MOOC online English course in Brisbane pips the Brits JOHN ROSS THE AUSTRALIAN A WEBSITE to be launched in Queensland today will house the worlds first specialist language MOOC. Dubbed the Massive Open Online English Course, the site features more than 50 free lessons developed by 15 Queensland colleges and universities. Its creators expect the offerings to double by mid-next year as institutions join up from interstate, and hopefully overseas. MOOEC is the brainchild of non-profit agency International Education Services, which created Australias first MOOC - a course for education agents - in 2005. It has now trumped the British Council, whose first MOOCs - also aimed at English language students - do not come online until next year. While there are plenty of online language courses, IES managing director Chris Evason said this was the first time an aggregation of language colleges had worked together. He said the project was as much about meeting the professional development needs of colleges as the language needs of students. Weve found that even in universities, the language centres are relatively small units. Theres only one or two individuals focused on online leaning, so they value the opportunity to network. English Australia executive director Sue Blundell said MOOEC would not cannibalise enrolments. If you look at the global data on people travelling to learn English, it (wont) make a dent, she said. Ms Blundell characterised the lessons as samplers or tasters. Its a way to engage with a whole group of people theyre not engaging with at the moment, showcasing what we do in English language. Mr Evason said the lessons could take anything from 10 minutes to an hour or more. Our vision is that people would want to undertake lesson-style chunks of work rather than a whole course - maybe do it on the bus. Its not like the MOOCs in edX or Coursera where you wait until March next year. Everythings ready to go. Its a different kind of MOOC where people can engage immediately. The units range from grammatical examinations, such as preposition use and subject-verb agreement, to theme-based lessons exploring the language of golf, a night on the town, sun safety, airport check-ins and even crocodiles. Its an opportunity for the partners to carve a niche out, to illustrate their particular expertise, Mr Evason said. Its a bit of a potpourri. Were hoping people will come to our service and browse as they might in a book store. The platform features nine MOOEC talk units which use purpose-built software to address pronunciation problems. The lessons deal with the specific issues encountered by people of particular language backgrounds, including Cantonese, Mandarin, Arabic, Korean, Japanese, Spanish, Indic, Thai and Lao. Also in the works is an augmented reality lesson which will enable students in Brisbane - and eventually other Australian cities - to undertake lessons in situ, receiving locally relevant cues via their mobile phones. Unlike many MOOCs, MOOEC does not offer assessment. Mr Evason said it was unnecessary given that most students took tests such as IELTS or TOEFL. He said he expected MOOEC to prove particularly popular with people in the Asia Pacific, but geography was not the only thing working in local colleges favour. We found that the ELICOS industry here is very open to working together and sharing ideas. I would be surprised if thats the same in any other Anglosphere country. - See more at: theaustralian.au/higher-education/mooc-online-english-course-in-brisbane-pips-the-brits/story-e6frgcjx-1226774636219#sthash.WsDAVKCz.dpuf
Posted on: Tue, 03 Dec 2013 22:44:21 +0000
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