One of the Learning Management Systems suggested for exploration in ETEC565A was the EdX Edge environment. EdX Edge is the community of course providers that exists on the periphery of the more formalized EdX environment. Managed by MIT and Harvard, EdX and EdX Edge are Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) providers that offer free courses to anyone who has the means available to access the courses. As described on the EdX website, EdX Edge and EdX are distinguished as follows:

“The difference between the domains is that edX is the home for the large official courses, with discoverability and resource support, while Edge is the fringe, exploratory domain, where you can create your own courses and get to know the platform in a safe, low-visibility environment.”(edx.org)

The description goes on to describe one of EdX Edge’s defining features as “security-by-obscurity.” Without the distinct URL, courses are not discoverable by the public. This offers the sandbox features of building and re-building courses until they are ready to be promoted to official status on the EdX side.

To support course developers in creating new MOOC’s EdX offers a course called EdX101. This course provides an overview of how to build a well-considered and instructionally sound online course. I completed this course and these are my impressions.

The course suggests a one to two hour time commitment for completion. This seems accurate to me. I completed my version of the course in about 70 minutes. To be clear, I read or viewed all of the materials in the learning sequences provided for each of five phases, except for one 17 minute video and the additional appendices. Also, I did not create discussion threads. While I read a few comments that had been posted I didn’t respond to or engage with other learners. Prior to the start of Edx101 I had printed and scanned through the appendices. These appendices include documentation for:

• Building an about page
• Using third party content
• Creating accessible content
• Promoting your mooc

These additional documents are extremely useful and provide very sound guidance for building courses that will be accessed by thousands of people. In terms of best practices, these guidelines would be entirely appropriate for a smaller offering and would significantly enhance the usability of an online course. I will refer to these in building my Introductory and Content Modules.

EdX01 breaks the course building process into five phases. The five phases include:

• Phase 1: Getting the Word Out
• Phase 2: Creating Course Content
• Phase 3: Creating a Grading Policy
• Phase 4: Introductory Material
• Phase 5: Course Delivery

The first phase, while relevant to MOOC’s, is probably the least relevant to my current position. I am not trying to harness learners or sell myself as an online educator just yet. Any students using my online content will have already been roped in to my class. My goal, rather than to lure them in, will be to keep them motivate. Keeping them interested and motivated ties directly to the second, that of creating course content. EdX offers and describes the use of many navigation tools and strategies for organizing course content. Navigational tools include the use of tabs across the top of the page for different aspects of the course. Most EdX courses show a Courseweare tab (includes course content; the meat and potatoes, if you will), Discussion (the place for student interaction), Wiki (the place for student collaboration), Course Info (the landing page for the course), and Progress (the page designed to show assessments and course module completion.) Many strategies were suggested for organizing course content. These can be grouped under themes such as modularity, clear descriptions, and keeping the “learner in focus.”

Clearly, the EdX organization ascribes to the ADDIE model. It is suggested that a well-designed MOOC will take a team of developers six to eight months to produce. Each stage of the ADDIE model is considered, if not explicitly, then in some implied fashion. The first three steps, Analysis, Design, and Development are the basis of the EdX101 course. I am left to determine how can I create the best course possible for online consumption within the EdX framework? Once the content has been identified, the development of learning sequence can occur. Learning sequences are the pieces with which students will engage and, in the case of EdX can be one of four components: discussion, HTML, a problem, or a video. Discussion items foster communication between students. HTML provides opportunities to include pictures, links, and interactive course content. Problems are structured assessment opportunities that are already built into the EdX platform. These can vary from a basic true/false question to much more complex peer mediated assessments. Finally, videos are highlighted as a vital way to engage learners. The ideal video is expected to be between three and seven minutes and many guidelines are given for their creation. A transcript is mandatory and runs alongside all EdX videos. When I was enrolled in another EdX course called ‘Reconciliation through Education’ I found the transcript extremely helpful for understanding new terminology and for properly understanding what was being said. That being said, at times I turned the transcript off to facilitate my own listening for understanding.

It seems that many aspects of design and implementation are related to issues of scale. If I am designing a course for tens of thousands of people it would behoove me to ensure that each learner’s time is respected and is spent on useful and relevant activities. However, if I am working in a blended environment with a cohort the size of an elementary classroom, there is a little more leeway to attend to issues on the fly and with discussion and input from the participants.

It all felt very ‘meta’. There I was, taking a course about building a course for a course about building courses. It was absolutely worth my while to explore the EdX101 offering. As EdX101 described the requirements for creating courses in the EdX environment it was apparent that these are the best practices that are relevant to every LMS. I will refer to this course during the creation of my own modules and to the referenced materials to ensure I create the most accessible version possible.

Further ideas for consideration include exploring whether, or how, a MOOC can encourage online collaborative learning. Another course that now seems useful is the BlendedX course. It is listed as requiring 3 to 4 hours.

References

https://www.edx.org/about-us