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When MOOCs – massive open online courses – first made headlines, it was partly their size that attracted the media’s attention. One-hundred thousand students in one course, 150,000 in another. But massive doesn’t work for everyone. In fact, it doesn’t work for most people, as seen in precipitous drop-out rates over the run of most courses. Now innovators in the world of online learning are creating micro experiences for MOOC students, including small-group mentorship and limited size courses. What they’re learning could hold the key to realizing the transformative potential of MOOCs.
Mentive is one such company, offering small-group mentorship for MOOCs from the major platforms. Mentive was founded by Armando Fox, the UC-Berkeley professor who coined the term “SPOC” (small private online course), and Jonathan Heyne, a Berkeley Haas MBA and former marketing professional at Coursera. The company’s first set of mentored courses includes data science, web development, programming, and entrepreneurship from edX, Coursera, and Udacity.
Mentive’s mentors speak the same language as their students and live in similar time zones. They hold weekly video meetups in small groups to answer questions and help learners work through challenging content. As a result, learners are 12 to 13 times more likely to finish their courses than non-mentored students. As Fox explains, “Small group classes have been a fundamental part of learning for centuries in schools and campuses. This is what’s missing in online education, and we started Mentive to bring it online.” Mentive’s next set of courses starts in mid-June.
Another form of micro comes from The Center for Global Enterprise, a research institution dedicated to the study and dissemination of global management practices. Through NovoEd’s platform, this organization has recently launched the first of what it calls “Micro-Courses.” Africa Platform Management looks and feels like a MOOC, at least at first. Yet unlike a typical MOOC, enrollment is capped at 50 participants. In addition to the standard MOOC fare – video lectures, assignments, and reading materials – live sessions and group assignments are key features. Lead professors Peter Evans and Olayinka David-West and the guest speakers they bring in are able to interact personally with every student. The result is a highly engaging online course that more closely approximates the classroom experience.
“Fundamentally, we believe smaller groups are more effective at learning, collaborating, and simply getting to know each other in a way that extends their personal and professional networks. It’s difficult, if not impossible, to do that when you have thousands of people taking a MOOC,” says Ira Sager, the Vice President of Global Learning Initiatives for the Center for Global Enterprise. Look out for more Micro-Courses, as well as Micro-Lessons, small webinars, immersive internships, and other small-group experiences from this innovative group.
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Mentive is one such company, offering small-group mentorship for MOOCs from the major platforms. Mentive was founded by Armando Fox, the UC-Berkeley professor who coined the term “SPOC” (small private online course), and Jonathan Heyne, a Berkeley Haas MBA and former marketing professional at Coursera. The company’s first set of mentored courses includes data science, web development, programming, and entrepreneurship from edX, Coursera, and Udacity.
Mentive’s mentors speak the same language as their students and live in similar time zones. They hold weekly video meetups in small groups to answer questions and help learners work through challenging content. As a result, learners are 12 to 13 times more likely to finish their courses than non-mentored students. As Fox explains, “Small group classes have been a fundamental part of learning for centuries in schools and campuses. This is what’s missing in online education, and we started Mentive to bring it online.” Mentive’s next set of courses starts in mid-June.
Another form of micro comes from The Center for Global Enterprise, a research institution dedicated to the study and dissemination of global management practices. Through NovoEd’s platform, this organization has recently launched the first of what it calls “Micro-Courses.” Africa Platform Management looks and feels like a MOOC, at least at first. Yet unlike a typical MOOC, enrollment is capped at 50 participants. In addition to the standard MOOC fare – video lectures, assignments, and reading materials – live sessions and group assignments are key features. Lead professors Peter Evans and Olayinka David-West and the guest speakers they bring in are able to interact personally with every student. The result is a highly engaging online course that more closely approximates the classroom experience.
“Fundamentally, we believe smaller groups are more effective at learning, collaborating, and simply getting to know each other in a way that extends their personal and professional networks. It’s difficult, if not impossible, to do that when you have thousands of people taking a MOOC,” says Ira Sager, the Vice President of Global Learning Initiatives for the Center for Global Enterprise. Look out for more Micro-Courses, as well as Micro-Lessons, small webinars, immersive internships, and other small-group experiences from this innovative group.
Continue reading...
