Are MOOCs impacting on-campus students? Jul. 2014 | Page 15

FIGURE 1 SENTIMENT ANALYSIS OF TWEETS BETWEEN JANUARY 2012 AND
NOVEMBER 2012 (JORDAN, 2013)

Conversely, a broader more balanced article on the pedagogy of MOOCs is
provided via the Hybrid Technology Blog. Amongst an array of concepts around
educational technology, there is a clearly hopeful message that we are in early days
and there is a lot we need to find out about MOOCs before we can dismiss them off
hand (Kruger-Ross, 2013). Kruger-Ross fairly indicates that the behaviourist model
is not best suited to massive courses, but that they are hopeful that with the use of
social media, for example, Twitter, that there could be better use of existing
educational models. Within xMOOCs social media has not been as important to
connect the learners as it is within the cMOOCs. Social media is seen as an
important factor in bringing together learners from a distance, in fact it is central to
connectivist principles of communication and interaction (deWaard, et al., 2011).
There have been several articles published in journals from 2008 to date on aspects
of the cMOOCs. This model is important as a foundation for developing pedagogy,
as it really encompasses the point of ‘Massive Open Online Courses’. The model
allows you to engage with communities that persist even when the courses finish
(deWaard, et al., 2011). This is because of the Connectivist approach, where
instead of using a platform to manage the learners, existing tools are used and
aggregated, therefore allowing the learners to participate as a community.
(Caulfield, 2013) Throughout the literature there is discussion over the best format
for teaching and learning, indicating that there is a desire to adapt the current
models and to bring pedagogical elements from cMOOCs to xMOOCs (Grunewald,
Meinel, Totschnig, & Willems, 2013). In Germany, the Internetworking with TCP/IP
MOOC, had over 2,700 active participants, their model was one which used the
control of a xMOOC and the connectivism of the cMOOC. They claim to take into
account different learning styles and proclaim to adapt Kolbs Experiential learning
theory, bringing into a more meaningful state using social media enabling a socially
rich environment. The success of this relies entirely on what they call a ‘culture of
participation’, presumably their platform allows for this but it is unclear how they
ensure that this culture persists.
The focus of their results have been with a 1000 of the 2700 who responded to their
survey (Grunewald, et al, 2013). This focus on collaboration is a natural progression
for MOOCs. The University of Edinburgh, E-Learning and Digital Cultures (EDC)
MOOC, used an approach combining elements of connectivism within their

MSc Digital Education

University of Edinburgh, 2014

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