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What (Use) is a MOOC?

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The 2nd International Workshop on Learning Technology for Education in Cloud

Part of the book series: Springer Proceedings in Complexity ((SPCOM))

Abstract

The phenomenon of the Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) has spread with amazing speed. Many universities in the USA and Europe are now joining up with MOOC providers to allow free access to courses. Participant numbers for an individual course may reach hundreds of thousands. Expectations are high for what these courses can achieve in terms of opening access, widening participation and cost saving. In this paper we conduct a literature review to examine what is known about MOOCs (both those following the original connectivist model and the more traditionally didactic variety) and what indications there are that they can live up to such expectations. We discuss concerns arising from the review and identify issues including lack of evidence, absence of pedagogy, lack of support and unrealistic expectations particularly on beginner learners.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Computer Science, University of Warwick, Coventry, CV4 7AL, UK

    Russell Boyatt, Mike Joy, Claire Rocks & Jane Sinclair

Authors
  1. Russell Boyatt
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  2. Mike Joy
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  3. Claire Rocks
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  4. Jane Sinclair
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Russell Boyatt or Jane Sinclair .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Computing, Staffordshire University, Stafford, United Kingdom

    Lorna Uden

  2. Department of Information Management, National University of Kaohsiung, Kaohsiung, Taiwan

    Yu-Hui Tao

  3. National University of Kaohsiung, Kaohsiung, Taiwan

    Hsin-Chang Yang

  4. National University of Kaohsiung Dept. Information Management, Kaohsiung, Nan-Tzu District, Taiwan

    I-Hsien Ting

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© 2014 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht

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Boyatt, R., Joy, M., Rocks, C., Sinclair, J. (2014). What (Use) is a MOOC?. In: Uden, L., Tao, YH., Yang, HC., Ting, IH. (eds) The 2nd International Workshop on Learning Technology for Education in Cloud. Springer Proceedings in Complexity. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-7308-0_15

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