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Mentoring at scale: MOOC mentor interventions towards a connected learning community

Mentoring at scale: MOOC mentor interventions towards a connected learning community
Mentoring at scale: MOOC mentor interventions towards a connected learning community
The “Understanding Language: Learning and Teaching” MOOC produced by the University of Southampton/British Council attracted a large number of enrolments (almost 30,000 active participants) and incorporated a design structure aimed to promote social learning. This combination of high participant numbers and ‘learning as conversation’ approach (Ferguson & Sharples, 2014) posed a significant challenge in terms of course mentoring. This article explores the novel approach to course management and facilitation used on the MOOC, with a particular focus on the training, management, and intervention strategies of course mentors. The paper outlines a cloud based, flexible and collaborative system for managing and connecting mentors which was useful in organizing a geographically distributed group of five mentors. Further, in the context of social learning at scale, a role of ‘mentor as connector’ is proposed to align with the affordances of the MOOC platform and the particular course design
massive, open, online course (MOOC), scale, learning as conversation, mentoring, mentors as connectors, facilitation
Leon Urrutia, Manuel
4c9d6ced-5e35-4f09-827b-c2e4c702df3c
White, Stephen
11ad3254-7def-4d57-8a74-12e8312d37f2
Dickens, Kate
adfb4b5e-d331-40d4-9b34-2a17430bd3f0
White, Susan
5f9a277b-df62-4079-ae97-b9c35264c146
Leon Urrutia, Manuel
4c9d6ced-5e35-4f09-827b-c2e4c702df3c
White, Stephen
11ad3254-7def-4d57-8a74-12e8312d37f2
Dickens, Kate
adfb4b5e-d331-40d4-9b34-2a17430bd3f0
White, Susan
5f9a277b-df62-4079-ae97-b9c35264c146

Leon Urrutia, Manuel, White, Stephen, Dickens, Kate and White, Susan (2015) Mentoring at scale: MOOC mentor interventions towards a connected learning community. EMOOCs 2015 European MOOC Stakeholders Summit, Mons, Belgium. 18 - 20 May 2015. 4 pp .

Record type: Conference or Workshop Item (Paper)

Abstract

The “Understanding Language: Learning and Teaching” MOOC produced by the University of Southampton/British Council attracted a large number of enrolments (almost 30,000 active participants) and incorporated a design structure aimed to promote social learning. This combination of high participant numbers and ‘learning as conversation’ approach (Ferguson & Sharples, 2014) posed a significant challenge in terms of course mentoring. This article explores the novel approach to course management and facilitation used on the MOOC, with a particular focus on the training, management, and intervention strategies of course mentors. The paper outlines a cloud based, flexible and collaborative system for managing and connecting mentors which was useful in organizing a geographically distributed group of five mentors. Further, in the context of social learning at scale, a role of ‘mentor as connector’ is proposed to align with the affordances of the MOOC platform and the particular course design

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More information

Accepted/In Press date: 4 April 2015
Published date: May 2015
Venue - Dates: EMOOCs 2015 European MOOC Stakeholders Summit, Mons, Belgium, 2015-05-18 - 2015-05-20
Keywords: massive, open, online course (MOOC), scale, learning as conversation, mentoring, mentors as connectors, facilitation
Organisations: Web & Internet Science, Modern Languages

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 373982
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/373982
PURE UUID: b3530179-fd39-4217-8a20-4e20157ad356
ORCID for Stephen White: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-2296-7082
ORCID for Susan White: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0001-9588-5275

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 11 May 2015 10:22
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 03:03

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Contributors

Author: Stephen White ORCID iD
Author: Kate Dickens
Author: Susan White ORCID iD

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