MOOCs have been expanding in popularity and scope in the past decade. Instructors, university & school administrators, and policy makers are looking at MOOCs as a solution for enabling access to quality education at scale. The discussion around MOOCs is growing too, however, much of that is centred around technological or certification-related issues. There are not many advances in the pedagogical format, and many MOOCs end up being an online version of the traditional lecture. At the same time, several problems have been reported, such as, lack of learner engagement, low participation in forums and low completion rates.
The Learner-Centric MOOC (LCM) model consists of a set of design guidelines, activity constructors and recommended actions to help MOOCs creators address these challenges. The LCM model guides instructors in conceptualizing, creating and conducting a MOOC, while maintaining a learner-centric pedagogical approach at its core.
This website provides resources and links to learn about the LCM model. It contains a description of the model and its components, tools for instructors to design MOOCs, research and evaluation, and cases of design and implementation. A section of the website is devoted to community participation users of the LCM model.
Testimonials
“The learner-centric model greatly motivates the learner and has a positive impact on the learning process. It also encourages interactivity, sharing of ideas on the part of the learners. It also encourages development of critical thinking skills in the learners. Instructors are also encouraged to give timely and meaningful feedback which greatly aids the learning process.”
– Taurai George Rebanowako
Engineering Student Zimbabwe
“MOOCs sometimes are like one way traffic and gets boring. This interactive technique helps in keeping the learner engaged and motivates to finish the course with good grades.”
– Dr. M. S. Vasanthi
Engineering Teacher India
“The course provided a practical approach in developing, designing and running a MOOC as per the real need of enriching the learning experience. With the course inputs, I could successfully run my course on academic writing and could make it a successful MOOC. The course helped me in improving learner’s engagement by adopting LbD, LxT specifically. Thanks to the entire team of the course for the guidence and support.”
– Dr. Ajay Semalty
Engineering Teacher India