Transforming Traditional Classrooms
Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) are revolutionizing higher education. These courses are usually free, noncredit, and open to anyone with an Internet connection. This new learning style makes it possible for universities to provide higher education to multitudes of students who otherwise wouldn’t have access to it, including those in remote places and those who are working.
People take MOOCs for many reasons – to prepare for college, professional development, or to indulge a hobby.
MOOCs are typically offered asynchronously, giving students the flexibility to view recorded lectures, complete assignments, and take quizzes at their own pace. Interactions between students, professors, and classmates often take place in blogs, tweets, and other public, online venues. Classes have start and end dates, no admissions requirements, and may attract hundreds or thousands of students.
MOOCs officially entered the learning sphere in 2008, and gained prominence in 2012 when Stanford University offered the first of what became a series of their own. Since then, Princeton, Harvard, MIT, Yale, and many other top universities have followed suit.
Although Massive Open Online Courses have become very popular, with millions of students taking classes, only a handful of academic institutions have offered these courses for credit. In January 2014, Georgia Tech launched an online master’s degree in computer science – the first degree program offered by a university that operates entirely through a Massive Open Online Course format.
MOOC critics are concerned about the high dropout rate of these courses and point out that the huge enrollments limit faculty-to-student and peer-to-peer interactions.
Embry-Riddle Worldwide is addressing these concerns with an innovative approach to MOOCs. This month, the institution will offer its third Massive Open Online Course, Aircraft Accident Investigation, aimed at high school and college students, aviation professionals, and anyone with an interest in aviation. Embry-Riddle’s first two MOOCs attracted thousands of students from 37 countries around the world. The university plans to offer more MOOCs in the coming months.
“In some ways, we’re taking on the personality of an LOOC, or Little Open Online Course versus a Massive Open Online Course,” said Becky Vasquez, chief information officer at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. “While some MOOCs enroll tens of thousands of students, we’re keeping a limit on maximum registrations on our offerings. This allows us to provide a dynamic learning environment with opportunities for students to interact with faculty and classmates.”