Open Course Assessment

http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/science-technology-and-society/sts-471j-engineering-apollo-the-moon-project-as-a-complex-system-spring-2007/

I selected for the Open Course website review MIT and the course on engineering Apollo: The Moon Project a Complex System. The reason that I selected the course was because my class that I teach is about to enter into the Rocketry section of the year. This is a very exciting and eye opening section that the students seem to get very involved with.

Analysis of Open course-Looking at the site more critically I was looking for planning of the course/website and how it was laid out for the learner. The course has the layout and design of a typical online course. On the left hand side there are hyperlinks to all the different areas that are important to the course and to the learner (syllabus, readings, lecture notes, assignments, related resources, and download-entire course materials). Once you select the hyperlink that you are looking for it takes you to a different page where all the materials are laid out in an easy to read format, the font is approximately 20-24 font which is easy for the learner to read (Simonson, 2009). The text and titles are in different colors to indicate which is which (red-title & black-text). The course is well designed and the assignments are linked well to the syllabus and the lecture notes. It is well designed and organized and each “lesson” is linked to its assignment, notes, and resources. The resources are full of videos and media to enhance the course, not hinder them.

According to Dr. Piskurich (2010) this type of course would be asynchronous learner led course that is the 5th best choice for a course delivery style. This type of course would be highly dependent on the learner’s motivation. The course would be better for the learner if there was some sort of interaction between the instructor and the learner. However I do understand why it does not, the course is a free course, and thus no one is getting paid to lead it, grade the assignments, or delivers the material. The objectives of the course are not clearly defined and to make this course better that would need to be added. According to both Dr. Piskurich (2010) and Simonson (2009) the objectives have to be clearly stated and related to the needs of the learner. The activities that are related to the course are designed to make the learner think cognitively about the information that they processes and relate that information to the assignment/course project. Dr. Piskurich (2009) believes that one of the best ways to make the activities link to the objective is to use small groups leading to the large group. In the team project the learners are broken into smaller groups and they will display their projects to the entire class. The project is directed yet flexible enough to allow for the learners to show creativity and grasping of the objective (Piskurich, 2010).

Sources:
Laureate Education (Producer). (2010). Planning and Designing Courses. [Online]. Retrieved from Walden University eCollege.
Laureate Education (Producer). (2010). Developing Online Courses. [Online]. Retrieved from Walden University eCollege.
Simonson, M., Smaldino, S., Albright, M., & Zvacek, S. (2009). Teaching and learning at a distance: Foundations of distance education (4th ed.) Boston, MA: Pearson