MOOCs Get Personal: Designing Learning Pathways in Big Courses

Concurrent Session 8

Brief Abstract

What is personalized learning? How can learning in a MOOC be personal? In this interactive session, two MOOC designers and a learning theorist will share examples from science, engineering, music, and literature MOOCs and develop a theory of personalized learning based on these courses and participant esamples.

Presenters

Lead Presenter: Michael Goudzwaard, Dartmouth College

Mike Goudzwaard is a Learning Designer for in-person and online courses at Dartmouth College and a mentor and supervisor in the college’s Learning Assistant program. He works with faculty to empower student learning through community engagement, emerging instructional pedagogy, and educational technology. Mike is the Lead Designer and Developer for Dartmouth's digital learning initiatives. He leads the Learning Design group of technologists, faculty developers, and pedagogy experts who work to align space and technical resources for learning at Dartmouth. Mike writes at mgoudz.com/blog.

Co-presenter: Adam Nemeroff, Dartmouth College

Extended Abstract

What is personalized learning? Can learning in a MOOC possibly be personal? How will IT professionals define their role in digital learning projects?

Many higher ed institutions have joined the MOOC movement to reach new learners, build their brand, and innovate in teaching, learning, and technology. How do new major learning projects stretch and redefine IT organizations?

At a liberal arts institution which values relationships between students and faculty, instructional designers worked to incorporate student and faculty interaction into MOOC content. Educators, including faculty, media specialists, learning theorists, programmers, instructional designers, and other IT professionals worked together to incorporate videos, surveys, badges, and assessments in four MOOCs. Learning outcomes guided the development of modules, course content, assignments, discussions, tuning exercises on and beyond the edX platform.

In this interactive session, two MOOC designers and a learning theorist will share examples from a science, engineering, music, and literature MOOC. Attendees will be asked to develop a theory of personalized learning based on examples. While not every campus may intend to create a MOOC course or program, participants will learn from the successes and challenges encountered when launching a new, learning centered initiative.

Participants will engage with guiding questions via a worksheet and an online collaboration brainstorming tool throughout the session. Mini-sessions will be used to facilitate a discussion of how personalized learning translates to participants’ work and could inform future projects.

During this session participants will:

  • Develop and apply a working definition of personalized learning

  • Identify personalized learning in MOOC courses

  • Discuss how the content presented translates to other learning experiences