In 2016 the University of Sydney launched its first MOOC on the Coursera platform. We currently have 5 MOOCs running with a further 7 to be launched later this year and early 2017. The current suite of MOOCs under development were selected to showcase the University’s research strengths or to meet a funding opportunity offered by Coursera for the development of specialisations in targeted areas identified through their market research.
We are now inviting expressions of interest from academic staff to develop MOOCs in 2017 with support from the Education Portfolio. MOOCs are generally taught in 5 weeks blocks with approximately 40 minutes of video lecture content per week together with readings and assessments. Each MOOC highlights the University’s distinctive expertise for a world-wide audience of learners, through content of high educational quality and an effective assessment approach.
A grant will be made available to each academic or team of academics whose MOOC is selected for production. The funds are intended to supplement the in-kind production support from the Education Portfolio and provide additional assistance in the development of course resources (including assessment tasks) and initial course delivery.
The EOI for the open online course should include:
- Title of the proposed MOOC
- Name of the academic lead
- List of proposed project team members.
- A brief course description, including intended learning outcomes
- The rationale for an open online offering of the course. This might detail the alignment with areas of research expertise and strategic priorities of the University or alignment with Coursera’s Career Tracks Content List (See Appendix for further details)
- Description of the target audience
- Description of the course design and course content
- Strategic benefit to the University of Sydney
- Confirmation of support from head(s) of staff members’ academic unit(s)
EOIs should be submitted via this form by Friday December 2nd, 2016. Staff who are interested in submitting EOIs are encouraged to contact Marianna Koulias, Educational Design Manager (MOOC Program) at [email protected] with any queries including the likely time commitment and copyright constraints associated with MOOC production and delivery.
The key selection criteria for the open online courses are that:
- They will be of high educational quality
- They will reflect excellence in research and education at the University of Sydney
- They will provide important strategic benefit to the University
- The produced course resources can be used (and re-used) in ways that have significant strategic impact for the University (e.g. effective outreach programs in areas of strategic priority, improvement of learning experiences for significant numbers of on-campus students such as in units of study including those in the Open Learning Environment)
A small panel chaired by the DVC (Education) will be established to select proposals to proceed to a production phase.
