UNSW has explored and continues to explore various MOOC platform providers, including:
UNSW and Coursera In Brief
- UNSW has entered into a non-exclusive partnership with Coursera to develop and deliver MOOCs
- The contract is between UNSW as an institution and Coursera. In practical terms, this requires all courses to be developed via the project led by the Learning & Teaching Unit (LTU). Faculties, Schools and Individuals cannot work independently with Coursera.
- Coursera is a for profit company currently operating with venture capital founded by Stanford Computer Scientists Andrew Ng & Daphne Koller Coursera provides the platform, hosts course content and supports course operations and design.
- Coursera provides aggregated analytics to UNSW as part of the agreement and explores monetization models on behalf of Coursera & its partners
- Coursera requires each course to be modularised into weeks with each week containing a cycle of resources, activities, support, evaluation and assessments UNSW’s contract with Coursera stipulates a number of Acceptance, Accessibility & Quality Assurance milestones before a course can be launched & during course offerings
- The courses are project managed by central UNSW staff with faculty developing and delivering each course
- Faculty academics are responsible for the pedagogic design and course quality. Coursera and the other partner instituions openly share course designs and there is vibrant discussion within the partner community forums
- UNSW can offer closed courses to registered students and Coursera will not contact those students nor use the data. If interested in this opportunity please contact the LTU
UNSW Course Design Model
UNSW uses the RASE model as a basis for course design. The model emphasises that courses typically comprise the following components to support and scaffold learning:
- Resources - e.g., crafted content to engage students through video experiments, demonstrations, mini-lectures, or readings, etc., enabling students to learn with, not just learn from resources
- Activities - for students to engage in using resources and working on tasks such as experiments and problem solving leading through experience towards achieving learning outcomes
- Support – including peer, GTA, course leader and technology-platform support to help students solve emerging difficulties
- Evaluation - to provide structured information to guide and enable student’ self-progress and to serve as a tool for understanding what else is needed to ensure that learning outcomes are being achieved
along with a range of summative assessment activities to assess and provide a basis for the certification of learning.