Hello I'm Martin Carroll the Pro
Vice-Chancellor Academic
here at Charles Darwin University. We're
University of about 23,000 students in
the courses ranging from certificate one
through to PhD. We're based in Darwin which is the capital city 
of the Northern Territory or
NT in Australia.
You could fit Texas California and New Mexico into the NT,
and yet we have a population all just
250 thousand people. So to reach
people distributed in such a massive area
we've had to be creative.
throughout the NT and also in placeslike
Sydney and Melbourne. But perhaps most
importantly
we've become an intensive user
of online learning technologies.
We've been partnered with
Blackboard for over 10 years and we now
have
a sophisticated and integrated a suite
of learning technologies
centered around Blackboard Learn and the
Blackboard Collaborate.
These technologies are used by our
students
whether they're on campus or off-campus. We smile a little but
when we read the literature and the
media about MOOCs because it feels as if
a number of on-campus universities
have suddenly discovered the
possibilities that come with
online learning. But the idea
that a MOOC is freely available
and open does open up exciting
possibilities
for new learning communities and we're
keen
to explore that.
For our first MOOC and with the consent of one of his great
great-grandsons, we chose our namesake
Charles Darwin; his revolutionary
theory on the evolutionary biology and
in particular
how it relates to where we are here in
tropical Australia.
In designing the MOOC there were seven
key things that we wanted to get right.
Number one:
we wanted this to be a learning journey
and not just storytelling. There are
plenty of documentaries and books about
Charles Darwin and his theory.
We wanted this to be about
studying
what Charles Darwin was all about.
Secondly we wanted it to be interactive. We know
deep learning happens when students get
to engage and
interact with the material and with each
other. So we incorporated
discussion boards and live webinars.
The use a Blackboard's Coursesites was a
good
tactical choice because not all MOOC
platforms enable
that type of functionality.
Now given that synchronous human
interaction
is not always going to be possible, we
also decided to make some of the rich
media content
interactive. We also decided that the
content in our first MOOC would be
entirely of
own creation. Now of course universities
always have and always will
draw upon the intellectual property of
others to put together a globally
relevant course.
But for our first mode we wanted to
showcase
our own research and our ability to
generate high-quality online resources.
Fifthly, we decided to bring
the "wow" factor. Not the expense
of focusing on the learning taking
place,
but let's face it the days are boring
talking head videos and PDF's on their own
are over. Sixthly we wanted to
assess the student learning taking place.
So every module that we used
concluded with a quiz and some
assessment activities. And
lastly we wanted to see if
free and open courses could give
prospective students
a chance to experience what it would 
actually be like
if they were studying with Charles
Darwin University.
Given that we are a Blackboard user,
Blackboard Coursesites for our MOOC was not
only a good tactical choice
it was a good strategic choice. So now
that we've had our first MOOC experience
as a university what have we learned?
First of all
we've learnt an awful lot about teamwork.
To make this make happen we drew
together the academic staff who had the
content an assessment expertise. We
brought in
educational designers and developers,
technical experts who knew about
how to create the digital learning
resources and how to use the MOOC
platform;
marketing crew who helped make sure the
world knew
that this MOOC was available. What we
have learned about
that type of team work we will take
forward not just in relation to other
MOOCS,
but more broadly in terms of how we
work as a university.
We took the decision and that our MOOC would
include live
leaner support. We have learned that that
is an entirely different proposition
in terms of design, in terms of
deployment,
in terms of resourcing, than the type
of MOOC that is
always available; its permanently online,
you can come in and out anytime you like
but you won't necessarily have any live
learner support.
We can see the pros and cons of both, but
we have certainly learned
that they are two different things.
To produce a high-quality MOOC
does require specific expertise.
Being a major online provider we do
expect our academic staff
to know how to use Blackboard Learn, to
know how to use Collaborate,
to know how to create things like
voice-over,
PowerPoint files that can be uploaded.
But to create things like
interactive 3d animations, to use Google
Maps and interactive ways,
this requires specialist skill and our
university has now brought that in.
It's probably also true to say that
one of the reasons
that developing this MOOC was attractive
to the academic staff
and to the finance staff, is that the
time and investment
that went into creating some of these
high quality Digital Learning Resources
can also be reused in our credit
bearing courses.
So people talk about the cost of MOOCs we;
think our MOOC might have cost
a hundred and fifty thousand dollars to
make, but the benefits
can be embedded in our revenue
generating courses
as well as in our free MOOC.
Look, CDU is not going to make hundreds
of MOOCs. We're already an online
University.
But where we think a MOOC will allow us
to reach out to new groups of people
and possibly stimulate a little bit of
interest
in them furthering their formal
education
then we'll certainly take a look at those
options. We also think
that a MOOC is a fantastic way to pursue
collaborations with other providers;
universities in other countries. A MOOC
after all
being free, being non credit bearing,
is a comparatively low risk
activity to be involved in, but
potentially very high impact. What a
great way
to explore collaborative delivery
possibilities
with other universities. Enough for me
for now.
I hope you have a look at the MOOC itself.
Enjoy.
 
