As I said a lot of new technology is being built.
But it's very easy to be distracted by this technology.
It's easy to forget what to focus on because of all the shiny visuals.
Simultaneously technology can open new doors
or put in new constraints on our pedagogy.
So let's think again, let's refocus.
When we teach what should we care about the most?
While I have some practical experience as an instructor,
but I am not an expert in education.
So I rely on an influential study by John Hattie
He looked at 800 meta analyses and synthesized them.
He was looking for what influences learning,
which circumstances, tools and techniques had
the best effects, or which just had average effects.
So let's pick and choose a few of those factors in no order at the moment.
The first is physical attributes.
The class size, for instance.
It's clear that this is relevant in a MOOC setting.
The second factor is computer-assisted instruction.
It's also clear that this is crucial in a MOOC
There are other factors that will affect teaching.
Things that are maybe more intrinsic to the student.
Course, we would like to think that we can teach anyone, but we expect the
students' disposition to learn, their intrinsic motivation, to
have to be a factor in the outcome.
In some way, MOOCs have a self-selected audience for now so this is mitigated.
There's also the factor of the student's prior cognitive ability.
Think of something like their IQ, for instance.
We have little control there.
Fortunately, there are parts we can actively change.
The instructional quality of the course, for instance.
That is, the student's perception of the quality of the instruction they get,
according to Hattie's definition.
What about individualization?
The design of a learning program specific to the student.
Or maybe mastery learning.
This is when students are given tests
on relatively easy material soon after instruction.
And if it seems necessary they're given more work again.
They're retested until they get it.
Maybe a teacher could challenge students by outlining goals,
but there is also feedback, which in Hattie's mind, includes
positive reinforcement for what has been done well, information about
what needs to improve but also includes merely clarifying the goals,
as part of the feedback.
There's also peer tutoring, where the
students explain, check, and assess each other.
How about a good old test?
How about external factors, such as the presence of a television at home?
Hattie identified 130 different such factors.
I only picked a few here.
But it's already a lot of influencers on the student's achievement.
But how do you rank them so we could make
sense of the potential thug of that large number of influencers [sic: influences]?
So what do you think ranked the best?
What ranked the worst?
You can maybe guess that television is the worst.
That seems kind of an obvious candidate.
In fact, television slowed down a student's progress.
Next up, and very controversially, was class size.
This is still very much at the bottom; in fact the data indicates
inconclusively that small class sizes have
a tiny positive effect on the student's learning.
The best way to make sense of this is probably
to better understand Hattie's methodology.
This result comes after accounting for all
the other effects, if all else remains equal.
So if a politician somewhere bases a decision on this study, and
blindly doubles the class size of all the classrooms in their country -
presumably, importantly, by firing half of the teachers -
well the teachers that remain will suddenly be swamped with work.
And unable to do some of the other
techniques that actually have a very positive effect.
So this would be bad.
Now on to the positive effects.
When Hattie performed this study he very well understood
that most of those techniques had a positive effect.
The point was to identify those that were MOST effective.
So he set the bar at the average effect size.
Obviously we're interested in the top effects, those way above the bar.
But we should proceed methodically.
Below that bar, still with a positive effect
but not so great, are computer assisted instruction,
individualization, and testing.
Above that, and in a position that starts to be
very useful, are challenging students with goal [sic: goals],
peer tutoring, mastery learning, and, slightly
above all those three, the student's disposition to learn.
But the three stellar effects are feedback,
student's prior cognitive ability,
and instructional quality.
Each is at a level where you expect a 50% increase in the pace of learning.
Of course feedback is a bit of an umbrella term here.
It covers pure feedback or mastery learning, for instance.
Note, also, that computer-assisted goes up
as the course becomes more interactive and more engaging. And also that smaller
effects can be combined to accumulate traction.
So nothing should be fully dismissed.
So, we now have Hattie's final ranking for the effects I've selected.
Why am I talking about this?
Well, because in MOOCs some of it is especially relevant.
Mastery learning has been trumpeted again and again for MOOCs.
You can offer a quiz, sampling questions and answers until the student gets it.
Interaction as well. More and more MOOCs have interactive components
that students can use to visually see what they are learning.
So this is all a success story for MOOCs
integrating fully those effects in the format, if you want.
Peer effects are also important and also present in MOOCS.
But they're not fully mastered yet.
There are some structured peer grading components in MOOCS
but they're still in early stages and can be improved.
Also, few people know for sure how to get a forum started,
one that encourages students from all backgrounds to engage with their peers.
I'm certainly not one of those experts.
It's a skill, something that needs to be learned and practiced.
Some of those experts, on the other hand, might be lurking in this class.
So please help the discussion get started on the forums, if you feel you can help.
I would love to engage with all of you.
Share your opinion, don't be afraid.
There's definitely no right or wrong.
Even Hattie's study is open to criticism.
And especially my retelling of it.
This is education. There is no one answer.
So, I would love to have a discussion on the forums about all that.
The last effect I want to discuss, that will be the
next video, is the most important, according to Hattie: that is "feedback".