EBCs the disruptive innovation of MOOCs [1668] Home : Annual Conference 2017

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Thu, Sep 7 2017, 1:00pm – 2:40pm

Authors: Hannah Gore

Room: Gilmour Rm (G)

Theme: Learning Spaces

Type: 20-minute session

Description

With the innovation changes of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) there has been an emergence of learners wishing to gain access to readily available whole courses, especially for academic/professional needs (Alston and Brabon, 2014). Whilst learning in specific subject areas is most commonly sought, understanding core business skills in an evolving employment market is ever more crucial especially for those who have been away from study for some time.

Electronic Book Courses (EBCs) are the latest evolution demonstrating the shape-shifting nature of their MOOC counterparts (Gore 2014), covering business skills and subject knowledge including marketing in the 21^st Century, leadership in intercultural contexts, managing change and entrepreneurship.

EBCs are a disruptive innovation to MOOCs (Yuan and Powell, 2013) with disaggregated learning design from that of their step by step counterparts, whilst still providing reading material, activities, social discussion and tests. Learning from research conducted on MOOC engagement and drop off points between weeks (Pike and Gore, forthcoming) demonstrate that there is potential in unbundling learning design to restructure content addressing the patterns in disengagement drawing from doctorate research (Gore, forthcoming) on engagement with courses and elements of learning design within.

In addition the content used within EBCs has been directly taken from modules currently in presentation instead of archived materials, giving learners insight into content currently available for registration to study formally. EBCs are available on The Open University’s OpenLearn platform perpetually i.e. with no start and finish date, and provide recognition in the form of Statements of Participation that learners can display, export to application letters and CVs, and share on other third party social platforms.

The EBCs aim to help learners develop effective business skills and for employability. These skills include entrepreneurship, managing change and creativity, communicating in teams, coaching and mentoring, skills which can then be transferred into the workplace. The courses should enable learners to feel confident in their skills whilst becoming business people in the modern world.

This session will give delegates an insight into the research, learning design, production and presentation processes in developing the EBCs to launch.

References

Alston, P., & Brabon, B. (2014). “A hostage to fortune?” – Validating Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) for University Credit. In Second MOOC European Stakeholders Summit (eMOOCs 2014) (pp. 178-182). Lausanne: eLearning Papers. Retrieved from http://emoocs2014.eu/sites/default/files/Proceedings-Moocs-Summit-2014.pdf

Gore, H. Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) and Their Impact on Academic Library Services: Exploring the Issues and Challenges, New Review of Academic Librarianship, 2014, 20(1)

Gore, H. Engagement of Learners Undertaking Massive Open Online Courses and the Impact of Design (forthcoming October 2017)

Pike, G. and Gore, H. The Challenges of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) Creativity and critique in online learning: exploring and examining innovations in online teaching and learning (forthcoming January 2018) Palgrave Macmillan. Baxter, J, Callaghan, G. and McAvoy, J.

Yuan, L. and Powell, S., 2013. MOOCs and disruptive innovation: Implications for higher education. eLearning Papers, In-depth, 33(2), pp.1-7.

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