{"250101":{"#nid":"250101","#data":{"type":"news","title":"MOOC Instructors Share Lessons Learned","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ETwo young Iranian women expressing how happy they were to find a strong female figure to look up to. A quadriplegic in Scotland sharing how, for the first time in his life, he felt equal to his classmates.\u0026nbsp;These are just a few of the stories that \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.iac.gatech.edu\/faculty-and-staff\/faculty\/bio\/head\u0022\u003EKaren Head\u003C\/a\u003E, assistant professor in the \u003Cstrong\u003ESchool of Literature, Media, and Communication\u003C\/strong\u003E, shared about her experience teaching a massive open online course (MOOC) during a MOOC-focused town hall on October 24.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201c[In the case of the Iranian women] I feel like the anonymity of the MOOC allows students to speak up in a way that they can\u2019t always do under other circumstances,\u201d Head replied to a question regarding the challenge of getting students to participate and provide feedback with a MOOC format. \u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHead was one of five MOOC instructors who joined Provost Rafael Bras to discuss the progress of MOOCs at Georgia Tech and lessons learned.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe other panelists included \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.ece.gatech.edu\/about\/personnel\/bio.php?id=47\u0022\u003EBonnie Ferri\u003C\/a\u003E, professor and associate chair for undergraduate affairs in the\u003Cstrong\u003E School of Electrical and Computer Engineering\u003C\/strong\u003E; \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.physics.gatech.edu\/user\/michael-schatz\u0022\u003EMike Schatz\u003C\/a\u003E, professor in the \u003Cstrong\u003ESchool of Physics\u003C\/strong\u003E; \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.ic.gatech.edu\/people\/charles-isbell-jr\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003ECharles Isbell\u003C\/a\u003E, senior associate dean for academic affairs in the \u003Cstrong\u003ECollege of Computing\u003C\/strong\u003E; and Alex Duncan, a master\u2019s student in Human-Computer Interaction, who served as a teaching assistant for the Introduction to Psychology as a Science MOOC.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ETo kick off the discussion, each panelist was invited to share a bit about their MOOC experiences.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cI was impressed with the [discussion] forums, because I loved how students would jump in and answer each other\u2019s questions,\u201d Ferri said.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ESchatz shared that he doesn\u2019t usually have a chance to get to know students in his introductory physics courses. Teaching the MOOC version allowed him to use class time for interactive activities that supplemented the online lectures and provided him a chance to develop relationships with his students. \u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIsbell, who is preparing to teach his first MOOC, commented that he always thought he did a good job of evaluating how he teaches his courses on a regular basis.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cI\u2019ve realized that I wasn\u2019t doing as good of a job as I thought,\u201d Isbell said. \u201cThis has forced me to really think about my learning objectives and assessments.\u201d \u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThere was also an opportunity for members of the audience to ask questions. One person asked if MOOCs were going to completely replace on-campus classes.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cI don\u2019t think this is the situation,\u201d Bras said. \u201cI certainly believe that undergraduate education, especially in an environment like Georgia Tech, will only benefit.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EDuncan added that people often think that MOOCs are in competition with face-to-face courses, but that the two formats can complement one another by providing opportunities for those off campus to learn and on-campus contingents to make better use of class time. View a recording of the town hall \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.provost.gatech.edu\/town-hall-2013\u0022\u003Ehere\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ETwo young Iranian women expressing how happy they were to find a strong female figure to look up to. A quadriplegic in Scotland sharing how, for the first time in his life, he felt equal to his classmates.\u0026nbsp;These are just a few of the stories that \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.iac.gatech.edu\/faculty-and-staff\/faculty\/bio\/head\u0022\u003EKaren Head\u003C\/a\u003E, assistant professor in the \u003Cstrong\u003ESchool of Literature, Media, and Communication\u003C\/strong\u003E, shared about her experience teaching a massive open online course (MOOC) during a MOOC-focused town hall on October 24.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":"","uid":"27889","created_gmt":"2013-10-31 12:25:04","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:15:14","author":"Beth Godfrey","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2013-10-31T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2013-10-31T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"250091":{"id":"250091","type":"image","title":"MOOCS Town Hall","body":null,"created":"1449243795","gmt_created":"2015-12-04 15:43:15","changed":"1475894929","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:48:49","alt":"MOOCS Town Hall","file":{"fid":"198078","name":"moocpanel_0.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/moocpanel_0_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/moocpanel_0_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":17619,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/moocpanel_0_0.jpg?itok=BhT9AALR"}}},"media_ids":["250091"],"groups":[{"id":"1281","name":"Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"43811","name":"MOOCs"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}