Title: How can the creating of MOOCs be supported in the higher education community?
Course: Digivisio DEMO: Planning and creating a MOOC > Section: Maintenance and support processes of MOOCs

The cornerstone of encouraging teachers in higher education institutions to create MOOCs is that the institution sets itself clear objectives, boundary markers, and targets for MOOC production at the organisational level. In other words, a cross-cutting strategy covering the entire organisation should be prepared to support the implementation and creation of MOOCs that encourages and guides teachers at the institution to plan and implement MOOCs.

The tasks of the strategy are to

1. Create long-term goals for MOOC production and its development.
2. Provide a funding and support framework for MOOC production.
3. Provide tools for successful MOOC production.
4. Define guidelines and spearhead areas for MOOC production.
5. Create metrics for evaluating success.
6. Adopt an increasingly interdisciplinary approach to learning and teaching.

It is often advisable to start strategy work from piloting MOOC courses with the aim of finding out what kind of structures and support processes are needed for creating MOOCs. When examining support processes for MOOCs, the main purpose of pilots is trying to establish how existing structures can be used to maintain and support MOOCs, and what kinds of new MOOC-specific structures may need to be created to ensure that the MOOCs produced at the higher education institution will be of a high quality and successful in the learning market. Of course, all MOOC production need not be targeted at the open market, but when conducting a pilot, particular attention should be paid to scalability and its potential and challenges. When piloting MOOCs from the perspective of support processes and maintenance, attention should be paid to the following issues.

Scalability: creating MOOC support processes should be based on the idea that a MOOC may attract more than 10,000 learners. Support processes naturally have their limits, which is why it is advisable to consider and collect ideas of where and to what extent support process work can be automated and what the bottlenecks will be. These bottlenecks often include course enrolments, registration of credits and other student administration tasks.
Accessibility of support services: when conducting pilots, attention should be paid to whether teachers can actually access the support services and what assistance the services provide during the process. It is also a good idea to find out which support measures and processes already exist but are not used in the context of MOOCs. Working on a MOOC may turn out to be a very laboursome process for the teacher if the step between the support services and the teacher is high.
Guidance of learners and learning analytics: piloting provides an excellent opportunity for using learning analytics to observe learners’ progress and the pitfalls they encounter on the MOOC. The obtained analytics data are important from the perspective of developing support processes, and especially guidance and pedagogical planning. The collected analytics data will also support teachers and help them avoid the same pitfalls when creating MOOCs in the future.
Templates and examples: what kinds of templates can be created through the MOOC pilot examples for such purposes as implementing the learning environment, learners’ enrolments and registration of attainments, and collection of feedback or learning analytics? All these will be useful later when planning new MOOCs and developing existing ones.
MOOC teams or units: based on the pilot, is an entire unit or a more extensive coordinating organisation focusing on MOOC support needed to provide teachers with the help they need for creating MOOC implementations?

Example:

When planning a strategy for the MOOC production process, it is worthwhile reading about the P.E.P.I.T.E production model created by the University of Liege. This model has been developed as part of teacher training with the aim of training teachers to produce MOOCs better. The core message of the model is that MOOC development consists of six stages:

PEPITE production process

Preparation: The teachers prepare a curriculum for the MOOC, taking existing and competing MOOCs into account to avoid duplication. The teachers also define their target audience.

Elaboration: The teachers write a pedagogical manuscript for the content and produce it.

Production: The teachers are involved in editing videos and correct or add elements. They also plan suitable learning assignments.

Implementation: The teachers create the content on an online platform.

Transmission: The teachers assist and guide participants during the MOOC.

Evaluation: The teachers send out certificates and analyse the MOOC implementation to improve the next one.

Read more about the P.E.P.I.T.E strategy on the University of Liege website in an article discussing this topic: Designing a MOOC - A new channel fort teacher professional development?

In connection with the piloting, you should also start considering different scenarios for MOOC production that affect the maintenance and support processes of the courses. Support processes benefit from scenario work in many ways. Firstly, they help determine what kind of support processes are needed in different situations. This will enable efficient resource allocation and ensure that the support processes will be adequate and effective. The scenario work also helps to set clear goals and indicators for evaluating the success of a MOOC. This facilitates the attainment of objectives and makes it more measurable.

Scenarios should be planned on four axes, and they should be used to create several production models to find out what kind of support different scenarios and production models lend to the creating and planning of a MOOC.

The four axes of scenario work for MOOC support and production processes:

Number of learners | Funding | Quality | Resources
The number of learners affects the anticipated enrolment-related work as well as the outline and design of scalability. The scenarios define how many learners will be expected to attend the course. This will affect such issues as course marketing and technical resources, including server capacity. | The scenario deals with the different factors involved in funding a MOOC. Is the aim to obtain funding based on completed credits, or will the university strive to apply for pilot or foundation funding or, for example, funding for delivery of continuing education? Different scenarios may be based on different funding models. For example, some MOOCs may receive support from public funds, while others can be fee-paying or sponsored. | The production quality of the MOOC has a significant impact on the support measures to which the teacher should have access when planning the course and working on its technical and visual implementation. Goals can be set for the production quality in the scenarios, such as the production value of videos and the quality of interactive elements. More resources and time are needed for high-quality productions. | The resources define many aspects of producing MOOCs. For example, the higher education institution may need MOOC specialists, experts in digital pedagogy, media producers and technological expertise to create a high-quality MOOC. This is why, when working on the scenarios, you should consider how different resources affect the possibilities of developing and producing high-quality MOOCs.
Example: The aim set in the scenario is that 500 learners will find their way to the MOOC during the first year of production, 14% to 17% of whom will complete the course. The goal for the next three years is to increase this number to three thousand students and to maintain the completion rate at over ten per cent. | Example: In this scenario, the MOOC is funded by a foundation, and the course is planned and built during a single academic year. Funding has been received for the teacher’s salary, the licence for a translation program and a 15% work input of a pedagogical expert. | Example: The scenario proposes a higher production quality than in a normal daytime implementation delivered online. However, professional graphic designers will not be used in content production, and the learning materials and videos will be produced in house. | Example: The scenario envisages using experts within the framework of existing services. These services include pedagogical counselling and the services provided by the student administration for planning the MOOC and placing it in the curriculum.

The scenario work enables continuous evaluation and improvement of the support processes, helping to identify development areas and to make the necessary changes for the next MOOC courses.

HEI:

The higher education institution draws up a MOOC strategy, and guided by it, implements high-quality MOOCs. The higher education institution prepares scenarios for the kinds of MOOCs it aims to create and sets measurable targets and success criteria for the various scenarios.

Teacher:

The teacher participates actively in additional training offered and any MOOC pilots. The teacher finds out about the available support services and commits to the higher education institution's MOOC strategy. The teacher also acts as a trailblazer in the preparation of new MOOCs.

Fill in maintenance and support for the MOOC in your pedagogical manuscript. Pay attention to at least the following.
- Does your higher education institution have a MOOC strategy or scenarios for different MOOC types (xMOOC, cMOOc, SOOC, etc.)?
- What types of scenarios can you create around your MOOC? How will these scenarios affect your ability and need to create MOOCs?
- What kinds of higher education institution processes (curriculum matters, credits awarded, enrolment) should you take into account when maintaining and developing your MOOC?
- How will you ensure that your MOOC finds its target audience, and what kind of support is available for this?

References

University of Liege article: Designing a MOOC - A new channel fort teacher professional development?

University of Oulu MOOC scenario and strategy materials (in Finnish)