Quadrant is an e-tutorial and consists of video content along with transcriptions.

Quadrant-II - (e-Content): In this Quadrant, There will be presentations, e-books, self-instructional materials, case studies, web resources, OERS, Research Papers, and popular articles, etc.  
Quadrant-III - (Assessment): This is the assessment section and it will contain Assessment of Learning and Assessment for learning. It may be in the form of  Multiple Choice Questions, Fill in the blanks, Matching Questions, Short Answer Questions, Long Answer Questions, Quizzes, Assignments and solutions, Discussion forum topics, and setting up the FAQs, Clarifications on general misconceptions.

Quadrant-IV - (Discussion Forum)
Discussion forum for raising doubts and clarifying them on a near real-time basis by the Course Coordinator or his team.

                                                                ( As per SWAYAM Guidelines directions)

 

                                                                                                            (Vandana punia)

 

 

 

8th Series

 Video E-Content

Video E content is a popular and powerful mechanism of any MOOC program under the title of Tutorials. It can be called recording, reproducing, or broadcasting of moving visual images. As an educational context, we may prepare small video lessons for our flipped classrooms in a very easy and convenient manner. There are some free tools from which we can create our own video lessons.

1. Screencast-O-Matic:  “It is a screencasting and video editing software tool that can be downloaded directly from a browser. The software has been widely used in the education sector to support video creation for flipped classrooms, bi-directional student assessments, lecture capture, and student video assignments”. (Wikipedia).

Let us learn how to develop video lessons from screencast-o-Matic.

1. Write Screencast-O-Matic on Google.

2.Click it and the page appears like this.

3. Click on Record Free

4. Click on Launch Free Recorder. It will download the WebLaunchRecorder.exe .like this.

5. After download, the page looks like this 

There are two options. We can share the screen as well as the web camera accordingly or simultaneously from this screencast-o-Matic.

This is an example of the video made by me.

 https://screencast-o-matic.com/watch/cYhejRBggo

(Prof. Vandana Punia, Dean Faculty of Education, Human Resource Development Centre. Guru Jambheshwar University Of S&T, Hisar. She is also the Course Coordinator of National Resource Center, Pedagogical Innovations and Research Methodology.  (MHRD, Govt. of India).

7th Series

  Audio Content

Any published or unpublished content that is in form of listening material is called Audio Content. This content can be utilized through electronic devices with the help of speakers. There are three types that are commonly used in e-learning as music, narration (voice-overs), and sound effects. Examples of Audio content are podcasts, Digital Radio, and Audio Books, etc.

a. The podcast as an Audio Content: A Podcast is a digital audio file in form of a series of narrations.  We may download it and listen easily. Examples of podcasts are Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Spotify, Anchor, etc.

Beautiful Piece of an Audio Content made by Arup Shah  (Participant teacher FIP -2, HRDC, GJU Hisar.)

https://anchor.fm/aruptalks/episodes/FIP-PODCAST-encqp0

How can we design and develop our own Podcast?

 First Step:    Write on Google: Anchor

2. Second Step: After clicking on Anchor, the page appears like this;

3. Sign up

 

4. After signing up, the dashboard appears:

5. Create and save your episode.

                                                                                                       (Vandana Punia)

6th Series

  2. Infogram as a Graphic E-Content: 

Infogram is a web-based digital tool and is also called a visual representation of information and data. It presents the data in a form of text images, charts, diagrams, and videos. It provides a quick insight and better understanding of complex issues in a concise, highly visual way. This is also called a data-rich visualization of a story. A good Infogram is like a data story. It is visual communication.

Infogram helps:

•      Quick Overview of a Topic
•         Clarify a Complex Process
•         Demonstration of Research findings 
•         Summarize a long report
•         Compare and Contrast
•         Raise Awareness about the Content

Let us learn How to prepare Infogram? There are so many digital tools to design a good Infogram paid and free of cost.

1. Sign up Infogram

2.  Step 2

 

3. 3. After Sign-up your Infogram the page appears like this:

4.  Examples from Google Images of Infogram 

                                                                                                                  (Vandana Punia)

5th Series Image/Graphics based E-Content

 

Image Based E content is meant for communicating the content. This type of content could be developed, designed, or generated manually in digitized or digital form. Infographics, concept maps, Google slides are examples of this specific content. Image/ Graphic based E-Content can be generated or created through PowerPoint presentation. A PowerPoint presentation is a complex mixture of text, graphics, explanations, animations, and real-time interaction with the audience. We can embed audio, video within the slides. It is user friendly. It has linear characteristics.

Let we learn how can these be developed?

1. Google Slides/ MS PowerPoint: By using Google slides software or MS PowerPoint, we can make wonderful presentations for designing and developing E-Content. We may insert images, text, audio-video, and other animations.

There are so many free cost digital tools from which beautiful presentations can be created. You may use CANVA also for it. 

                                                                                                            Vandana Punia 

4th Series Planning, Designing and Developing E Content

1. Text Based E-Content:

In planning and designing Text-Based E-Content, it is obvious that this specific content may be in form of e-books, e-lessons, etc. This is a great advantage of Text-Based E Content is that it is small and mobile. It can be delivered over lower bandwidth and consume less internet speed.  Text-Based E content is of two types: Static and Multimedia

Before designing the Text-Based E content, it is necessary to have a look at Instructional Designs. While planning the Text-Based E-Content, We must have the necessary considerations:

•     Identify Instructional Goal(s) 
•  Analyze Learners and Contexts
•  Write Instructional or Learner Outcome
•   Select Appropriate Content and  Material
• Design Assessment and Activities  

·   Very first, the easy approach of Designing and Developing Text-Based E-Content is that we can create text files, though Word Pad and MSWORD by saving text files in the diverse format like .txt .doc .htm .pdf, e-pub, for e-content creation.

An example is: ( This is a simple text, typed in MS Word. It is designed with different colors and images and then change in pdf form.)

Canva: It is used to create e-text, documents graphics, presentations, posters, and other visual content. The app already includes templates for users to use. The platform is free to use and offers paid subscriptions like Canva Pro and Canva for Enterprise for additional functionality. Wikipedia

 You can simply Sign up for CANVA and create different designs. It is user friendly.

 

(Prof. Vandana Punia, Dean Faculty of Education, Human Resource Development Centre. Guru Jambheshwar University Of S&T, Hisar. She is also the Course Coordinator of the National Resource Center, Pedagogical Innovations and Research Methodology.  (MHRD, Govt. of India).

 

                                                                                                                 Continued in next series

Series: 2 Let Us Learn How to Develop MOOC

 

The second step is to explore the skills required for designing and developing MOOCs. However, the following skills are required to design and develop the same:

ü Content Knowledge (Subject expert or Mastery on content)

ü Pedagogical Skill

ü Digital Skills (Digital tools and Technologies) 

ü Open Educational Resources, Licensing and Plagiarism Issues 

Content Knowledge: Content knowledge is related with knowledge or mastery about the subject matter. Shulman (1986) stated that content knowledge consists of knowledge of concepts, theories, ideas, organizational frameworks, knowledge of evidence and proof, as well as established practices and approaches toward developing such knowledge. 

Pedagogical Skill: Pedagogical Skill is meant for classroom processes and practices. It is a method of teaching and learning. It is a standard form of knowledge and associated with how students learn, learner engagement, lesson planning, and evaluation devices.

Digital Skills: This skill is concerned with the usage of digital tools to find, evaluate, create, and communicate information, requiring both cognitive and technical skills. “It includes the understanding of the usage of the wide range of digital technology for searching and retrieving information and utilizing it in solving their problems. Spires and Bartlett (2012) categorized digital literacy into three buckets:

ü  Finding and Consuming Digital Content

ü Creating Digital Content

ü Communicating or Sharing it.

Open Educational Resources and Licensing Concerns: Open Educational Resources (OER) are teaching, learning, and research materials in digitized or in digitalized or any form that resides in the public domain. These OER have been released under an open license that permits no-cost access, effectiveness, adaptation, and redistribution by others with no or limited restrictions under the creative commons license. (Wikipedia).

(Prof. Vandana Punia, Dean Faculty of Education, Human Resource Development Centre. Guru Jambheshwar University Of S&T, Hisar. She is also the Course Coordinator of National Resource Center, Pedagogical Innovations and Research Methodology.  (MHRD, Govt. of India).

 

Series: 1 Let Us Learn How to Develop MOOC

 

COVID-19 has given a big push to educational experiences to move forcibly into online learning in the Indian Context. Teachers are now mentally prepared. They are ready to utilize all modern digital tools and techniques to seize the potential possibilities of e-learning technologies during these adverse circumstances. MOOC is now a popular concept in the academic world. MOOC is a Massive Open Online Course. With some expert tips, you can design, develop, and deliver your own MOOC Course.   

Here a series of tips and techniques for designing, developing, and delivering MOOC Courses are released to help the teachers with the MOOC courses.

• While preparing and developing MOOC, you must have the characteristics of an innovative and creative teacher having some expertise in digital tools and technologies. If you have these, then go ahead. 
• Join any MOOC course (EdX, SWAYAM, Coursera, etc.) for firsthand experience.

Preparing MOOCs:

• Plan your Course: 

Ø  Course Name 

Ø  Syllabus

• Chapter or Module Wise Content 

Ø  Learning outcome 

Ø  Teaching Content

Ø  Exercises and Assignments (case studies, simulations, etc.

Ø  Formative and Summative Assessments (MCQs, short and long answer types, etc.)

Ø  List of further suggested reading

Ø  Any other 

• Hardware with internet excess 

·         Laptop or Desk Top of High configuration with high internet access

·         Inbuilt Camera and Mike ( It may be external also)

• Software: LMS ( free or paid), Digital Tools and Technologies 

 

Continued in 2^ND Series

 

(Prof. Vandana Punia, Dean Faculty of Education, Human Resource Development Centre. Guru Jambheshwar University Of S&T, Hisar. She is also the Course Coordinator of National Resource Center, Pedagogical Innovations, and Research Methodology.  (MHRD, Govt. of India).