Guest Post: Prof. Lorena Barba
Title: Q&A with Prof. John Mitchell
Originally posted at Open edX Universities.org

 

Stanford University president, John Hennessy, created the office of the Vice Provost for Online Learning (VPOL) in Summer 2012—dubbed “the year of the MOOC” by The New York Times—and tapped Prof. John Mitchell to lead it.

John Mitchell is a computer scientist with a long career of research in programming languages and computer security. He has worked on web security and privacy, tackling the difficult task of expressing nuanced privacy concerns into programmable algorithms. This work was covered by The Economist magazine in January 2007 (“The logic of privacy,” Science & Technology section).

In 2009, Mitchell and his students developed a web platform to support teaching and learning called CourseWare. It was used for early experiments with “flipped classroom” pedagogies and was a precursor to the MOOC platforms of today.

As Stanford’s VPOL, John Mitchell supported around 450 projects involving nearly 10% of all Stanford faculty (about 200 instructors). In late 2014, the VPOL office at Stanford was combined with Academic Computing, Classroom Technology, and the Center for Teaching and Learning, with Mitchell leading the larger group as Vice Provost for Teaching and Learning (VPTL).

Q&A

—Some years back, you worked on applying algorithms to questions of privacy. What of that research could you apply today to issues related to student privacy, in an increasingly data-driven education system?

Privacy issues get interesting when clear needs for data come in conflict with privacy risks. For example, medical data is vital for improving health care and tracking the spread of epidemics. But most of us as patients worry about the privacy of our medical conditions and hope for fair treatment from insurers and employers.

Data analysis offers huge potential for improving education, but data must be handled carefully for many reasons. Students want to feel safe to try something and fail, without being judged. And parents worry about how their children will be assessed from the data collected by schools or private companies supplying learning technology.

An immediate way to reduce privacy risks is applying the computer-security principle of not collecting data we don’t need. Cryptography reduces the privacy risks and ensures confidentiality for the data we do collect. So despite the challenges of handling education data, our field draws on experience with other kinds of data and has tools to tighten security.

—In an interview with The Stanford Daily, you said: “It’s easy to build a platform … But it’s another thing getting new teaching and learning ideas adopted across campus and engaging the faculty …” What did you do as VPOL to address the second aspect?

We asked two things of each proposal from faculty teams: (1) a clear educational benefit to Stanford students; (2) a well articulated research component that pushed the envelope by trying new pedagogical techniques. They needed to do more than simply record classroom lectures or break up standard lectures into smaller pieces. Once faculty got into the studio and looked at what they could produce, they became enthusiastic about restructuring their courses and engaging students in different ways.

—The public may know of the efforts Stanford has put in MOOCs, with Stanford Online hosting its own Open edX platform and more courses available through Coursera. But what can you tell us about the adoption of online and blended learning with Stanford students on campus?

Over 2012-2014, several projects developed material to use on campus first, then released some of it in a MOOC. We worked together with the faculty over several academic terms, revising and extending the materials and coming back often to the needs of Stanford students.

The more compelling stories happened when a professor came back from the MOOC to rework the course again, looking to support a “river and tributaries” model. Rather than giving students just a linear sequence of topics, these courses let students get interested in side issues and explore them. Or they can support those that need a refresher before starting a new section, providing that support online and on demand.

—Some watchers of the ed tech scene say that Stanford’s own open-source platform, Class2Go, was a better product than Open edX. Why did you decide to abandon development of Class2Go?

Thanks for the compliment. We had a great engineering team, led by two experienced industry professionals: Sef Kloninger and Jane Manning . They did a great job. But as our ambitions grew, we decided for the advantages of teaming up with others.

—You announced the partnership of Stanford with edX to develop the Open edX software in April 2013. What brought about this partnership?

We had developed Class2Go quickly, to experiment with different learning formats and to explore different pricing models and other options. But it’s a lot of work to develop a full-featured and reliable platform. It didn’t make sense to take that on alone, if there were other institutions with similar needs. I was happy that Anant Agarwal and edX as a whole were enlightened and delivered on their promise of open-sourcing their platform as we dropped Class2Go and devoted our modest engineering effort to the shared code base.

—Stanford is unique in its approach to embracing any platform that faculty want to use—with faculty posting on iTunes U, YouTube, EdNovo, Coursera, and Stanford Online. What is the rationale behind giving faculty such freedom?

We are looking at education far into the future. The format supported by Coursera can currently be effective for many courses. But NovoEd offers a different model that could have advantages for courses that include student projects. We are learning as we go, and it’s essential to try different approaches to see what works best.

I’d like to see every professor learn from what others have done, consult experts like our VPTL team who try to keep abreast of the latest ideas, and give their students the most valuable learning experiences. Digital technology is amazingly flexible and we want to take advantage of that.

—It seems that many new ideas in education are born in Stanford and then are widely adopted. Why do you think this is? And do you see any fresh new area that could be the next surprise development?

I’m proud to be at Stanford where we have some of the most creative, committed, and knowledgeable faculty in the world. We also have an entrepreneurial spirit on campus and enough confidence to try things that fail. But we are part of a broad academic community and there are great ideas cropping up everywhere.

We all try to understand what works best for our students. I think we will see video used more sparingly. It’s a great medium for giving a short explanation and capturing the enthusiasm of the professor. But students learn by doing, so we will build more ways for students to struggle with ideas on their own or in collaboration with others.

In another front, we are still trying to find the modern digital analog of the book. Professors write text books to share their knowledge and teaching methods with others but we haven’t quite figured out how to produce rich digital learning tools that work, across institutions and for instructors who teach different student populations. It’s a challenge but very exciting to face so many unknowns!

Learn more!

• Prof. Mitchell announcing the “Year of Learning” for academic year 2015–2016. Published on Sep 18, 2015

https://youtu.be/OY9RUc4kpxY

 

• At the #mediaX2015 Conference, Prof. Mitchell gives an overview of Stanford’s online-learning initiatives over the last few years. Published on Jun 4, 2015

“Learning should be thought as a lifelong pursuit. With a continual demand for professional development –and the personal fulfillment that goes with additional education– there are many reasons to keep on learning”, wrote Anant Agarwal, CEO at edX and Professor at MIT, in an article on LinkedIn.

More opportunities than ever before

“There are now more opportunities for lifelong learning than ever before. With the advent of online learning, open education resources, and MOOCs, we have amazing opportunities to engage in high-quality courses from the best schools around the world, for a very low cost, or for free. Anyone with Internet access can participate in these courses and, ultimately, more minds can be opened than ever before.”

Filling gaps left by under-resourced schools

“Online educational opportunities can help complement students’ in-classroom learning, filling gaps left by under-resourced schools”. An example of this gap can be found in computer science classwork. “A study showed that 90% of parents feel that computer science instruction would be great for their children, and over 60% believed that CS classes should be even mandatory. Yet 75% of the school principals polled said that their schools offer no CS programming classes whatsoever. The same is true of advanced courses.”

Growing mismatch between qualifications and demanded skills

“The working world is changing faster than any time in history. Keeping up is the challenge. Much of our modern world is driven by this microchip technology and it requires society to continually keep up the pace – and not just in engineering and computer science. The skills gap results as there is a growing mismatch between the qualifications of workers in the economy and the skills demanded by employers.”

Middle-skills gap

“There is also a ‘middle-skills’ gap in technology that involves the use of more everyday digital tools like spreadsheets or word processors. As these programs have become ubiquitous in modern workplaces, additional training is needed for people to keep up and/or get employment where they couldn’t before.”

A must-have for anyone working in a career that encourages innovation

“Similar innovation occurs daily in all fields – medical sciences, chemistry, space exploration, business, finance and far too many others to name here. We must continue to educate ourselves on all the latest findings, techniques, and opportunities. Lifelong learning isn’t a nice-to-have, it’s a must-have for anyone working in a career that encourages innovation.”

University’s “learn-then-work” model has become antiquated

“Traditionally, university systems have been designed around a “learn-then-work” model – a concept that came about in a centuries-old world where change was slower. It has now become antiquated. Universities must retool for this continuous learning world; approaching an unbundled model.”

Starting higher education largely online

“In an unbundled model, students might begin their higher education largely online, perhaps even their entire first year. Then they might have two years of on-campus schooling, followed by in-the-field instruction. For years after that, they would continue learning new skills, potentially again online, throughout their careers. This more flexible, continuous model is better suited for modern times.”

“Unbundling may also enable learners to obtain the education they need in a pay-as-you-go model, unlike today where you are betting all your effort and dollars on a major at age 18 – much like a roll of the dice.”

The University of Michigan (U-M), a founding partner in Coursera, is joining the edX consortium this month.

This university will use the name MichiganX and will launch at least 20 new courses on edX during the next two years. The first one will be titled “Finance for Everyone: Smart Tools for Decision-Making”, and it is scheduled for April 5, 2016. The coming two courses will focus on learning analytics and data science ethics.

U-M’s relationship with Coursera will continue, along with the existing one with NovoEd.

Leaders at U-M say edX adds yet another opportunity for faculty to experiment in the digital space.

Open edX Symposium’s organizing committee has announced the opening keynote. It will be delivered by Kenneth Koedinger, professor of Human-Computer Interaction and Psychology at Carnegie Mellon University.

Prof. Koedinger’s research aims to understand human learning and create educational technologies that increase student success. He is widely known for developing Cognitive Models and Cognitive Tutors: computer simulations of student thinking and learning, and software applying artificial intelligence to guide students through problem-based learning.

He recently co-authored the paper “Learning is not a spectator sport: doing is better than watching for learning from a MOOC” supporting the “learning by doing” movement.

The first Open edX Universities Symposium will be celebrated on November 11, 2015 at The George Washington University, in Washington DC.

This one-day event will bring together faculty, technologists, and leaders of higher education to share experiences and reflect on innovative uses of open-source technologies like the Open edX platform for online and blended learning, including degree-accruing, open, and professional education.

The inspiration for this symposium has come from an interest in having conversations with others who are thinking about owning and controlling their online content and platforms via open-source solutions.

The conversation will be structured around topics of general concern in online learning:

— Web-enhanced learning and pedagogy
— Learning analytics
— Inter-institutional collaboration

PRE-SYMPOSIUM EVENT

In addition, the organizing committee has setup a special pre-symposium event on November 10, 3-5 PM, with two prominent speakers:

 

—Barbara Oakley, instructor of one of the most popular MOOCs of all time, “Learning How To Learn,” with more than a million registered so far, will give an updated version of her Harvard talk “Lessons from a basement studio: how to make a riveting online class.”

–Charles Severance (Dr. Chuck), instructor of the legendary course “Programming for Everybody” will give a special presentation titled “Creating student-teacher connections at scale.”

Registration for the event is open to anyone at OpenedXUniversities.org, although space is limited.

 

[Disclosure: IBL is part of the Organizing Committee and a Technical Partner of the Symposium]

A group of edX partners and developers lead by Phil McGachey, from Harvard University, has successfully tested the LTI standard as a tool provider in edX’s Edge environment (for edX’s partners only), with Canvas and Blackboard as tool consumers. This development, that fits with edX’s goal of improving on-campus education for its partners, is a pilot for now –not a complete implementation of the LTI 1.1 protocol.

As a result of this preliminary effort, elements of Open edX courses –including video and advanced assessments– are embedded as learning experiences into other LMSs which are more specialized in student management. This way course teams can reuse content they are developing in edX MOOCs for residential courses delivered through Canvas or Blackboard. The Open edX platform can also be treated as a library of learning objects.

In addition, it will offer transfer of grades and synchronization capabilities: data about their performance on Open edX assessments will flow into the gradebook they use along with the grades for all their other assessments.

“At Harvard, our faculty want to to use these materials not just in their edX MOOCs, but also on campus. Integrating Canvas and edX through LTI gives us a transparent way to combine the strengths of each platform,” said Phil McGachey.

—
Documentation: Open edX as an LTI Tool Provider

This is a summary of the talk “MOOCs and Their Impact on Corporate Training: the edX Experiences”, that IBL’s Founder Michael Amigot gave at EC-TEL 2015 in Toledo, Spain, on September 17.

Michael Amigot ran, along with Carmen L. Padrón-Nápoles, manager at ATOS, the Industry Track at EC-TEL 2015, one of the main European conferences in e-learning.

 

MOOCs ON CORPORATE TRAINING

MOOCs are having a big impact on corporate training. Increasingly business organizations are considering MOOCs as part of their professional development activities, intended to educate employees.

• “Corporate universities” –over 4,000 around the world, such as General Electric, Arcelor Mittal and Apple– are building curriculums tailored to their strategies that include MOOCs.

• There is even a name for these corporate MOOCs: EPICs – Enterprise Private Internet-enabled Courses. This is reminiscent of SPOCs (Small, Private Online Courses).

• Corporate training is now delivered through online, blended or hybrid courses.

• Coursera, edX and Udacity are the main platforms that offer university-style MOOCs.

 

OPEN EDX’S MAIN ADOPTERS

However, Open edX is the only system that allows companies to create internal corporate platforms for MOOCs.

The main corporate adopters are McKinsey & Company, Johnson & Johnson, International Monetary Fund, MongoDB, Salesforce, HP and EMC.

They are using the Open edX open-source technology to educate employees, customers, partners, and prospects. They also use Open edX as a recruiting tool.

As an open source platform, Open edX benefits from the software contributions of universities and major companies such as McKinsey, Google, Microsoft and Qualcomm.

A PREMIUM LEARNING PLATFORM

The Open edX platform is a worthy competitor of more established LMSs such as Cornerstone, Saba, SumTotal – Skillsoft, Canvas LMS, Blackboard and Moodle.

The Open edX project is a global success. It powers major MOOC initiatives from all around the world, hosting blended and online courses.

It was created by MIT and Harvard University, and was quickly supported by universities such as UC Berkeley, Georgetown, and Stanford, and companies such as Google and Microsoft.

• Open edX makes learning easier and studying faster. It offers an engaging learning experience for learners and instructors. It has a fresh and intuitive UI, managed by the powerful “Studio” authoring tool.

• It promotes active learning by using video snippets, interactive components and game-like experiences.

• It has shown that it can scale to millions of users.

Princeton University has joined the edX Consortium as a charter member.

Its first course on edX.org is scheduled for October, “Making Government Work in Hard Places”. The second one will come in January 2016: “The Art of Structural Engineering: Bridges”.

Jeff Himpele, director for teaching initiatives and programs at the University’s McGraw Center for Teaching and Learning, said that the decision to join edX is a response to the needs of faculty members.

“Faculty continue to ask for an expanding set of online tools, different kinds of environments, as well as tools for learning analytics they can use to study student learning in open courses and in private campus courses.”

Professor Jennifer Widner, who will teach “Making Government Work in Hard Places”, explained that she was attracted to edX by its clear, simple structure.

“Online courses can be confusing to navigate. EdX’s clarity is a highlight and is important if not all users speak the same language.”

Maria Garlock, who will lead the “The Art of Structural Engineering: Bridges” course, said that she hopes to make engineering education accessible to everyone.

“I believe that all of us, not just engineers, should be educated about the design of our civil works and their history and significance,” she stated.

“We’re joining a consortium of edX member universities whose primary mission is expanding access to education and advancing it through research,” Himpele said. “There are a number of faculty at Princeton who want to do research on open online courses and others who will be able to enhance their teaching on campus by analyzing student learning in online environments connected with their courses.”

“Princeton’s commitment to open education for both learners and faculty aligns with the edX mission to increase access to education, enhance teaching and learning, and to conduct research,” said Anant Agarwal, edX chief executive and MIT professor. “We are honored to welcome Princeton and connect this prestigious university with the edX global learning community as we join efforts to make high-quality education accessible for all.”

OPEN EDX FOR COURSES ON CAMPUS

“EdX also offers an open-source platform, Open edX, which will allow the University greater flexibility to design and develop custom sites for courses offered on campus”, Himpele said.

“In adopting these customizable environments, it will allow us to take further our experiments in relating online learning environments to our curriculum on campus and integrating them with existing courses or creating new courses or course modules,” Himpele said.

Princeton also offers open online courses on the Coursera platform and plans to offer courses on Kadenze, an online learning platform specifically created to support the arts and creative technologies. The University has also offered courses through NovoEd.

Princeton’s open online courses are free and do not result in credit.

https://youtu.be/luQfWSfb1s0

Google has launched a new version of its Course Builder LMS, the 1.9.0 release.

Course Builder 1.9, available on GitHub, improves the instructor’s user interface and skill mapping capabilities to visualize competencies of students –as shown in the image below.

This initiative –which tries to compete with Open edX– is part of Google Open Education.

The way to learn from a MOOC is by doing.

A study by Carnegie Mellon University found that just watching videos without engaging interactively is an ineffective way to learn.

The title of this paper is eloquent: “Learning is Not a Spectator Sport: Doing is Better than Watching for Learning from a MOOC”.

“When one is watching a lecture or reading material, there’s an illusion of learning,” said in Wired Campus’ Blog Kenneth Koedinger, a professor of human-computer interaction and psychology at Carnegie Mellon, and an author of a report on the study. “Lessons communicated in a lecture don’t stick.”

“When students listen to a lecture or read text, it is easy for them to feel confident that they know the material. But that feeling is deceptive, because sometimes students come away from lectures with misconceptions. And without trying to replicate what they’ve learned in lectures or receiving feedback on their work, they won’t know when they’re making mistakes.”

“MOOCs can be a great way to get learning distributed to more people. But we need to put more emphasis on developing interactive materials.”

Anant Agarwal, CEO of edX, highlighted that edX courses already contain the kinds of interactive activities and instant feedback described by the researchers.

Kenneth Koedinger will be the keynote speaker of the first Open edX Universities Symposium on November 11 in Washington DC.

– Download the research paper (PDF)

Udacity’s “Nanodegree” program is showing “a glimmer of success”, according to The New York Times. Within one year, 10,000 students have enrolled into the program and the number is growing by one third every month. Hundreds have found new jobs as a result of this workforce certification.

This would be one of the first MOOC programs –if not the first– that proves to be financially successful.

Udacity –a four-year-old MOOC private platform competing with Coursera and edX.org– has developed its nanodegree courses in conjunction with technology companies such as Google and AT&T, interested in hiring people with technical skills mostly in mobile programming, data analysis and web development.

Udacity charges $200 a month for the courses; it gives back half of the tuition when the student completes the course. A typical student earns a nanodegree credential in about five months, for $500. The graduation rate is 25 percent.

Udacity’s founder, Sebastian Thrun, said that after years of trial and error it has hit a model of vocational training than can be scaled up to teach millions of people technical skills and help them find jobs.

“It’s a mistake to think that a single college education can carry you for a lifetime. To keep pace with change, your education has to be done throughout your life,” he says.

To solve the need of one-on-one coaching, mentorship, career counseling and job-interviewing skills, Udacity has created a network of paid graders who asses students’ submitted projects. Graders can earn $50 to $100 an hour.

Udacity achieved profitability in July, according to its founder. This company of 150 employees raised $35 million from investors last year.