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Learning With: ‘Jackie Robinson Showed Me How to Fight On, Not Fight Back’

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Learning With: ‘Jackie Robinson Showed Me How to Fight On, Not Fight Back’

Before reading the article:

What do you know about Jackie Robinson, the legendary baseball player who would have turned 100 years old on Jan. 31?

Look at this slide show on his life.

What did you learn about Robinson from the slide show? What most intrigued you? Did anything surprise you? What further questions do you have about his life or legacy?

Now, read the article, “Jackie Robinson Showed Me How to Fight On, Not Fight Back,” and answer the following questions:

1. How did Robinson inspire Claire Smith, the author, to become a sportswriter?

2. Why does Ms. Smith write, “But I wish I could say, with a straight face, that I actually heard Robinson’s name while still in the womb?” How was Robinson a constant presence in her family’s life growing up?

3. Why did the author’s parents and so many other African-Americans at the time need heroes?

4. Why did watching a movie about Robinson’s life in her third-grade class affect Ms. Smith so deeply, even though it was “pure Hollywood, and never destined to be an epic”?

5. Ms. Smith states that Robinson transformed baseball and the country. Do you agree with her claim? Why does the author say that she is proud to have helped keep his story alive?

6. The article concludes: “It is, at heart, the story of the man who, at his best and bravest, showed us all how to be strong enough not to fight back but rather to fight on and on and on.” What is the difference between fighting back and fighting on? Do you agree with the author that it takes greater strength to fight on?

Finally, tell us more about what you think:

— What does Jackie Robinson mean to you? What lessons can we learn from him on his 100th birthday?

— Look back at the slide show. Select one photo of Robinson that stands out to you most. Tell us why you chose that image. How does it exemplify the qualities that make Robinson so revered, nearly half a century after his death?

— Why is it important to remember and commemorate people’s lives, even many years after their death? Are there any athletes or people alive today whom you think we will want to remember in 100 years? If yes, who would you want to remember and why?

Further Resources:

To celebrate Robinson’s 100th birthday, The Times published several additional articles:

• On Jackie Robinson’s 100th Birthday, 100 Photos of an Icon

• For Baseball and the Country, Jackie Robinson Changed the Game

Here’s how The Times covered the 50th anniversary of Robinson’s first Major League game in 1997, and his death in 1972:

• Baseball Has Yet to Deliver Greatest Tribute to Jackie Robinson

• Jackie Robinson, First Black in Major Leagues, Dies

International Women’s Day 2018 – 5 women who inspire us to keep learning

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International Women’s Day 2018 – 5 women who inspire us to keep learning

1. Mary Treat, Naturalist

Mary Treat researched, documented and wrote about plants and butterflies, corresponding with Charles Darwin and Asa Gray and critiquing their work during the 19th century – a time when women scientists were few and far between. Despite her reputation and importance as a entomologist, biologist and science writer, a complete biography of her still doesn’t exist.

Read more about Mary Treat
Follow in her footsteps with a biology course

(Image from Women in History Blog.)


2. Edmonia Lewis, Artist

A trailblazer in the world of sculpture, Edmonia Lewis is acknowledged as the first professional female African-American and Native-American artist. Although born in New York in the mid-19th century Edmonia spent the majority of her life in Rome, where she learnt Italian and spent her time sculpting – without help from local workmen, despite the trend of doing so at the time.

Read more about Edmonia Lewis
Follow in her footsteps with an art course

3. Ellen Richards, Chemist

Ellen Richards was one of the first women admitted to MIT in 1873. She explored the chemistry of substances used in the home, laying the scientific groundwork for home economics. As well as conducting important research into sanitation and how to improve people’s living conditions, she paved the way for more women in science, eventually establishing a laboratory at MIT for women.

Read more about Ellen Richards
Follow in her footsteps with an chemistry course

4. Nora Stanton Barney, Engineer

From a line of outspoken suffragists and campaigners, Nora Stanton Barney campaigned for women’s rights and excelled as a civil engineer and architect in the first half of the 20th century. She was the first woman to earn membership to the American Society of Civil Engineers, who she later took to court for denying her a more senior membership because of her gender. At every turn she refused to let the sexism of the time hold her back.

Read more about Nora Stanton Barney
Follow in her footsteps with an engineering course

5. Katherine Sui Fun Cheung

Katherine Sui Fun Cheung was the first Chinese-American to hold a pilot’s license, earning it at a time when only 1% of pilots in the USA were women. An expert in acrobatic displays she swooped and barrel-rolled her way into the history books, meeting Amelia Earhart and joining all-women’s flying club the Ninety-Nines. A couple of years ago a documentary was made about her remarkable story.

Read more about Katherine Sui Fun Cheung
Follow in her footsteps with courses about technology

(Image from Popular Aviation Flying Magazine)

Which women inspire you to keep learning? Let us know in the comments.

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What are the expectations of disabled learners when participating in a MOOC?

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What are the expectations of disabled learners when participating in a MOOC?

A short summary of the work in progress paper ‘What are the expectations of disabled learners when participating in a MOOC?’ which was presented at L@S: Fourth Annual ACM Conference on Learning at Scale

By Francisco Iniesto, PhD research student, Open World Learning, Institute of Educational Technology, The Open University

MOOCs are making low cost learning opportunities available at large scale to diverse groups of learners. For that reason, MOOCs need to be accessible so that they can offer flexibility of learning and benefits to all. In order to direct efforts towards developing accessible MOOCs, it is important to understand the current expectations of disabled learners.

Expectations of disabled learners

This particular study aims to understand the current expectations of disabled learners when taking part in MOOCs. To explore this, data is analysed from surveys conducted with a set of FutureLearn MOOCs that were designed and delivered by the Open University (OU).  A sample of eight MOOC presentations from 2015 were selected to cover a range of subjects: The Science of Nutrition, Elements of Renewable Energy, Learn to code for data analysis, Smart Cities, The Business of film, The Lottery of Birth, Understanding Musical Scores and Get Started with Online learning.

Responses to the same pre- and post-course surveys were requested from learners across all eight MOOCs. Those completing these surveys are asked to indicate if they consider themselves to have a disability.

Preliminary results

Our preliminary study uses this to allow comparison focussed on three key questions in the survey that can be used to understand the expectations of disabled learners from MOOCs: Why are you interested in studying this course?, Which of the following subject areas are you interested in?;  and, What sort of online course have you taken?

Limitations to this analysis are that it was undertaken with a small number of MOOC presentations, and that a simple disability marker may not reflect diversity within the population. It should not be assumed that these results generalise to the whole of the disabled learner population, or that this population is homogenous in nature. Nevertheless, some preliminary findings can be drawn for further investigation:

  • The proportions of disabled learners taking part in MOOCs and responding to these surveys are lower than the disabled population in general, and also below current proportions found in OU registered students and in the Open Educational Resources (OERs) repository OpenLearn.
  • In comparison with other learners, disabled learners are particularly interested in taking up MOOCs to determine if they can study at a higher educational level and to link to voluntary work. They are less interested in the relevance of the MOOC to their work, or in using MOOCs to improve their English.  
  • Based on this initial analysis, disabled learners appear to be more interested in these subject areas: Society, History and Arts and Nature and Environment. Languages seem to be of least interest.
  • Finally, disabled learners have previous experience in online courses that allows them to get university credit, which is related to their interest in studying at a higher educational level. They have less experience of participating in online courses for continuing professional development. They have more previous experience using OERs than MOOCs.

Current and future work

Results from disabled learners are compared with those of other learners and preliminary findings are used to frame an agenda for our further work. Planned work with this data includes the following aspects:

  • It would appear fruitful to include related data in the analysis, such as demographics, completion rate and satisfaction.
  • Including categories of disability, (e.g. Visual impairment, hard of hearing or learning difficulties) will provide greater insight into differences within the population of disabled learners.
  • Extensions to the analysis approach to include clustering of responses, and identification of correlations.
  • Increase the sample to more MOOCs and their survey data to form a more comprehensive picture.
  • Undertake a qualitative interview study of learners to capture the disabled learners’ experiences with MOOCs in depth. This study, which has been finished at the moment of writing this blogpost, will be useful to understand in detail the accessibility issues learners may be facing in MOOCs.

Read the full paper written by Francisco Iniesto, Patrick McAndrew, Shailey Minocha and Tim Coughlan in Open Research Online (ORO) 

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Research insights

How FutureLearn is preparing for the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)

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How FutureLearn is preparing for the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)

What is GDPR?

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) – the strengthening of data protection in the European Union (EU) – comes into effect on 25 May 2018. The regulation will apply to all companies located in the EU or processing the personal data of any individual residing in the EU.

How will it affect you when you use FutureLearn?

As FutureLearn collects and processes the personal information of our learners all over the world, we fall within the scope of the GDPR. This means we’ve made some changes to ensure the way we handle and store your data is GDPR compliant.

There won’t be any major changes; we’ll just be tightening up the ways we collect, store, share or otherwise process any personal data. The new regulations mean that we need to let you know and understand what happens with your personal data and why, when you use FutureLearn.

You’ll also have a greater say in how your personal data is processed. We have been working to allow you to understand exactly what will happen to the information you give FutureLearn, including allowing you to give consent to receive different emails from us, as well as the data you share with us at different stages in your journey on our platform. All of this has entailed some changes, which are detailed below.

Updates to our Privacy Policy and Terms and Conditions

We’ve updated our Privacy Policy to be clearer about how, when and why we process your data. We have also made some small changes to our Terms and Conditions.

Updates to the way we send emails

Soon all of our emails will be sent from @mail.futurelearn.com rather than @futurelearn.com. Add our new email address to your address book so you don’t miss out on important information regarding your courses.

We’ve also updated our email preferences so that you can choose the emails you want to receive. You can set your email preferences to choose whether you receive extra information about your courses and other relevant information about courses and products on FutureLearn.

You can also choose whether you’d like to be contacted about new courses and recommendations from our team, receive emails about research to help improve FutureLearn, and choose whether you’d like to be notified about new followers or replies from fellow learners on your courses.

You can find your email preferences in your settings page.

Child consent

In future, you’ll be asked to tell us your age when you log in so that we can identify any children using FutureLearn. You’ll only be asked this once. You must be at least 13 years old to use FutureLearn.

We strongly believe in protecting the privacy of children. In line with this belief, we have implemented additional safeguards to ensure this, but please rest assured that we do not store your age unless you are under the age of 18, and we do not ask for your date of birth.

What happens to your data if you delete your account?

If you decide that you want to delete your account, you can now request this on your account page. When your account is deleted we remove all of your personal data that we hold. This includes your name, profile information and any comments you may have left on courses. The majority of your data is removed immediately, and the process is complete within 24 hours.

Informing you about what we do with your data

In addition to our updated Privacy Policy, we have also updated the notices we display whenever we process your data (e.g. when you post a comment or sign up to a course) so that you are always fully aware of what we will do with your data and why.

 

From the FutureLearn team

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FutureLearn news

Who are our Learners? Part 4: The ‘Leisure’ archetypes

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Who are our Learners? Part 4: The ‘Leisure’ archetypes

A research-based insight into FutureLearners.

Part 4: The ‘Leisure’ archetypes.

By Tracey Walker, User Experience Researcher at FutureLearn

In part one, Tracey explained how the research and data team at FutureLearn set out to understand more about our learners. You can read more about this in Part 1: what we did and why.

In part two, Tracey focused on the ‘Work and Study’ group of archetypes while in part three, she focused on the ‘Personal Life’ group. In this final article in the series, Tracey focuses on the last of the groups of archetypes that came out of the research, the ‘Leisure’ archetypes. Within this category, there were two different archetypes; hobbyists and vitalisers – read on to find out who these archetypes are and what they want from FutureLearn.

Hobbyists

Hobbyists learn in order to support their existing personal projects, leisure activities and pastimes. Our courses complement, inform and enable their activities. A high proportion of Hobbyists were retired and therefore more likely to be in the 56-75 age group and 61% of them were from Europe. Hobbyists had the best activation rate and the best full participation rate in comparison with other learners on the platform.

What do Hobbyists want from FutureLearn?

  • A wide variety of non-vocational courses to suit their hobbies, e.g. history topics
  • Courses they can join when needed
  • Opportunities to go into more depth
  • Packs of course content and access to related resources

Vitalisers

Vitalisers learn as a hobby and for the love of learning. They may be proud to call themselves lifelong learners, occupying themselves by learning anything of personal interest. They see learning as an enjoyable and stimulating activity, perhaps even an indulgence. The majority of vitalisers were retired and more likely to come from Europe (63%). Vitalisers had the highest number of enrolments of all archetypes.

What do Vitalisers want from FutureLearn?

  • Regular supply of diverse and interesting courses, allowing them to learn regularly
  • To spend personal and luxury time learning
  • Sound, accessible content and good reference materials
  • To feel stimulated, mentally active and entertained
  • To feel good about themselves, their identity as a learner and their good use of time

What type of learner are you?

At FutureLearn, we are obsessed with understanding our learners and will continue to do research to explore learner motivations and how they might be changing and evolving. In fact, very few of our learners in the research identified with only one archetype and it was very common for a learner that strongly identified with the Advancer archetype, for example, to also think of themselves as an Explorer to some degree.

We are very excited about the prospect of other archetypes emerging over time and exploring what we can do to cater for their needs. You never know, you may be our new Archetype. What type of learner are you?

Read more in part 1: what we did and why, part 2: The ‘Work and Study’ archetypes and part 3: Who are our learners: The ‘Personal Life’ archetypes.

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Research insights

Are learners learning? (and how do we know?)

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Are learners learning? (and how do we know?)

A snapshot of research into what we know about how FutureLearners learn.

By Matt Jenner SFHEA, Learning Developer at FutureLearn

Our purpose, at FutureLearn, is to help everyone fulfil their potential in a changing world, by transforming access to education. Rightfully, we’re not alone, but bold statements need to give evidence of their impact. Our approach is to understand our learners and look for patterns that provide evidence of an overall positive experience. And if a pattern shows something’s not working, we make some changes. We want to create a compelling learner experience; this is something to celebrate.

We would be lost if we didn’t know much about our learners – so we need to understand what happens with learners throughout the run of a course. Using data to improve the experience is at the root of every successful technology, without such insight there is a blindness towards what’s happening and how to make improvements.

What do we measure?

To begin discussion on aspects of learning, we need to consider what that ‘learning’ means in terms of a learner taking a FutureLearn course. So below we’re sharing some of our definitions, which help shape what happens on a typical journey of a learner:

  • Joiner – someone who registers for a course.
  • Learner – a Joiner who views at least one step in a course.
  • Active Learner – a Learner who goes on to mark at least one step as complete in a course.
  • Social Learner – a Learner who leaves at least one comment in a course.
  • Completed Learner (50%) – Active Learners who mark at least half of the steps as complete.
  • Completed Learner (90%) – Active Learners who mark at least 90% of the course as complete.  

Measuring learning is tricky – as most FutureLearn courses are open to anyone who wishes to take part. This means, perhaps bizarrely, a social learner doesn’t have to become an active learner! But nevertheless, we look for patterns that help us know what’s happening, and where we can help support learners achieving their goals.

What do we know?

The following data comes from an analysis of 1222 open (to anyone) FutureLearn courses running between August 2016 and December 2017.

50% of people who enrol become Learners

Half of all Joiners (those who register for a course) become Learners. This means, on average, 50% of the people who click the ‘Join’ button never make it into the course when it’s running. This sounds like a lot, it is! You can join a course before it starts, which then requires waiting until you can become a Learner. The longer the period of time before someone joins, to when the course starts, the less likely they may become a Learner. Related analysis shows that learning together offers a more compelling experience than alone (a cohort course vs. anytime enrolment) – so while we would like more people who join a course to become Learners, we also can’t compromise an experience we value highly – courses have a start date for a reason.

35% of people who enrol become active learners by completing at least one step

An Active Learner is someone who has completed at least one step of a course. Completion is something we’ve always wanted Learners to be in control of, which is why nearly all steps provide a ‘Mark as complete’ button for Learners. Once a Learner has completed they mark it as complete and it adds to the Learner’s overall course progress. Active Learners need to mark 90% of steps as complete, and pass assessments, to obtain a Certificate of Achievement – which helps provide demonstrable evidence of learning.

49% of Learners are social

Being social is critical to learning, and we built our platform, and every course, around this concept. Anyone taking a FutureLearn course will quickly see that social interaction is encouraged, by discussions in nearly every step and by educators. Learners will find that educators will encourage discussion within a step with leading questions and thought-provoking prompts. Learners don’t have to post comments to be social, there’s a lot of benefit from reading, liking and following as well.

30% of active learners complete at least 50% of course steps. 21% go on to complete at least 90%

This is a measure of Learners heading towards, and achieving, success in a course. Completion is where learners mark individual steps at complete (except for quizzes, which mark themselves after the first attempt). When Learners mark their first step as complete, we hope it helps them feel in control of their learning and making progress in a course. Once a Learner has marked a number of steps as complete they may be approaching the halfway point. The significance of this is shown in our headline above, upon becoming a Completing Learner, reaching half-way, the majority continue on their journey through to full completion – 90% or more.

Does social learning work?

Conversation is a fundamental mechanism for learning. To be successful it needs to be contextual, engaging and constructive. Discussion and commenting follows course content, Learners respond socially to the topics of the course, and interactions between Learners support self, and peer learning. At FutureLearn, we focus on learning as conversation which builds on the foundations of Conversation Theory (Pask, 1976) which was developed further into the Conversational Framework (Laurillard). These underlying theories and frameworks support the structure of conversations incorporated how we approach social learning in the design of courses and developing our platform.

Making the most of this data

Theory is lost without evidence, and our approach to social learning is proving effective as we explore, benchmark and analyse courses. The headlines we have shared above are a part of our reporting, measuring and strategic planning for courses, our platform and us as a company. They are only a subset and they are only indicative of the underlying activity taking place. We are very aware each learner has their own motivations and goals for taking a FutureLearn course, we make no implication that being included in a bundle of numbers says we can make firm conclusions. They are, however, still useful measures – if we made a change to how social works in courses, we can then take some measurements and ascertain if the change was a good idea. We have, in the past, taken new features away as they had a detrimental impact. The majority, we’re happy to report, do the opposite – we keep changes that make a significant positive impact on the learner experience.

Our partners also have access to a broader range of datasets for each course they run. Many use this for research purposes and we host the FutureLearn Academic Network which provides a platform for dissemination, networking and collaboration for a range of academics, researchers, students and analysts.

 

  1. Pask, G. (1976). Conversation theory: Applications in education and epistemology. Amsterdam and New York: Elsevie
  2. Laurillard, D. (2002). Rethinking university teaching (2nd Edition).  London: Routledge Falmer.

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Research insights

How to convince your boss you should take a FutureLearn course during work

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How to convince your boss you should take a FutureLearn course during work

With so many online learning tools out there, it’s no surprise that people are spending on average 14 hours a month learning outside of work. It’s easier than ever to access new knowledge and skills. But juggling learning, work and a life can be difficult – it’d be much better if you could do some of your learning at work, especially if it benefits your role.

There are all sorts of benefits you can get from learning at work – from being more engaged in your job to improving your personal development. It can even make you happier.

So, with that in mind, here’s my how-to guide to help you convince your boss that you should take a FutureLearn course during work hours.

  1. Find out if you’re already allowed

Before you start seeking out the perfect course to do at work, first find out if your company has a training policy or budget allowance for employees. If you can’t find anything in your contract, speak to someone in HR to find out if a policy exists. If you are allowed, great – get started on finding a course.

If not, it means you need to spend a bit more time on the next step.

  1. Do your research

Now you know where you stand, get started on your search for the perfect course. A few questions to consider:

  • What are your learning goals?
  • How long will it take?
  • How much time can you commit each week? 

…It’s worth noting that all FutureLearn course content is step by step, so won’t eat into your work time.

  • How does the course benefit your role, well-being and professional development?
  • Is it accredited?

Having good answers to these questions will be crucial in the next step: the pitch to your boss.

  1. Present a good case to your boss

Now you’re ready with all the info on the course, it’s time to state your case. We’ve found that it’s usually more effective to email first (here’s a handy e-mail template), presenting the course you’d like to do along with a quick summary of why. Then follow it up with a face-to-face meeting.

This way you have two chances to convince your boss and it gives them an opportunity to process the request in their own time. 

  1. Anticipate a struggle

It’s very possible that your boss will say no to your request or want further justification. Anticipate these questions and get your answers ready, you’ll be far more likely to get a yes. The key thing is being prepared.

Likely questions might include:

  • How much will it cost?
  • how does this benefit the organisation?
  • How will taking this course affect the projects you need to deliver?
  1. Offer to share your knowledge with other colleagues

If your boss is still wavering, it’s worth mentioning how your learnings can impact the wider business – offer to share your new skills with colleagues. Presenting back a summary of your learnings or offering to mentor other team members on that specific topic.

Alex’s pro tip: These sessions go down well with snacks

  1. Celebrate your new skills

By now, your boss has no doubt said yes. So let’s jump forward to when you’ve finished your course:

You’ve picked up new skills, grown in confidence and had some rewarding working hours learning. Now what?

It’s time to celebrate your hard work. Many of our courses offer upgrades, buying one of these (or having one bought for you) can help you prove your learning and demonstrate your commitment to a given subject and your professional development.

If all else fails and your boss needs further convincing, get in touch with us and we can help you present a convincing case.

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Using FutureLearn

Yes! Digital Learners are Emotional – Insights from the Irish 101 MOOC

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Yes! Digital Learners are Emotional – Insights from the Irish 101 MOOC

Elaine Beirne, a researcher in The Ideas Lab at the National Institute of Digital Learning (NIDL) in DCU, and inaugural OLC Emerging Scholar, is researching the emotions of beginner language learners in Irish language MOOCs.

Originally appeared on NIDL’s blog. 

Many people believe that online learning can be a lonely journey for a learner and the experience of learning online is often described in disconnected terms. However, many credible studies into learning online demonstrate that learners experience a wide range of emotions as they engage in the online environment. Elaine Beirne, a researcher in The Ideas Lab at the National Institute of Digital Learning in DCU, and inaugural OLC Emerging Scholar, is researching the emotions of beginner language learners in Irish language MOOCs.

Her findings to date have been quite revealing. Research into traditional language learning settings has identified anxiety or foreign language anxiety as one of the main emotions experienced by learners.

Elaine’s research in the Irish 101: Introduction to Irish Language and Culture course hosted on the FutureLearn platform, however, identifies curiosity, excitement and pride as the top three emotions reported by learners. Learners completed a number of short surveys following some of the course’s learning activities.  This baseline study is now being extended to a further iteration of the Irish 101 course, due to commence in May of this year.

Elaine is currently recruiting participants who would be interested in undertaking the MOOC and reporting their emotions in the short surveys as they progress through the course. Elaine explains more about the study* in the short video above and if you are interested in participating and helping the Fáilte ar Líne project to improve course design for language learners register . The Fáilte ar Líne project is co-funded by the Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht under the Twenty Year Strategy for the Irish Language with support from the National Lottery and it is is a joint project of the NIDL and Fiontar & Scoil na Gaeilge.

A world without emotions would be cold and colourless. (Williams, Mercer, Ryan, 2015: 81)

References

Williams, M., Mercer, S. & Ryan, S., 2015. Exploring Psychology in Language Learning and Teaching, Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp.170

*Ethical approval received from DCU’s Research Ethics Committee. Reference number: recdcu/2018/044

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Research insights

Happy English Language Day from FutureLearn!

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Happy English Language Day from FutureLearn!

First held in 2010, the day coincides with William Shakespeare’s birthday and celebrates English as one of six official UN languages.

To mark the occasion, we spoke to IELTS expert Chris Cavey about how the British Council’s online IELTS course helped 2.2 million students learn English last year, enabling them to live, work or study overseas.

Did you know that 193 countries are UN members? With that many members speaking so many languages, there are just six official languages – English has been used as the lingua franca or bridge language in Europe since the interwar years.

I’ve had a think about why I think taking an IELTS course with FutureLearn is worthwhile. Beyond being intellectually stimulating, it’s something which has a positive impact on your prospects in employment and movement, globally.

Here are my two key reasons for learning English skills using the IELTS course.

  1. “It really is a global test, why not learn English in a global classroom?”

You see, it’s not a test that just uses English as spoken here in the UK, but the accents and customs of English wherever it’s spoken, from Australia to the US.

It’s the world’s most popular English test for higher education and global migration – IELTS is accepted by over 10,000 organisations worldwide.

So if you’re thinking about pursuing a career or study abroad, IELTS opens doors to universities, employers and even immigration authorities to help make this a reality.

The course you will take reflects the international reach of IELTS – and English as a whole – learners from around the world share their opinions and questions, helping one another to be more confident about English language tests.

  1. “Even before your IELTS results, you’ll boost your English language confidence”

Our free online course, “Understanding IELTS: Techniques for English Language Tests,” aims to help build your confidence over six weeks. The course focuses on each part of the test (listening, reading, speaking and writing), to give you the best chance to improve and get your desired IELTS score.

By the end of the course you’ll gain a clear picture of what is expected of you in the exam, developing your English language skills in the process. Videos and practice materials illustrate the format of the IELTS test, the best way to prepare for the real thing.

Useful to anyone learning English, working or studying abroad, and taking an English test – especially if your plan is to take IELTS.

Join the free online course, “Understanding IELTS: Techniques for English Language Tests,” now or find out more about today’s celebrations using #EnglishLanguageDay.

For other courses and to stay up to date with FutureLearn find us on Twitter and Facebook.

Not feeling social? Sign up for Lily’s alerts via e-mail here.

Do Moocs generate return on investment?

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Do Moocs generate return on investment?

Ang Davies, senior lecturer in clinical bioinformatics and genomics at the University of Manchester looks at the pros and cons of the University of Manchester’s recent clinical bioinformatics MOOC. Originally appeared in Times Higher Education. 

Genomics, the study of people’s genetic make-up, is revolutionising healthcare. Expanding far beyond the field of clinical genetics, it is now being used to diagnose disease, make disease prognoses and also predict potential adverse outcomes to treatments and tailor an individual’s treatment.

Clinical bioinformaticians are designing the IT infrastructure, data governance and analysis pipelines to allow the analysis of huge genomic data sets but, as a profession, clinical bioinformatics is still in its infancy (and is something of a mystery to some healthcare professionals). Because of this, we decided to create a Futurelearn massive open online course (MOOC) to raise awareness of this important new profession.

One year on (and five runs of our MOOC later), I wonder what value our course has added to the healthcare professional community, to The University of Manchester, and also to us as academics.

At what cost?

The development costs of producing a MOOC should not be underestimated. In 2015, a Times Higher Education study that looked at the real costs of developing MOOCs found figures varied from £10,000 to £50,000, with an average of £29,356. Our development costs were  £26,000, and running costs probably ran into the hundreds of pounds each time (although with genomics changing so rapidly it’s likely that the need for redevelopment will come quickly).

Early rhetoric suggested that MOOCs might threaten traditional university face-to-face provision. But the tide has turned, and the focus of many MOOCs has moved from widening participation in education to income generation. For some institutions they generate significant revenue, earning an estimated $100 million (£75 million) in 2016 according to a recent report.

FutureLearn’s financial model has recently changed, and while learners can still access the courses for free, there is now the option of a paid upgrade allowing continued access for the life of the course.  

What value have Moocs brought to us as academics?

As with any rapidly developing field, the lifetime of the material created is finite – long-term sustainability will require significant academic and learning technologist support – a cost that we will need to factor in to any future courses. The time, commitment and effort that MOOCs demand should not be trivialised – I would estimate an average of 20 hours of academic or facilitator time to respond to the discussions and write end-of-week summary emails.

Within our course, case studies and articles are interspersed with quizzes, polls and discussion topics to encourage debate and discussion among learners. Educator engagement and participation is certainly important to the learners and our experience has been that MOOC learners engage better in discussions when educators and facilitator presence is high, which of course adds to the academic pressure of running a course.

This demand from the learners does also bring advantages to us as educators, ensuring we keep up to speed with updates in the field and simultaneously developing our public engagement skills. The MOOC has provided a good forum to explore how our science interacts with the wider community – for example, learners who are carers for people with rare genetic conditions.

Value of data

From a data analytics perspective, MOOCs generate data in abundance. We can use this to discern patterns of learning in relation to the learner demographic and predict those more likely to complete a MOOC, but we can also look for the peak content that generates the most discussion. From a course-design perspective this enables an educator to test content that might be useful for the development of any further distance learning.

Comments posted within FutureLearn courses provide a rich source of data to explore public views on issues related to the content. We have used these to explore perceptions of genomic data sharing.

A useful marketing tool?

MOOCs offer an attractive opportunity to market an institution’s educational portfolio in related subjects. Following our March 2017 course we tracked visits to our MSc genomic Medicine page, included as a link in the post-course survey. Those following this link spent four minutes longer on our website than other visitors, illustrating its power as a marketing tool. Translating this to enquiries, applications and confirmed students, though, is a lot more challenging.

Value for money? Yes. Hard work? Definitely!

Investment in the development and delivery of a MOOC is significant, though the opportunities it presents for pedagogic exploration, subject specific research and promotional activity are extensive. The value we have seen come from intangibles, the ability to reuse material, engage with a wider audience and raise the profile of our discipline. We have also seen that it works well as a marketing tool.

However, other tangible benefits, such as a significant increase in extra students to existing courses or direct income from the MOOC, have not been as forthcoming. I have no doubt that our MOOC’s future will demand creativity and innovation but will continue to stimulate our development as educators.

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Research insights

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