Caltech & Coursera: Quick-start Planning Guide

September 24, 2012

INTRODUCTION:
Caltechs partnership with Coursera provides a new resource in support of faculty efforts to
enhance our students learning here on campus and offer Caltech-quality learning
opportunities to potential students, scientists, and engineers beyond.
The Coursera platform allows for a great deal of flexibility in terms of the structure and
implementation of courses. Large-scale courses (100,000+ students), as well as the
platform itself, come with some unique opportunities, challenges, decisions, and resource
needs. The most striking is the need for a more detailed course timeline, planned further in
advance, and covering many aspects of instruction. This quick-start planning guide outlines
early decisions and resources needed for several of the most common models for
Coursera course structures.
Caltech staffDirectors of Teaching and Learning Programs and Academic Media
Technologies, Cassandra Horii and Leslie Maxfieldcan also consult individually on
designing, building, implementing, and adapting Caltech Coursera courseswhether
following these typical patterns or devising new ways to use Coursera effectively.
DESCRIPTION:
Coursera is a platform for building and distributing on-line courses to a local and/or global
population of students. It supports content delivery and interaction, and gives faculty data
about student access and learning. Here are some specifics:
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Coursera requires a browser and internet access; it is not device specific.

A course landing page provides preview information including overview, requirements,
course start and end dates, promo video, and instructor bio.
To access full content, students must register for each specific course.
Instructors can restrict courses to only Caltech students or open them to anyone.
Content is usually delivered as video, audio with slides (or digital whiteboard videos, like
the Khan Academy), PDF, text, glossary, and links.
In-video (embedded) quizzes frequently assess students understanding.
On-line students may interact via a Discussion Forum, Course Wiki, and in-person
Meetups, depending on instructor choices.
TAs typically monitor discussion forums, manage grading, and update on-line content.
Built-in metrics give instructors information about student learning.

EXPLORATION:
How an instructor uses the Coursera platform is based on several decisions, outlined
below. You may want to explore Coursera first. If you havent already, please use your
Caltech e-mail to create an account at https://www.coursera.org/account/signup, which will
allow you to visit the example course previews included below.

Academic Media Technologies | [email protected] | 626-395-8155

Teaching & Learning Programs | [email protected] | 626-395-6225
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Caltech & Coursera: Quick-start Planning Guide

September 24, 2012

OVERALL CHOICES:
It may be helpful to consider these questions and notes in the early phases of planning.
A. Participants:
Who do you hope your Coursera students will be, in terms of prior education,
occupation (current or future), aspirations, motivations, etc.?
Note that while we cant predict who will ultimately enroll, your vision will inform
aspects of your course design and help participants decide whether the course will
be a good fit.
B. Goals:
What do you want your Coursera students to learn, in terms of content and abilities?
Are your goals for your Coursera students the same as for your Caltech students?
If the goals are similar, how is the experience enriched for Caltech students?
Note that it is possible to offer a rigorous Caltech quality class, while making choices
about scope, prerequisite knowledge, or time period that may be different from a
traditional Caltech course.
C. Student work:
What kind of work do you want your Coursera students to do for the course (e.g.,
problems, conceptual answers, quizzes, writing, discussion forum participation)?
How do you want to determine and distribute feedback and scores on student work?
Note that Coursera has options for automatic feedback and scoring of short written
answers (text, formulas, numerical), programming code, and multiple choice. It also
includes a suggested process for guided peer grading of extended written work.
D. Interaction:
Do you envision your Coursera and Caltech students interacting with each other?
How do you want Coursera students to interact with each other?
How do you want to interact with your Courera students? Your TAs?
Note that Coursera-Caltech interactions may be shaped by concurrency of offerings
and that TAs and/or faculty typically monitor Coursera discussion forums.

Academic Media Technologies | [email protected] | 626-395-8155

Teaching & Learning Programs | [email protected] | 626-395-6225
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Caltech & Coursera: Quick-start Planning Guide

September 24, 2012

MODEL 1: The Flipped Coursera Class
Description:
A flipped class reverses what traditionally happens during and outside the lecture time.
Videos of lectures are viewed before the class meets, and the in-class time is spent solving
problems, working on complex cases, or conducting experiments, often collaboratively.
In Coursera, students complete assigned video/multimedia modules, each one typically 812 minutes of lecture (optimal for on-line attention) followed by embedded questions that
test their understanding. Up to two hours of such modules are assigned per typical week
of class and take the place of a traditional lecture hall. For on-campus students, the
multimedia modules may serve as preparation for in-class discussions, case studies,
extended problem solving, team work, or other interactive experiences, as well as for
assigned work such as problem sets, quizzes, projects, and exams. For Coursera students,
the multimedia modules serve as preparation for assigned work that will be completed
and/or turned in on-line, as well as for assigned discussion forum participation. Modules are
typically recorded in a studio setting, or in the facultys own office, using a camera,
microphone, and/or capture of digital whiteboard notations or work synchronized with
audio commentary. They can also be recorded in a lecture hall if the lecturer is more
comfortable teaching in that setting.
Advantages:

Challenges:

Implications:

8-12 minute modules give

students chunks of content
and make them test their
understanding frequently. This
helps keep student
understanding on track.
Students can review modules
to learn more deeply, improve
mastery of challenging
material.
Flipped classes can facilitate
interaction with faculty,
complex cases, or other novel
in-class work for on-campus
Caltech students.
Once created, modules can be
reused, as is or with revisions,
for future classes.
Carefully crafted quizzes can
guide instructor on what
concepts need further
attention.

Advance planning: Flipped

classes run more smoothly
when all/most modules are
recorded and edited before
class begins.
Writing effective embedded
quiz questions (conceptually
based, not too easy or hard,
giving helpful feedback).
Planning for non-lecture inclass work; communicating the
nature of this work to students
(Caltech and Coursera, if
different).
TAs will need to be active in
online forum discussions,
grading, and posting content.
They will face different
challenges with on-line
students.

Overall time commitment is

different than traditional
courses: more planning and
creating materials in advance
(especially first run of course).
May want to try out different
video, audio, interactive
whiteboard & other formats
for modules.
Obtain recording equipment
and plan timeline for
recording/editing modules,
writing/embedding questions.
Helpful to work with TA(s)
before class begins on
uploading modules,
embedding questions, troubleshooting in Coursera.
Clearly set expectations and
plan what will happen during
Caltech lecture time.

Links: Machine Learning, Stanford (Coursera) > https://www.coursera.org/course/ml

Peer Instruction, Harvard (non-Coursera) > http://mazur.harvard.edu/education/educationmenu.php

Academic Media Technologies | [email protected] | 626-395-8155

Teaching & Learning Programs | [email protected] | 626-395-6225
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Caltech & Coursera: Quick-start Planning Guide

September 24, 2012

MODEL 2: The Delayed Lecture Coursera Class
Description:
The recording of teaching material for Coursera happens in a live Caltech classroomvia
video, audio, and/or capture of digital whiteboard notationsand is then edited and
assigned to Coursera students some time later. Assignments and other student work for
Caltech and Coursera students may be similar or different. Due to turn-around time
between recording in class, editing, and reliably posting material in Coursera, it is more
difficult to run entirely concurrent Coursera and Caltech versions of a class.

Advantages:

Challenges:

Implications:

Recording is done in class;

some Coursera content is
created during regularly
scheduled teaching.
Conceptual questions can be
tested with live Caltech
students in class before going
out to larger numbers of
Coursera students.
Once recorded and edited,
video material can be reused,
as is or with revisions, for
future classes.

In order to edit video for

optimal on-line attention, its
helpful to plan lectures for 812 minute chunks.
Incorporating conceptual,
embedded questions in lecture
also requires planning and
communicating to the new
structure to Caltech students.
Although the Caltech class
typically precedes Coursera by
several days to weeks, its
helpful to use Coursera for
Caltech students, so that
assignments and other
material can be staged and
tested in-situ.

In-class A/V setup needs to be

planned carefully so that live
recordings are high quality and
can be edited for on-line.
A/V recording setup needs to
be active for every class
period (may train TAs or
obtain resources for Academic
Media Tech support).
Helpful to work with TA(s)
before class begins on
uploading modules,
embedding questions, troubleshooting and determining a
workflow in Coursera.
TAs are normally assigned by
the quarter; on-line course
prep and instruction may not
match our academic calendar.

Links:
Health Policy and the Affordable Care Act (Coursera) > https://class.coursera.org/healthpolicy-2012-001
Professor Yaser Abu-Mostafas recordings (non-Coursera) >
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLD63A284B7615313A&feature=plcp

Academic Media Technologies | [email protected] | 626-395-8155

Teaching & Learning Programs | [email protected] | 626-395-6225
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Caltech & Coursera: Quick-start Planning Guide

September 24, 2012

Blend of Models 1 and 2
Description:
Is it possible to stray from the models above? Absolutelythere are many adaptations,
combinations, and possibilities we have yet to explore. For example, one could combine
some in-class video with studio or office recordings and build a complete online course
from multiple sources, over time. In such an arrangement, Caltech students could be
engaged in helping to develop course materials, quizzes, exam questions, etc. for later online offering.
Advantages:

Challenges:

Implications:

Many of the above, plus:

Development of Coursera
course can happen after the
Caltech course is over which
is less demanding on the
instructor.
Engaging students in
development can be an
excellent learning opportunity.

Many of the above, but the

pressure of simultaneous
Caltech and Coursera course
deployment is lifted.
Planning what learning needs
to be recorded in the
studio/office environment vs.
in class could be complex.

TAs are normally assigned by

the quarter; on-line course
prep and instruction may not
match our academic calendar,
but perhaps this could be a
work-study or other
opportunity for an undergrad.

Example: Probabilistic Graphical Models (Coursera) > https://class.coursera.org/pgm/lecture/preview/index

GLOSSARY
Translation of common Caltech terms to Coursera, and vice versa; a work in progress.
Caltech
Blue book
Cheating
Classroom polling
(Clickers)
Classroom time
Collaboration
Course Management
System (e.g., Moodle)
Course webpage
Coursera alumni
Extensions

Coursera
N/A (exams use one of the other available formats, such as quizzes,
but weigh the results more heavily as for an exam)
See Honor Code. Also, Coursera has a system security team, and as
of 9/12/12, the system has not been hacked.
In-video quizzes
Internet 24/7
Course Wiki
Coursera, which can also be used as the CMS for a Caltech-only
course; it does not have to be open to the world.
Landing Page with basic course info
Open question: does Cousera keep a list of students who have taken
the course?
Open question: how do faculty handle extensions in massive online
courses? Peer assessed assignments may have issues. We are

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Teaching & Learning Programs | [email protected] | 626-395-6225
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Caltech & Coursera: Quick-start Planning Guide

September 24, 2012

working on finding out!
Caltech does not issue a certificate or final grade. Students do not
know how they rank among other students. Instructors usually send
out a farewell message via email or video to give students closure to
their Coursera experience.
Automated or peer assessment
Coursera has its own Honor Code; students agree to conditions
before they can sign up for a course.
https://www.coursera.org/maestro/auth/normal/tos.php#honorcode
Open questions: how do massive open online courses assign lab
work? Do they? Should they? Peer assessments could be the correct
grading mechanism.
Online videos
24/7 text-based discussion forum
Open question: how are massive open online courses handling the
idea of an open book exam? Are they?
N/A (Coursera does have a system security team and their system
has not been hacked, as of 9/12/12.)
Recommended Background defined by the instructor
Quiz (can be in various formats: multiple choice, fill in the blank, peer
assessment long answers/essays/proofs/etc.)
In-video quiz explanations, or could be offered as a PDF in Coursera.
A Coursera account user (non-admin or teaching) who has registered
for a course. An account could just be a Bot. Coursera is looking into
tracking this kind of activity.
Coursera MeetUp self organized by city.
Peer assessment training: must use rubric to grade sample
assignments and qualify to do peer assessments
Caltech student TAs- labeled as Course staff in discussion forums.
Start and end dates Started on: date (# weeks long) on Course
landing page
Recommended reading via links. Open question: assigning
textbooks/ebooks if its a free course? It is up to the faculty; if a cost is
involved, or books are not obtainable, many remote students may not
have access to such materials. Some publishers do offer chapters of
textbooks as free PDFs when instructors acknowledge their support
and provide a link to purchase the textbook.

Final grade

Grading
Honor code

Lab work

Lectures
Office hours
Open-book exam
Pranks
Pre-requisites
Problem Set
Solution set
Student

Study group
Student TA training
TAs
Term
Textbooks

Units

Workload (range of hours per week)

Academic Media Technologies | [email protected] | 626-395-8155

Teaching & Learning Programs | [email protected] | 626-395-6225
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