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TORQUEs: Riding the MOOC wave to benefit on-campus courses
Volk Benno, Reinhardt Andreas and Osterwalder Koni
TORQUEs: Riding the MOOC wave to
benefit on-campus courses
Volk Benno, Reinhardt Andreas and Osterwalder Koni
Abstract: The discussion concerning MOOCs at ETH Zurich has led the university to develop the TORQUE concept,
which focuses on transforming traditional lecture series into ‘flipped classroom’ sequences by deploying online courses
as self-learning preparation. TORQUE is an acronym for Tiny, Open-with-Restrictions courses focused on Quality and
Effectiveness. So far ETH has developed three TORQUE courses, all of which started in Fall Semester 2013. The most
important lesson learned in their pilot phase was that transforming classroom teaching into something else is infinitely more
complex and demanding than simply producing videos. However, because video and online course production precede
face-to-face teaching, they tend to dominate the discussion and absorb most of the capacity. In the next round of TORQUEs
this will be countered by deploying a prototype approach, where a showcase module that includes face-to-face activities
will be developed at the outset of production. Another aspect that needs consideration is how the project will ultimately be
embedded in the institution: up to now two different units have been cooperating and managing TORQUE production and
integration into teaching. This discussion has potential implications for organizational development at ETH.
Key words: TORQUE, video production, transformation of classroom teaching,
flipped classroom, organizational development
TORQUEs as on-campus MOOCs
developed at and for ETH
MOOCs still have a huge influence on discussions about
the future of higher education (Carey, 2012). However,
although they were invented to solve existing problems in
the US education system and to cut the cost of attending
university, reality checks over the past year have shown
that MOOCs are no silver bullet (Biemiller, 2013; Devlin,
2013). On the contrary, to succeed in their distance learning
setting students require special learning skills and a
motivational background; MOOCs alone will not help
disadvantaged young people get a university education.
For institutions whose aim is to provide excellent teaching
and a sustainable academic education, MOOCs offer
nothing more than supplementary material; infrastructure
and face-to-face communication between students
and teachers have proved much more efficient and effective
in student-focused and competence-oriented education
(Kolowich, 2013). In this context ETH Zurich’s plan
is to maintain its focus on the latter aspects, while at the
same time following the MOOC discussion and extracting
promising components.
In response to the global MOOCs debate ETH decided
in late 2012 to launch an initiative for 2013/2014 to
gather experience of new web-based course formats. In
discussions with ETH stakeholders it became clear that
most faculty are less interested in teaching a large online
audience than in increasing the quality and effectiveness
of courses for ETH Zurich students. One of the main
outcomes of the discussion was the development of the
TORQUE concept. TORQUEs (Tiny, Open-with-Restrictions
courses focused on Quality and Effectiveness) are
derived from MOOCs but have a course format that is
suitable for ETH. They specifically target ETH students,
but are also open to a larger audience. Each course integrates
both online and face-to-face elements.
TORQUEs do not differ radically from MOOCs: they
have similar formats and both provide additional webbased
learning opportunities (for their major differences,
see Table 1).
Targeted number of
participants
Access
TORQUE
Dozens to hundreds
Restricted to
members of
Swiss universities
MOOC
Thousands
Open to all
Face-to-face teaching Mandatory Not required
Table 1: The greatest differences between TORQUEs and MOOCs
Both comprise a number of short video clips with inserted
questions, quizzes and/or exercise tasks, plus communication
tools such as online forums. All TORQUEs are
open to all ETH students, and to all students registered
at a Swiss institution of higher education. Any TORQUE
initially designed for a small group of users can later easily
become a course for a worldwide audience. TORQUEs
may be regarded as an experimental setting for the production
of video-based online courses. They will also provide
data for faculty wishing to monitor change processes
and test the effects in their teaching.
Experience Track |189