MOOC/Online Courses: A log of the ones I have done

Recently got involved in an online conversation about MOOCs and online courses and realised again that I did not have all the info on the courses that I have done all in one place. This ongoing post rectifies that.

Background
Looking back pre my exposure to MOOCs, my educational background could be summarised as follows:-

• strict educational background at school including doing “O” and “A” levels at Loughborough Grammar School in the UK between 1973 and 1980 (founded in 1495, one of the oldest schools in the UK) where strong academic prowess was the main objective
• getting a First BA (Hons) in Business Studies and Management Science at the University of Stirling, the first First that the University awarded for that combined degree course
• doing an MBA by Distance Learning at Strathclyde Graduate Business School in the 1990s via printed materials and cassette tapes sent through the post
• doing a number of technical classroom-based courses in my career field of IT
• doing some CBT courses that were exclusively text based on a PC
• all of the above were pre-internet !!

… and then I stumbled over MOOCs via this TED talk - Daphne Koller: “What we're learning from online education”:



… and further exploration from that one to this explanatory video on what MOOCs are - Dave Cormier:  “What is a MOOC?”:



Courses Taken
Early in 2013 I then jumped into the water and started doing a MOOC for the first time.

This section provides a very high-level summary of the courses I have done including what institution and platform delivered the course and some highlights from me.

Course 1: Learning Creative Learning (MIT, Q1/2 2013)
“a course on designing technologies and environments for creative learning.”

This video provides a good intro to the course content:

This was a good course to start with as there were tens of thousands of people from all over the world doing this course.

Made use of Google+ communities to encourage interaction. The main community can be found here.

Course content was emailed out. A weekly YouTube live session went over the content for the week with MIT staff and other contributors.

On this course I used Readlists for the first time and I made all the course content available in Readlists files to all course delegates. See this blog post.

MIT issued a report summarising their view of how the course went here.

The latest manifestation of this course can be found here (mid-August 2015).

While doing this course I stumbled over a pre-conference reading list for “Online Learning and the Future of Residential Education: A Summit” hosted by MIT and Harvard University, March 3-4, 2013 and assembled a Readlists file of that content and made it available to all the MOOC course delegates here.

Course 2: Web science: how the web is changing the world (Southampton University, Q4 2013, FutureLearn)

”Explore how the web has changed our world in the past 25 years and what might happen next.” (course info)

Intro video:

Course home page

This was run on the FutureLearn platform. Content was only available behind a userid and password, all course interaction likewise. Given that I like to learn with others, I created a Google+ community here and posted most of my learning and resources found via the course in that community. Amazingly that community had just over 1k members at its peak.

Course 3: Deeper Learning - DLMOOC (various organisations, Q1 2014)

“The Deeper Learning MOOC (DLMOOC) is a collaborative exploration of deeper learning and putting progressive theory into real practice by looking at what education could and should be about.

The opposite of deeper learning is shallow learning. Jump into the deep end with the Deeper Learning MOOC (DLMOOC) and participate in a personal learning experience that connects you with other educators who are putting progressive theory into real practice. We’ll leave the textbook race behind and explore what education could and should be about, and give you tools to implement the changes you want to see in your schools.

DLMOOC is aimed at teachers, school leaders, and other educators who are interested in encouraging more deeper learning in their schools and classrooms. While it is intended for practitioners, it is open to all.”

Course intro video:

This was run via a Google+ community here. Content was emailed out. There was a weekly YouTube live session. I collated the course content into Readlists files and made them available to all course delegates here. Although this was aimed primarily at a US audience there were still delegates from across the world especially Australia.
I could not locate a current course landing page other than the G+ link (mid-August 2015).

Course 4: Future Classroom Scenarios (European Schoolnet Academy, Q1/2 2014)

“The Future Classroom Scenarios course aims to introduce teachers, headteachers and ICT coordinators in schools to concepts, tools, and exchanges about the future classroom. The course is designed in response to the increasing challenges faced by educators around the world to accommodate the rising importance of technology in education and the impact this has on teaching and learning.”
“The course covers six modules which introduce you to key concepts like 21st century skills and allow you to exchange with your peers about your own experiences of trying out new activities and technologies in the classroom. During the course we will also reflect and discuss the role of technology tools in the future classroom and your current teaching and learning environments. A number of tools are introduced which help the process of innovation in the school and classroom but are equally useful for your everyday teaching practices.”

Course intro video:

Course site

All course content was behind a userid and password. Some engagement on Twitter. Some interaction on the bespoke course platform again behind a userid and password. There were YouTube videos for the bulk of the content (not public) as well as live interactive sessions for additional content.

A good document that I came across on the course was a Microsoft publication titled “21st Century Learning Design Rubrics” which gives a good flavour of the sort of content and approaches covered on the course.

Course 5: GSE1x Unlocking the Immunity to Change: A New Approach to Personal Improvement (HarvardX, Q3 2014, EDX)

“This is a fifteen-week personal development course designed to help you get better at something that is important to you.”

“Do you have a personal improvement goal that has proven resistant to your sincerest intentions, smartest plans, and best efforts? Did you make a New Year’s resolution for 2014 that hasn't quite come to pass? This course invites you to take part in a world-wide experiment to see if Robert Kegan and Lisa Lahey’s ground-breaking, award-winning approach can be deployed online to help tens of thousands of people make lasting changes at work or in their private lives. This course will teach you new psychological theory about personal change, but—more than this—it will engage you in applying that theory to yourself from the first class to the last.”

Course intro video:

I stumbled over this course via this longer video of one of the instructors speaking at a change seminar:

The course content was emailed out each week. Mainly in the form of private YouTube videos. Lots of exercises with opportunity to answer these in a wiki on Harvard’s platform. Some interaction on the course which given the nature of the course material could be deeply personal was fine behind userid and password but again was mainly a completely closed course.

This was a good example of a course that managed to probe deeply into personal issues of me as an individual in the context of a course with a very large number of delegates. My issue is around physical hoarding of possessions that I explored on this course.

I cannot see (mid-August 2015) any links to this course for another running.

There is a chargeable spin-off course running mid September 2015 aimed specifically at educators titled “Including Ourselves in the Change Equation: Personal Learning for Organizational Performance”. See video:

Course 6: GSE2X: Leaders of Learning (HarvardX, Q3, 2014, EDX)

“Explore and understand your own theories of learning and leadership. Gain the tools to imagine and build the future of learning.”

Intro video:

Course home page

Course content was emailed out each week. Mainly private YouTube videos with discussion forums behind a username and password. This was another course that I created a Google+ community for and posted resources I encountered whilst doing the course as well as some of my answers to the exercises.

Three specific resources that were helpful from this course were “Modes of Learning”, “Modes of Design”and “Modes of Leadership” that used Professor Elmore’s framework of styles of learning and leadership:

• Hierarchical Individual
• Hierarchical Collective
• Distributed Individual
• Distributed Collective

One explanation of these classifications can be found in this blog post.

On the back of this classification we were asked to define our ideal learning environment and my response can be found here.

Course 7: Digital Marketing: Challenges and Insights (Southampton University, Q4 2014, FutureLearn)

"Explore the latest trends in digital marketing. Get beneath the hype. What are the implications? How will you respond?"

Course home page

Course intro video:

All the comments I made about the Web Science course apply here including my setting up a Google+ community for this course here.

Course 8: Size Up Your (New Business) Idea (University College London, Digital Business Academy, Q4 2014)

This is one of 8 free online digital skills courses offered by the Digital Business Academy. I may do all 8! See intro video for the set:

For this specific course:
Creating an online business can mean venturing into new territory. This course will give you tools and frameworks to develop unique and agile digital business ideas that are focused on real customers with real needs.

Self-paced course with content mainly in private YouTube videos with text support. Progress monitored via multi-choice Q&As. Zero interaction with trainers and fellow delegates.

Course home page

Course 9: Develop and Manage a Digital Product (Founder Centric, Digital Business Academy, Q3 2015)

Want to transform your digital product development ideas into reality? This course will introduce you tools and methods product designers use in their new product process development to design, test, and ultimately create apps and digital products. You will learn how to brainstorm product ideas, draw wireframes, make prototypes, interview customers, and even code your first site!

Intro course video:

Course home page
All comments for course 8 apply here.

Course 10: Understand Digital Marketing Channels (Founder Centric, Digital Business Academy, Q3 2015)

This free digital marketing course is about understanding how customers can be reached online, why you would want to reach them, and which tools make it easy. The course breaks down online marketing by explaining how different methods are used and how you can measure if they are being effective.

Course intro video:

Course home page

All comments for course 8 apply here.

Course 11: The Influence and Impact Summit (Michael Hyatt, Platform University, 6-13 October 2015)

“Do you have something important to say or to sell?”

Join Michael Hyatt and 20+ other leading authorities at this FREE Online Event as they help you discover how to maximize your influence and impact.
Summit Info
This was delivered in a series of 24 videos with a 1-page supporting worksheet for each video. This was exclusively a watch on your own course with the only interactions being on Twitter and possibly other social media channels.

Course 12: Crime, Justice and Society (Sheffield University, Q4 2015, FutureLearn)

“Through this free online course you’ll develop an understanding of, and critical perspective on, the role of the state in the regulation of criminal behaviour and the key parts played by those involved in the criminal justice system. Together, we’ll explore key themes of classic criminological research, contemporary debates on criminal justice institutions and processes, and international developments in policy and practice, focusing in particular on:

• crime and criminal justice;
• policing;
• victims and victim support;
• restorative justice;
• prisons and places of confinement;
• community sanctions and measures;
• desistance.”

Course info

All course material was on the FutureLearn platform with discussions amongst learners in comments sections for each unit of content.

Course 13: Developing Cultural Intelligence for Leadership (Common Purpose, Q4 2015, FutureLearn)

“Find out what Cultural Intelligence (CQ) is, and why good leaders and managers need it, in this free online course.”
“Cultural Intelligence (CQ) is the natural evolution from the well-established notions of IQ (intelligence quotient) and EQ (emotional intelligence). Good leaders need all three to lead effectively.
CQ is the ability to cross divides - whether country, generation, gender, sector or background - and to thrive in multiple cultures. Developing your CQ will enable you to work with people who are different from you, and lead in your organisation, community, business or place of study.”

Course home page

As a graduate of Common Purpose's Matrix Programme that ran in Bradford, UK, 2004/5, I looked forward to undertaking this course that started 9 November 2015. The Matrix Programme is one of the best training and development experiences I have been through and I am confident that the content of this new course from Common Purpose will be similarly helpful to all.
All course material was on the FutureLearn platform with discussions amongst learners in comments sections for each unit of content. Lots of useful exercises that I will be revisiting in the future.
I set up a Google+ community for this course but the take up was very limited.

Course 14: Justice (HarvardX, ER22.1x, Q4 2015 – Q1 2016, 12 weeks)

“Justice, one of the most famous courses taught at Harvard College, is an introduction to moral and political philosophy, offering an opportunity to discuss contemporary dilemmas and controversies.”
“What you'll learn:-

• The fundamentals of political philosophy
• An understanding of social justice and criminal justice, and the roles they play in the modern justice system
• A deeper sense of the philosophy that underlies modern issues such as affirmative action, same sex marriage, and equality
• The ability to better articulate and evaluate philosophical arguments and ask philosophical questions”

Course Information

This was a great course, with lots of content, made me think hard about lifelong-held assumptions. I did not engage in any discussion with fellow learners on this one. I just wanted to get through the content and pass the course. Hard tests/quizzes. Great lectures on YouTube with audience participation in a packed Harvard lecture theatre.

Course 15: How To Build a Sustainable Fashion Business (Ethical Fashion Forum, FutureLearn, 5 weeks, Q1 2016)
“In this five-week, free online course we explore what sustainability means in the context of running a fashion business. This course is for anyone who wants to start or grow a fashion business, in a sustainable and ethical way.
We’ll cover:

• goal setting and business strategy;
• an overview of the key sustainability issues;
• brand strategy and product planning;
• financing your work;
• how to set up a supply chain;
• how to find sustainably made fabrics and ethical manufacturers;
• product development;
• how to tell your sustainability story;
• marketing strategy and promotion;
• and how to find customers and sell products.”

Course home page

Great to spend time with learners who I would never normally come into contact with.

Course 16: Digital Leadership: Creating Value Through Technology (Henley Business School, University of Reading, FutureLearn, 5 weeks, Q1 2016)
“Digital technologies are changing extraordinarily quickly. This four-week course will introduce you to the new digital landscape.”

Course home page

Disappointed with this course. This is one of my specialist knowledge areas and this did not stretch me at all and seemed rather “old school”.

Course 17: Why We Post: the Anthropology of Social Media (University College London, FutureLearn, 5 weeks, Q1 2016)
“This free online course is based on the work of nine anthropologists who each spent 15 months in fieldsites in Brazil, Chile, industrial and rural China, England, India, Italy, Trinidad and Turkey.
What are the consequences of social media?
The course offers a new definition of social media which concentrates on the content posted, not just the capabilities of platforms. It examines the increasing importance of images in communication and the reasons why people post memes, selfies and photographs.
Over five weeks you will explore the impact of social media on a wide range of topics including politics, education, gender, commerce, privacy and equality. You will come to understand how the consequences of social media vary from region to region.”

Course home page

Enjoyed seeing the use of social media in various countries around the world. A number of free e-books relating to this course are avaialble here.

Course 18: The Power of Social Media (Southampton University,FutureLearn, 2 weeks, Q2 2016)
“Explore the impact of social media on the world and learn how to put it to good use in everyday life.”

Course Home Page

Did this course via the course instructor asking me if it was OK to widen the G+ digital marketing community to cover this course which I duly did and decided to tag along and do the course. Lots of interaction via the comments, mainly with resource links to help fellow learners.

Course 19: Making MOOCs on a Budget (moocs4all.eu, 5 weeks, Q2 2016)
“This five-week course will show you how to build a MOOC, including lots of tips and tricks, and most importantly, at an affordable cost. It covers content creation and content sourcing from the web, assessment at large scale through the use of quizzes and peer assignments, communication between learners and course design. Not only will this course show you how to build a MOOC, it will provide you with support from tutors and fellow participants for four months if you wish to build your own MOOC.”

There were various levels that could be undertaken on this course as follows:-
1. Viewing and reading the course materials to gain an insight into the low-cost techniques that can be used to build MOOCs.
2. Taking all the quizzes successfully to gain a Certificate of Completion.
3. Submitting the quizzes and assignments and reviewing those of other participants to gain a Certificate of Accomplishment.
4. Lastly, you will have access to the course materials, tutors and fellow participants for a period of three months to help you build your own MOOC and gain a MOOC Builder Certificate.

I started the course with a view to certainly getting to level 3 and ideally going on to level 4 but only if I could build/host my MOOC with no personal financial expense as my studies are effectively only a hobby.

Course home page

I completed the teaching input on this course on 29 June 2016 including assessing the final assignments of 4 fellow learners thereby gaining my Certificate of Accomplishment.

Course 20: Business Process Management: an Introduction to Process Thinking (Queensland University of Technology, FutureLearn, 3 weeks, Q4 2016)
“This course exposes you to “process thinking”. As you engage with the course you will become aware of how business processes are around you everywhere, and the key role they play both in your personal and professional life as you provide and consume products and services.”
Course home page

Course 21: Foundations of the Social Age, Julian Stodd, 13 weeks, Q1 2017)

“In the Social Age, everything has changed. The Social Contract between organisation and individual is fractured, the nature of work is changing, we’ve seen the democratisation of communication and the devolution of creativity, with the old structures of power and control replaced by socially moderated and dynamic forms of Social Leadership. “

“This is a course for those who wish to build a broad understanding of the Social Age. Each week we will explore all aspects of the Social Age, share our stories and experiences and consider what these changes mean for us and for our organisations.  Each week we will write co-created story of our shared thoughts, true to the dynamic nature of knowledge in the Social Age. Every story should be different, but we can learn and build upon each one to develop and deepen our understanding.”

• Course home page
• My course notes

I got competitive on this MOOC as there was a leaderboard for engagement re comments, exercises completed etc. I finished top!

Current MOOC-related work
Following on from course 19, I was currently engaged (now on hiatus!) in building a MOOC. The following tweets provide some info on where I am headed with this:-

done Project Mgt 101 mooc outline for #moocs4all (https://t.co/peC9QUTBx7) exercise, happy to take feedback :) https://t.co/b3n7B6YAHS

— Simon Fogg (@srjf) 26 May 2016

on a first pass, thinking of using @TeachableHQ as my platform for free Project Management 101 MOOC as my #moocs4all exercise, good idea?

— Simon Fogg (@srjf) 29 May 2016

How to build and sell beautiful courses to your audience with @AnkurNagpal @TeachableHQ #podcast https://t.co/hQm9i4ufFD > #moocs4all #gse2x

— Simon Fogg (@srjf) 31 May 2016

Currently doing these courses
None! 

Signed-Up to do these courses
None!