MOOCS – Yes they can work! 29 October 2015

Abstract

In 2013, The University of Melbourne became the first institution within Australia to partner with Coursera to deliver Massive Open Online Courses to students worldwide. Seven courses were initially developed, since then, the stable of offerings has increased to over 24, and by 2016, over 1 million students will have enrolled in a MOOC offered by The University of Melbourne. In this session, Peter Mellow and Susan Batur shared their experiences as learning designers actively involved in the development of MOOCs. The feedback and lessons learned as MOOCs continue to evolve make us rethink how we approach all aspects of online learning.

Presenters

Peter Mellow is the Learning Design Coordinator in Learning Environments, at the University of Melbourne. Previously he was a senior lecturer teaching sport science at Auckland University of Technology for 22 years. In 2007 he received a national Tertiary Teaching Excellence Award (New Zealand). He has also worked at Curtin University as an eLearning advisor. In 2013 Peter contributed to setting up The University of Melbourne’s MOOC programme. This work continued in 2014 with the rerun of the previous years’ MOOCs and the introduction of several new courses.

Susan Batur is a Learning Designer at the University of Melbourne (UoM). Susan joined UoM in late 2013 to assist with designing, developing and evaluating the growing number of MOOCs being offered by the University. Aside from working on MOOCs, Susan coordinates the Practical Pedagogy Series – a series of monthly workshops designed to showcase developments in teaching and learning with technology. Prior to joining The University of Melbourne, Susan has worked mostly within postgraduate medical education having held positions at various medical speciality colleges within Victoria.

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