MOOCs and the MSc

Good morning, everyone! We wanted to give a quick summary of the happenings around the University of Edinburgh’s recent joining of the Coursera consortium, which will see a number of academics and programmes in the University developing MOOCs (Massively Open Online Courses).

The MSc in E-learning is producing one of these MOOCs, on the theme of E-learning and Digital Cultures, and this is going to run for the first time in January, in parallel with our MSc course of the same name. The development of the MOOC is being led by Jeremy, whose PhD research is exploring open online education, and several others of the programme team are also actively involved (Sian, Jen, Hamish and Christine).

There are many interesting challenges associated with developing a course at MOOC scale, and we’ve reflected on some of these in a recent newsletter article for the UK’s Association for Learning Technology. One of our goals in getting involved in MOOC development is to explore what is possible in relation to both contact and “digital difference” – two themes that are important to the programme team in both our research and teaching. To that end, you may be interested to know that we are planning for MSc students enrolled on the 20-credit EDC course in January to play a significant role in relation to the MOOC – we’re still refining our plans, but suffice to say that if you’re considering taking EDC, this January will be a particularly exciting time to do so!