Exploring the role of assessment in developing learners’ critical thinking in massive open online courses

Zhao, C; Bhalla, S; Halliday, L; Travaglia, J; Kennedy, J

Exploring the role of assessment in developing learners’ critical thinking in massive open online courses

Zhao, C Bhalla, S Halliday, L Travaglia, J

Kennedy, J

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Publication Type:: Conference Proceeding
Citation:: Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics), 2017, 10254 LNCS pp. 280 - 289
Issue Date:: 2017-01-01

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Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	Zhao, C	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Bhalla, S	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Halliday, L	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Travaglia, J https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7537-0466	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Kennedy, J	en_US
dc.date.issued	2017-01-01	en_US
dc.identifier.citation	Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics), 2017, 10254 LNCS pp. 280 - 289	en_US
dc.identifier.isbn	9783319590431	en_US
dc.identifier.issn	0302-9743	en_US
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/127668
dc.description.abstract	© Springer International Publishing AG 2017. Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) have provided learners unprecedented opportunities to access university level education. As a form of largely free and self-paced education, MOOCs are less formal than creditbearing university courses. It is often the case that MOOCs do not count toward a formal university qualification, and that majority learners enter MOOCs for various purposes other than specifically gaining a certificate. As a result, assessment and critical thinking, valued by universities as important learning outcomes are thought to be less relevant to MOOCs learners or designers. In the last couple of years, however, a few universities have started to design credit-bearing MOOCs as part of university programs. The aim is to encourage quality learning and outcomes that satisfy formal university assessment criteria. MOOCs designed to target particular groups of professionals for career advancement are also emerging. Both trends require a rethink of the relevance of assessment and critical thinking in MOOCs. This paper provides a case study of a MOOC targeted at health professionals, which demonstrates how self- and peer-assessment are designed to encourage critical thinking, and includes a discussion on future directions and constraints of this work-in-progress. The paper proposes that critical thinking is relevant for learning in MOOCs and that carefully designed assessment tasks are essential for developing MOOCs’ learners’ critical thinking.	en_US
dc.relation.ispartof	Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics)	en_US
dc.relation.isbasedon	10.1007/978-3-319-59044-8_33	en_US
dc.subject.classification	Artificial Intelligence & Image Processing	en_US
dc.title	Exploring the role of assessment in developing learners’ critical thinking in massive open online courses	en_US
dc.type	Conference Proceeding
utslib.citation.volume	10254 LNCS	en_US
utslib.for	130306 Educational Technology and Computing	en_US
pubs.embargo.period	Not known	en_US
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Health
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Strength - CHSP - Health Services and Practice
utslib.copyright.status	closed_access
pubs.publication-status	Published	en_US
pubs.volume	10254 LNCS	en_US

Abstract:

© Springer International Publishing AG 2017. Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) have provided learners unprecedented opportunities to access university level education. As a form of largely free and self-paced education, MOOCs are less formal than creditbearing university courses. It is often the case that MOOCs do not count toward a formal university qualification, and that majority learners enter MOOCs for various purposes other than specifically gaining a certificate. As a result, assessment and critical thinking, valued by universities as important learning outcomes are thought to be less relevant to MOOCs learners or designers. In the last couple of years, however, a few universities have started to design credit-bearing MOOCs as part of university programs. The aim is to encourage quality learning and outcomes that satisfy formal university assessment criteria. MOOCs designed to target particular groups of professionals for career advancement are also emerging. Both trends require a rethink of the relevance of assessment and critical thinking in MOOCs. This paper provides a case study of a MOOC targeted at health professionals, which demonstrates how self- and peer-assessment are designed to encourage critical thinking, and includes a discussion on future directions and constraints of this work-in-progress. The paper proposes that critical thinking is relevant for learning in MOOCs and that carefully designed assessment tasks are essential for developing MOOCs’ learners’ critical thinking.

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http://hdl.handle.net/10453/127668