Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Victoria Acevedo
Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) are usually free courses that are open to
thousands of students and can be accessed by anyone with an internet connection (Adham &
Lundqvist, 2015). As MOOCs became popular in 2012, they garnered a reputation of having the
ability to supersede borders, race, gender, class, and income (Emmanuel, 2013). Ideally, with
MOOCs, anyone in the world can obtain a first-class education for free. As New York Times
reporter, Thomas Friedman, stated in reference to MOOCs, nothing has more potential to lift
more people out of poverty by providing them an affordable education to get a job or improve
In order to outreach the rapidly growing and diverse U.S. and international students, it
would behoove Northern Arizona University (NAU) to utilize MOOCs in the universitys online
degree programs. NAU must take several steps to incorporate the use of MOOCs in NAUs
online degree programs. NAU must 1) provide and implement innovative ideas to reach more
people with MOOCs, 2) partner with organizations such as Coursera, and 3) coordinate with
local as well as international colleges and universities for marketing and advertising.
By taking into consideration the shortcomings of current MOOC platforms, NAU can
outreach a more diverse population with a slightly different approach to MOOCs. Over the years,
a few inefficiencies have been revealed with the typical MOOC model. MOOCs are not yet
Steinmetz, Alcorn, Bennett, Woods, & Emmanuel, 2013). MOOC users often are males who
come from developed countries and already possess a bachelors degree (Stratton & Grace,
2016). Therefore, a question NAU must consider is, how do we allow MOOCs to serve their
countries, with 3.6 billion people still offline (Castillo, Lee, Zahra, & Wagner, 2015). MOOCs
have been successfully implemented in countries such as the Democratic Republic of Congo and
Iraq, which lack widespread internet connection (Maitland & Obeysekare, 2015). Coursera has
created learning hubs in developing countries, partnering with local schools, libraries, and
universities while MOOC camps have been hosted by the U.S. State Department and U.S.
embassies to supply access to MOOC courses (Godwin-Jones, 2014). Within these learning
hubs and MOOC camps students are able to download MOOC content, participate in
discussions, and become engaged in the curriculum with their local peers who are also enrolled
in the MOOC. Based on this model, NAU could offer MOOCs for people in developing
countries.
NAU will be involved in developing MOOCs that are downloadable and broken down
into modules which come with course materials i.e. discussion prompts and exercises. A student
with internet access (who would act as a facilitator) could download a few modules at a time
with extra materials to supplement the course. Only one user would have to download content,
which would require fewer people to have access to the internet. The student facilitator could
take the downloaded modules and materials and share it with local users in a face-to-face format.
Discussion, engagement, collaboration, and interaction could take place with this type of blended
approach. Once the group is done with the few modules they were able to download, then the
facilitator would go back to where (s)he could access the internet to download more modules and
materials to share with their fellow students until the course is complete. This model would
combine the massive characteristic of MOOCs with smaller, local, in-person discussions, which
could have a positive impact on students experiences (Maitland & Obeysekare, 2015) and the
UTILIZATION OF MASSIVE OPEN ONLINE COURSES 4
students ability to learn the course material (Urton, 2015). If students are engaged and
experience accountability through their small groups, perhaps it would increase MOOC
completion rates from the current menial 10% (Breslow, Pritchard, DeBoer, Stump, Ho, &
Seaton, 2013). Encouraging discussion among smaller groups of people in similar geographic
areas will also allow for cultural translation of MOOCs, giving students flexibility to adjust their
learning to their life and learning setting (Nkuyubwatsi, 2014). Students could utilize the
information they have gained from MOOCs to implement change in their local communities.
small university such as NAU (Ebben & Murphy, 2016). In order for NAUs investment in
MOOCs to be worthwhile, with students all over the world enrolled and engaged in the courses,
NAU must partner with an existing MOOC platform such as Coursera (Trucano, 2013).
Partnering with Coursera would ensure the successful distribution of NAUs MOOCs. Arizona
State University and the University of Arizona have already formed partnerships with Coursera
(Coursera Inc., 2017). As the only major university in Arizona that has not yet established an
affiliation with Coursera, it is incumbent on the administration at NAU to start the process. The
administration at Northern Arizona University, the registrars office, as well as the office for
international admissions must be involved in creating the partnerships with MOOC platforms
and coming to an agreement that would benefit students, professors, the university, and
Coursera.
Partnering with MOOC platforms such as Coursera will also provide the added benefit of
translation of courses to various languages. Users cannot participate in MOOC courses if they do
not understand the language in which they were produced. Since users tend to respond well to
courses in the original language with bilingual subtitles (in the original language and the users
UTILIZATION OF MASSIVE OPEN ONLINE COURSES 5
language), NAU will ensure that course subtitles are bilingual (Che, Luo, Wang, & Meinel,
2016). NAUs language departments will work with translators at Coursera to ensure courses are
curriculum will be the responsibility of both NAU and Coursera (Davidson, 2014).
NAU faculty would also play a key role in the development of MOOCs. Professors who
are interested in developing MOOCs for NAU would be required to have experience in online
course development. For instance, having knowledge or skills in universal instructional design
for online courses and implementing teaching methods that consider diverse learning styles,
abilities, previous experience, and background knowledge while creating multiple ways for
students to demonstrate their understanding of material is key for a MOOC (Rao, 2013). Also,
professors understanding of the need to proceed methodically through course content, avoiding
content overload, and create opportunities for active learning can ensure MOOCs are beneficial
for students (Norman, 2015). Professors could even enroll in a MOOC themselves to observe
first-hand the advantages as well as the challenges of MOOCs. Thirty-two percent of MOOC
participants in an MIT survey say they currently are or have been a teacher (MIT News, 2017).
Perhaps this is an effective way to find out how to create an effective MOOC.
The marketing and advertising for NAUs MOOC would necessitate coordinating with
local and international community colleges and universities. Only 20% of Americans are aware
of MOOCs (Young, 2016). The challenge NAU will face is to increase local and international
awareness of the MOOCs that will be provided. To do this, NAU will utilize pre-existing
connections with local and international institutions. Sending informational packets with
brochures and pamphlets describing NAUs MOOC model, the classes offered, and the value of
taking a MOOC will be disbursed locally and globally; both to the institutions where NAU has
UTILIZATION OF MASSIVE OPEN ONLINE COURSES 6
contacts as well as to institutions and organizations where NAU has not yet made affiliations.
One benefit NAU could gain from providing MOOCs could be increasing international student
enrollment. NAU could provide students, who are enrolled in their MOOCs, incentives for
enrolling at the university. The cost of higher education for international students is substantial
and they are often ineligible for financial aid (Tyson, 2014). Taking into consideration the
cultural diversity international students can bring to campuses, perhaps the university could
allow tuition breaks for international students who have taken MOOCs through NAU. In
essence, MOOCs could become another recruiting tool for international students at Northern
The NAU model of MOOCs would begin to address the problem of un-educated people
in developing countries not having access to current MOOC models. Not requiring internet
access from each student, but only from one student facilitator, will allow more people to
participate in the course. Assistance from university administration and faculty is necessary for
both the development of MOOCs and to form a partnership with Coursera. In order for NAUs
MOOCs to reach as many people as possible, coordination with local and international colleges
and universities will also be key. Producing MOOCs that are available to people in developing
countries, in the language they understand, while implementing the small group, face-to-face
format, will make NAUs MOOC model different from the conventional MOOC model and
References
Adham, R.S., & Lundqvist, K.O. (2015). MOOCs as a method of distance education in the Arab
world- A review paper. European Journal of Open, Distance and E-Learning, 18(1), 124-
https://www.degruyter.com/view/j/eurodl.2015.18.issue-1/eurodl-2015-0009/eurodl-
2015-0009.xml
Breslow, L., Pritchard, D., DeBoer, J., Stump, G., Ho, A., & Seaton, D. (2013). Studying
learning in the worldwide classroom: Research into edXs first MOOC. Research and
http://www.rpajournal.com/dev/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/SF2.pdf
Castillo, N.M., Lee, J., Zahra, F.T., & Wagner, D.A. (2015). MOOCs for development: Trends,
http://itidjournal.org/index.php/itid/article/view/1396
Che, X., Luo, S., Wang, C., & Meinel, C. (2016). An attempt at MOOC localization for Chinese-
90-96. http://www.ijiet.org/vol6/665-K00017.pdf
Christensen, G., Steinmetz, A., Alcorn, B., Bennett, A., Woods, D., & Emmanuel, E.J. (2013).
The MOOC phenomenon: Who takes massive open online courses and why? SSRN
https://www.openeducationeuropa.eu/sites/default/files/asset/The%20MOOC%20Pheno
menon.pdf
UTILIZATION OF MASSIVE OPEN ONLINE COURSES 8
Coursera Inc. (2017). Meet our partners. Retrieved April 25, 2017, from
https://www.coursera.org/about/partners
Davidson, C. (2014). MOOCs and the promise of internationalization. The Chronicle of Higher
http://www.chronicle.com/blogs/future/2014/01/29/moocs-and-the-promise-of-
internationalization/
Ebben, M., & Murphy, J.S. (2016). Unpacking MOOC scholarly discourse: A review of nascent
https://usm.maine.edu/sites/default/files/ctel/Ebben%26MurphyUnpackingMoocScholarl
yDiscourse2014.pdf
Emanuel, E.J. (2013). Online education: MOOCs taken by educated few. Nature, 503(7476),
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v503/n7476/full/503342a.html
Friedman, T. (2013). Revolution hits the universities. New York Times. Retrieved March 29,
hits-the-universities.html
Godwin-Jones, R. (2014). Global reach and local practice: The promise of MOOCs. Language
Learning & Technology, 18(3), 5-15. Retrieved March 29, 2017, from
http://llt.msu.edu/issues/october2014/emerging.pdf
Kolowich, S. (2014). Will MOOCs undermine top business schools, or help them? The
http://www.chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/will-moocs-undermine-top-business-
schools-or-help-them/53021
UTILIZATION OF MASSIVE OPEN ONLINE COURSES 9
Maitland, C., & Obeysekare, E. (2015). The creation of capital through an ICT-based learning
MIT News. (2017). Study of MOOCs offers insights into online learner engagement and
http://news.mit.edu/2017/mooc-study-offers-insights-into-online-learner-engagement-
behavior-0112
http://hdl.handle.net/2381/28554
Norman, M. (2015). How MOOCs can develop good (and bad) teaching habits. Insider Higher
https://www.insidehighered.com/advice/2015/02/27/how-moocs-can-develop-good-and-
bad-teaching-habits-essay
Rao, K. (2013). Universal instructional design of online courses: Strategies to support non-
http://www.washington.edu/doit/sites/default/files/atoms/files/2b_Rao_4_16_14.pdf
Stratton, C., & Grace, R. (2016). Exploring linguistic diversity of MOOCs: Implications for
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/pra2.2016.14505301071/abstract
UTILIZATION OF MASSIVE OPEN ONLINE COURSES 10
Trucano, M. (2013). More about MOOCs and developing countries. Retrieved March 29, 2017,
from http://blogs.worldbank.org/edutech/moocs-developing-countries
Tyson, C. (2014). Can MOOCs lure international students to U.S. colleges and universities?
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2014/06/25/can-moocs-lure-international-
students-us-colleges-and-universities
Urton, J. (2015). Stanford researchers use diverse, global discussion groups to boost online
learning experience for participants. Stanford News. Retrieved March 30, 2017, from
http://news.stanford.edu/2015/05/06/moocs-discussion-groups-050615/
Young, J. (2016). Are MOOCs forever? The Chronicle of Higher Education. Retrieved March