Change Happened When I began to think in “MOOC”
Aug. 8, 2013 at 08:00 AM | By Tara Miller | Comment Count
“No Mom, we don’t do anything this fun during school.”
This was my seven year-old’s response to asking him about a new online math-teaching tool he was engrossed in. He was engaged and he was learning and I was amazed. His focus and energy to learn math on the computer was the catalyst that got me thinking about my own methods of delivering curriculum to disengaged 17 year-olds with “Senioritis.”
I’m not a teacher in the traditional sense. I am a college counselor in Austin, Texas, at Austin High School. Even still, I spend my days developing and delivering instruction to students to ensure they are well prepared for life after the final bell rings. College-and career-readiness is a life skill, not just a high score on a standardized test or mastery of subject matter. In today’s world, its knowing how to navigate the web and digital tools, how to build an online resume, and, in this case, how to apply to college.
Remember when students received paper copies (gasp) on how to apply to college, how to ask for letters of recommendation, and transcripts? The old way of getting my 500 Austin High seniors college application ready meant I was the “sage on the stage,” performing verbal acrobatics and demonstrations of how best students and their families can navigate the application process. Conversations were a flurry with: “Look at me, watch my icon, click here to find this link, and try this one.” My role had become a series of repeats, repeating instructions over and over and making paper copies for students as they trickle in to the college center.
Something had to change and that change happened after I began thinking in MOOC (Massive Open Online Courses). MOOCs are all the buzz. In fact, I recently finished my master’s degree online and have since become a huge advocate of online learning. But my journey into MOOC-dom really started when I began to see MOOCs as the key to reengaging with my disengaged seniors. So I decided to create my own MOOC to guide students through the college application process in a manner that was much more interactive and convenient than paper handouts.
I figured if I was going to do this, I had better learn how and became a “Courserian.” I took a course titled, “Fundamentals of Online Education: Planning and Application.” Ironically this was the first big snafu in the new MOOC movement and because of the mass confusion amongst the participants, and the poorly planned collaboration methods, the class was cancelled only a week in. I did learn something though. I learned that when starting an online course and learning platform, particularly one for college application readiness, starting small was crucial, something this MOOC did unsuccessfully.
So what does this all mean for the future of college counseling? I think it means creating more time for us to counsel, the part of the job we love. Keep in mind, I’m not saying that these online tools will replace the need for personal instruction, but rather that they allow us to reconnect with the true purpose of our job, personal, individualized interaction with students.
How can you and others tackle your own MOOC?
Take a lesson from my first MOOC experience. Start with the end in mind. What is your goal and what do you want your students to do or learn? One recommendation is to create an initial set of milestones for senior year that are specific, measurable, and trackable.
Examples of our senior year milestones:
- Create a post secondary plan
- Complete a college application
- Complete the FAFSA
How can you make sure this is happening?
Use a course management system such as Moodle and check off milestones in Naviance by monitoring student progress.
How can you provide effective support?
Coordinate professional development opportunities and training sessions for staff interested in participating in the program.
How can you keep it manageable?
Blend the program into an existing class, such as AVID or SAT Prep. You don’t need to recreate the wheel.
By starting small, you will be able to enrich your college readiness curriculum with ed tech tools that won’t take away from personalized interaction with students but will instead help you do your job more efficiently while helping students stay engaged and prepared for college.