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Open Online Courses in the context of higher education:<br />
an evaluation of a German cMOOC<br />
Anja Lorenz, Daniela Pscheida, Marlen Dubrau, Andrea Lißner and Nina Kahnwald<br />
Abstract: The Saxon Open Online Course (SOOC) project started in the 2013 summer<br />
semester. Students, university lecturers and informal learners participated in the course and<br />
learned by creating and designing the cMOOC by themselves. The main challenge was how<br />
to implement this open format in the institutionalized backdrop of participating universities.<br />
In addition to the general anchoring in the curricular context, the individual requirements of<br />
each institution needed to be considered. This paper discusses questions related to challenges<br />
for moderators and is primarily a presentation of results pertaining to student experiences.<br />
Based on qualitative and quantitative data, the authors formulate concrete recommendations<br />
for cMOOCs in the context of an institutional curriculum..<br />
Introduction<br />
Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) are currently<br />
one of the most popular trends in the field of technology-enhanced<br />
learning and higher education (Johnson et<br />
al., 2013). The main focus of the MOOC hype is currently<br />
on so-called xMOOCs: courses in the style of a formal<br />
lecture supplemented with self-study materials (mostly<br />
short videos sequences, with multiple choice tests in-between),<br />
(collaborative) tasks and group discussion. But the<br />
earlier and namesake course format for MOOCs were socalled<br />
cMOOCs (Liyanagunawardena, Adams, & Williams,<br />
2013). cMOOCs follow the idea of connectivism (the<br />
first ‘c’ of cMOOC) and use decentralized communication<br />
platforms and channels such as social media to create a<br />
setting in which people can learn by sharing materials, discussing<br />
thoughts and forming relationships.<br />
Following on from other German cMOOCs such as<br />
#OPCO11 (http://opencourse2011.de), #OPCO12<br />
(http://opco12.de) and #MMC13 (http://howtoMOOC.<br />
org/), the #SOOC13 (http://sooc13.de/) tries to integrate<br />
the open online course concept into institutional structures<br />
by combining (previously informal) open online<br />
learning with the formal requirements of an institutional<br />
course.<br />
The following section describes the course itself and is<br />
followed by a discussion of organizational, didactical and<br />
pedagogical challenges. First solutions are presented and<br />
evaluated by the results of three online surveys among<br />
the #SOOC13participants. The paper closes with guidelines<br />
for organizing cMOOCs in the context of higher education<br />
institutions.<br />
The #SOOC13: Course Concept and<br />
Target Group<br />
The Saxon Open Online Course (SOOC) is the first<br />
cMOOC format supported by institutions of higher education<br />
in the German Federal State of Saxony. Its aim is to<br />
investigate the potentials of connectivist MOOCs in higher<br />
education. Therefore the course topic ‘Learning 2.0<br />
– Individual Learning and Knowledge Management with<br />
Social Media’ was chosen for the first run (#SOOC13 in<br />
summer semester 2013) in order to attract a wide target<br />
group consisting of students and teachers from different<br />
universities (in Saxony and beyond), as well as informal<br />
learners with different backgrounds.<br />
Composition of Participants<br />
With 242 registered users, of which 126 were members<br />
of the three participating universities (Technical University<br />
of Dresden, Technical University of Chemnitz and<br />
University of Siegen), the critical mass was reached (c. f.<br />
Downes, 2013). The amount of students enrolled in several<br />
courses of studies with these universities was 52.1 %.<br />
75 students planned to earn ECTS credits and 22 of them<br />
actually finished the course successfully. Furthermore, 4<br />
university teachers obtained a certificate from the corresponding<br />
federal training institution for higher education.<br />
Inner Structure<br />
To support the participants in planning their learning processes<br />
and managing their resources, we started and ended<br />
with in-class workshops which helped students to get<br />
an idea of cMOOCs and understand the #SOOC13course<br />
concept. Moreover, we offered a course structure of four<br />
sections focusing on different topics:<br />
1. Learning 2.0: Theories and Approaches,<br />
Experience Track |234
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