Box Hill Institute Niche MOOCs

Presenter: Aliki KompsBlended eLearning Solutions9286 9485

Introduction

The Box Hill Institute niche MOOCs have been borne from a key strategic objective provided by the Board of Box Hill Institute Group.

Aim: Create a set of six Box Hill Institute ‘taster’ MOOCs.

Project Commencement: April, 2014.

Progress: Learning design completed. Multimedia development is in full swing.

Initial Stages

Required the development of a strategy that was considerate of stakeholders and the BHI environment. - Teaching centres across the Institute were invited to propose a MOOC topic. It was identified that topics proposed would be assessed against the following three criteria:• A Return On Investment (ROI);• Used as a mode of delivery for distribution

of critical data; and/or • Unique online course and could be used as

a pull strategy for enrolments into related paid courses

Initial Stages

A number of teaching centres put their MOOC proposals forward.

A competitive analysis was completed:• Each proposal was assessed based

on the three criteria outlined from the outset.

• We also worked actively with the Box Hill Institute Group Marketing area to identify the MOOCs that would have high interest or value.

MOOCs Selected for Creation

• A Day in the Life of a Hairdresser• Introduction to eLearning Design• Introduction to Horses• Canine DNA Evidence Collection• Melodic Improvisation• Network Addressing and Subnetting• AMCA – r22 to r32

A healthy cross section of niche MOOC taster courses were selected for creation.

Communication

The MOOCs project contains a number of relevant stakeholders.

• After the courses had been selected, a fortnightly face-to-face MOOCs Steering Committee Meeting was created to regularly bring together relevant Project Managers, Teaching Centre Managers, Subject Matter Experts and Learning Designers.

• Learning Designers had a weekly meeting to discuss approach, consistency, ideas, content, hurdles, tools, style, etc.

• Learning Designers had regular meetings with the subject matter experts.

• Handover from Learning Design to Multimedia was provided in a face-to-face manner with ongoing consultation. COMMUNICATION IS KEY

PlatformLearning Management System (LMS)

At this point we have selected Moodle as our LMS because:

• Open source learning platform

• It’s a Learning Management System that provides us with control over the interface and allows us to style the interface

• We have decided to run Moodle 1.9 because of its quick load times

• We have experience with Moodle and it’s the Institute Learning Management System

Learning Design

A Departure from Online Unit of Competency Creation• Different target audiences dependent

on specific MOOC – local and global• Highly Visual• Graphics• Film/Video• Very limited text• NO assessments• Activities and Interactivities

Industry Involvement - Not just theory!

Subset of BHI MOOCs

Enrolment

Welcome

Types of Content

Types of Content

Types of Content

Interactive Online Activities

Pathways

Hurdles / Healthy Learning Experiences

• Communication is key across stakeholders

• Timeliness• Competing priorities for each

stakeholder• Limited budget = limited resources

and resourcing• First attempt at creating niche taster

MOOCs – restricted precedence on level playing field

Looking to the Future• Our aim is to complete the set of six

niche taster MOOCs by July 2014. • These will act as a healthy springboard

moving forward. • The MOOCs will be monitored and

evaluated against their specific intended purposes.

• Reflection will occur.• Improvements to existing MOOCs will be

actioned and updated based on evaluation and reflection.

• The entire process will have the scope to evolve, grow and improve.