Are MOOCs right for High School Kids?
Author: Carolyn McIntyre, CEO at MoocLab.club
James, a 17 year old high school student from rural Georgia in the US, took his first MOOC when he was just 15. Since then, he has successfully completed 4 others in a variety of subject areas. With hopes of pursuing a career in chemical engineering, MOOCs have helped set James in the right direction. “MOOCs have definitely helped me decide on my future major,” he says. “Without them, I probably would not have gotten the opportunity to explore different areas, such as energy.”
How MOOCs caught James’ eye
James became aware of MOOCs when his mum sent him a text one day after reading an article in the New York Times. The text went something along the lines “How did that Chemistry test go? Also, Google ‘MOOCs’ when you get home.” James did exactly that, and there was no looking back after that. “I took them just because they looked interesting, plus I really hate to quit something after I start it.” James’ first MOOC was about the pharmaceutical industry. “I remember sitting down one night and watching a video. And another. Then one more. I realized I not only actually understood what was going on in the introduction, but I was actually learning something. I could answer the practice questions without skimming back through the video. This was really appealing to me and it was about 11:30 when I quit doing the activities. That was my best experience.” James went on to complete further science based courses on the MOOC provider platform, edX. He took a few others too, but didn’t finish them. For example, he got through several weeks of a “Cooking in Chemistry” class, but had to quit when he became too busy with 3 Advanced Placement classes at school. Advanced Placement (AP) is a program in the United States and Canada, created by the College Board, which offers college-level curricula and examinations to high school students.
“It takes a special kind of high schooler to take a MOOC”
James goes to a public high school that has a limited selection of classes which is partly the reason for his interest in MOOCs. But James’ keen interest in taking his education into his own hands remains unusual. None of his friends have ever taken one: “I think it takes a special kind of high schooler to take a MOOC. The virtual school program is becoming more and more popular at my school, but only about 60% of these students pass. Most of these students would quit after maybe two weeks. There is only one person I might recommend them to.” When asked if he thinks MOOCs are well suited to High School aged students, James replied that most students would not be interested enough or motivated enough to complete one. “They are pretty repetitive: watch a video, answer two questions, watch another video, match up some terms, take a quiz, repeat”, he adds. Drawing from his personal experience with online courses, James believes MOOCs need to be more interactive overall if they are to capture the attention and interest of high schoolers.
Questionable grading scales and stuffy forums
James doesn’t think the MOOCs he’s taken were particularly difficult, though. He says, “As long as I put in effort, I could easily get an A.” However, in some instances, James questioned the grading scales used, particularly with a peer reviewed assignment which represented 30% of the final grade. “The grading scale was overly-generous, and I was used to AP-style rubrics where I would barely get a point for my thesis. So when someone vaguely mentioned a concept and still got a point in the practice papers, I was pretty shocked. I reread that practice paper three times to get used to the scale. I was a consistent grader after seeing the examples; I made sure to give everyone full credit for their work and I took the time to leave meaningful comments. However, I still got one grade out of three on my paper that was WAY lower than the other two. Their comment contradicted the grade they assigned me. It averaged out with the others to take 16% off my final average. I was pretty mad.”
MOOC forums are another thorn in James’ side. “They are usually just people posting required (or encouraged) little discussions about the assignments”, he says. For this reason, James rarely interacts in the forums, although he does have a look to see what other people are having trouble with or talking about. Mostly, though, the discussions are not about the exercises or quizzes, so he doesn’t find them particularly helpful. However, James loves the idea behind MoocLab, the new centralised MOOC and Online Learning Community Website: “I absolutely love the idea of MoocLab. MOOC forums are such a pain to use and the social media associated with them seems to be not worth getting into. A centralized website would be excellent.” He feels it will give students an opportunity to connect with each other without using the “stuffy forums” in the MOOCs. “I can actually maintain a conversation outside of a MOOC in a centralized location”, he adds.
Online courses will never replace traditional classes
Overall, James’ MOOC journey so far has been a very successful one, and he sees online learning as a useful supplement to traditional classes, sometimes even an alternative. When asked if he intended to take any more MOOCs, James replied, “Definitely! I am probably going to take AP Environmental Science and possibly one in advanced Spanish.” But, in his opinion, e-learning will never present a threat to physical campuses. “Students need hands on experience and also skills working with people. An online class cannot replace these. For example, I cannot go in my kitchen and do a chemistry lab involving a fume hood. I don’t have one, and I’m pretty sure no one else does either.”
MOOCs for Highschoolers
It is the likes of James that the new High School initiative from MOOC provider edX hopes to capture. The MOOC platform has recently launched a series of MOOCs geared specifically towards high school aged kids. The AP level courses taught by high school instructors and professors from Berkeley, Rice and MIT cover subjects such as physics, environmental science and chemistry. EdX CEO Anant Agarwal is hopeful middle and high school students will grow to represent a third of their learners, and he thinks “high schools will embrace this, because learners can directly take some of these high school courses”. The big question to consider here is whether James is an exception to the rule: do school aged students really have the drive and self-motivation required to complete these online courses? Certainly, James is proof that it CAN be done.
First published on MoocLab.club 12th November 2014
Author: Carolyn McIntyre, CEO at MoocLab.club
James, a 17 year old high school student from rural Georgia in the US, took his first MOOC when he was just 15. Since then, he has successfully completed 4 others in a variety of subject areas. With hopes of pursuing a career in chemical engineering, MOOCs have helped set James in the right direction. “MOOCs have definitely helped me decide on my future major,” he says. “Without them, I probably would not have gotten the opportunity to explore different areas, such as energy.”
How MOOCs caught James’ eye
James became aware of MOOCs when his mum sent him a text one day after reading an article in the New York Times. The text went something along the lines “How did that Chemistry test go? Also, Google ‘MOOCs’ when you get home.” James did exactly that, and there was no looking back after that. “I took them just because they looked interesting, plus I really hate to quit something after I start it.” James’ first MOOC was about the pharmaceutical industry. “I remember sitting down one night and watching a video. And another. Then one more. I realized I not only actually understood what was going on in the introduction, but I was actually learning something. I could answer the practice questions without skimming back through the video. This was really appealing to me and it was about 11:30 when I quit doing the activities. That was my best experience.” James went on to complete further science based courses on the MOOC provider platform, edX. He took a few others too, but didn’t finish them. For example, he got through several weeks of a “Cooking in Chemistry” class, but had to quit when he became too busy with 3 Advanced Placement classes at school. Advanced Placement (AP) is a program in the United States and Canada, created by the College Board, which offers college-level curricula and examinations to high school students.
“It takes a special kind of high schooler to take a MOOC”
James goes to a public high school that has a limited selection of classes which is partly the reason for his interest in MOOCs. But James’ keen interest in taking his education into his own hands remains unusual. None of his friends have ever taken one: “I think it takes a special kind of high schooler to take a MOOC. The virtual school program is becoming more and more popular at my school, but only about 60% of these students pass. Most of these students would quit after maybe two weeks. There is only one person I might recommend them to.” When asked if he thinks MOOCs are well suited to High School aged students, James replied that most students would not be interested enough or motivated enough to complete one. “They are pretty repetitive: watch a video, answer two questions, watch another video, match up some terms, take a quiz, repeat”, he adds. Drawing from his personal experience with online courses, James believes MOOCs need to be more interactive overall if they are to capture the attention and interest of high schoolers.
Questionable grading scales and stuffy forums
James doesn’t think the MOOCs he’s taken were particularly difficult, though. He says, “As long as I put in effort, I could easily get an A.” However, in some instances, James questioned the grading scales used, particularly with a peer reviewed assignment which represented 30% of the final grade. “The grading scale was overly-generous, and I was used to AP-style rubrics where I would barely get a point for my thesis. So when someone vaguely mentioned a concept and still got a point in the practice papers, I was pretty shocked. I reread that practice paper three times to get used to the scale. I was a consistent grader after seeing the examples; I made sure to give everyone full credit for their work and I took the time to leave meaningful comments. However, I still got one grade out of three on my paper that was WAY lower than the other two. Their comment contradicted the grade they assigned me. It averaged out with the others to take 16% off my final average. I was pretty mad.”
MOOC forums are another thorn in James’ side. “They are usually just people posting required (or encouraged) little discussions about the assignments”, he says. For this reason, James rarely interacts in the forums, although he does have a look to see what other people are having trouble with or talking about. Mostly, though, the discussions are not about the exercises or quizzes, so he doesn’t find them particularly helpful. However, James loves the idea behind MoocLab, the new centralised MOOC and Online Learning Community Website: “I absolutely love the idea of MoocLab. MOOC forums are such a pain to use and the social media associated with them seems to be not worth getting into. A centralized website would be excellent.” He feels it will give students an opportunity to connect with each other without using the “stuffy forums” in the MOOCs. “I can actually maintain a conversation outside of a MOOC in a centralized location”, he adds.
Online courses will never replace traditional classes
Overall, James’ MOOC journey so far has been a very successful one, and he sees online learning as a useful supplement to traditional classes, sometimes even an alternative. When asked if he intended to take any more MOOCs, James replied, “Definitely! I am probably going to take AP Environmental Science and possibly one in advanced Spanish.” But, in his opinion, e-learning will never present a threat to physical campuses. “Students need hands on experience and also skills working with people. An online class cannot replace these. For example, I cannot go in my kitchen and do a chemistry lab involving a fume hood. I don’t have one, and I’m pretty sure no one else does either.”
MOOCs for Highschoolers
It is the likes of James that the new High School initiative from MOOC provider edX hopes to capture. The MOOC platform has recently launched a series of MOOCs geared specifically towards high school aged kids. The AP level courses taught by high school instructors and professors from Berkeley, Rice and MIT cover subjects such as physics, environmental science and chemistry. EdX CEO Anant Agarwal is hopeful middle and high school students will grow to represent a third of their learners, and he thinks “high schools will embrace this, because learners can directly take some of these high school courses”. The big question to consider here is whether James is an exception to the rule: do school aged students really have the drive and self-motivation required to complete these online courses? Certainly, James is proof that it CAN be done.
First published on MoocLab.club 12th November 2014
