Massive Open Online Courses in Chemistry: A Comparative Overview

Oct 16, 2013 - Udacity, which currently contains 25 self-paced courses,(31) aims to supply free courses that can stay online and be rerun with minimal...
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Technology Report pubs.acs.org/jchemeduc

Massive Open Online Courses in Chemistry: A Comparative Overview of Platforms and Features Alexey Leontyev*,† and Dmitry Baranov*,‡ †

Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Northern Colorado, Greeley, Colorado 80639, United States Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80309, United States

‡

ABSTRACT: Open-access, online educational platforms launched in the last decade are receiving growing attention from both academia and the general public. A special class of such courseware known as MOOCs (massive open online courses) allows enrollment of up to hundreds of thousands of students from all over the world. This report reviews and compares currently available chemistry MOOCs as well as other Web-based courseware resources. Features distinguishing MOOCs from other types of instruction are also discussed. KEYWORDS: General Public, Continuing Education, Distance Learning/Self Instruction, Internet/Web-Based Learning, Curriculum

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INTRODUCTION The idea of putting course materials online is not new. Learning management systems (or virtual learning environments) are widely employed by universities throughout the world for the purpose of maintaining student registration, curriculum management, and distribution of class materials and assessments online. Typically, access to these environments is restricted to the students, faculty, and staff affiliated with the university. However, a trend of providing open access to course materials (lecture notes, recordings, problem sets, and exams) has been observed in the past decade. Access to course materials, no matter how complete and comprehensive they could be, cannot substitute for attending the actual course on campus, yet some students may find them useful as complementary materials or as reference sources. In the last several years, the situation has changed dramatically with the appearance of massive open online courses (or MOOCs) offered on the Web by non- and forprofit organizations. Two important features of online courses that classify them as MOOCs are contained in the first two letters of the abbreviation: massive and open. These mean that they target a vast enrollment and are free for everyone. Since the launch in 2012 of the three largest MOOC platforms Udacity, Coursera, and edXthe phenomenon of MOOCs have received broad and generally positive attention in the mass media. The New York Times,1 Time,2 MIT Technology Review,3,4 Wall Street Journal,5 Guardian,6 and The Economist,7,8 have published stories focused specifically on MOOCs. In the first half of 2013, more than a half of the Chronicle of Higher Education issues featured articles about MOOCs. Encouraging,9,10 critical,11,12 polemical,13−15 and cautionary16 perspectives were among them. The idea of MOOCs offering free education accessible worldwide has received universal acclaim. © 2013 American Chemical Society and Division of Chemical Education, Inc.

A brief look at the numbers reveals that there are more than 3 million people from over 200 countries registered for at least one course at Coursera alone.17,18 Chemistry MOOCs represent less than 3% of the approximately 450 courses offered through the various platforms when considering completed, currently offered, or announced courses as of June 2013. A recent editorial of this Journal posed a question in the title: “Online Courses in Chemistry: Salvation or Downfall?”.19 The most appropriate answer at this point would be: neither. It may take a few years to perfect the Web interface and evaluate the impact of MOOCs. Taking into account increasing significance of open online education and an increase in the number of chemistry courses offered through MOOC platforms, an overview of the field is a timely undertaking. The overview presented in this report is particularly relevant for instructors and students at schools, colleges, and universities who are interested in expanding their knowledge about existing opportunities to learn chemistry online. The paper is organized in the following way: first, key features of MOOCs are summarized; second, a brief history of MOOCs and various open courseware is outlined; third, chemistry offerings from major MOOC platforms (Udacity, Coursera, and edX) are described, and the characteristic features of each offering are discussed. The paper closes with a discussion of chemistry course offerings from other open online resources (iTunes U, MIT OpenCourseWare, and others) and a brief conclusion. Published: October 16, 2013 1533

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KEY FEATURES OF MOOCs Below is a list summarizing features characteristic of MOOCs that distinguish them from other forms of education.

example, Henry A. Lester, who taught the Coursera course Drugs and Brain, wrote in the commentary to a New York Times article: “An active forum finds errors in my miniLectures, and these errors persisted undetected for years in my Caltech lectures.”24

Student Population

Large (up to 180,000)20 enrollments bring students from all over the world, creating a unique learning environment. According to a recent report, 72.3% of the 2.9 million registered Coursera users are not from the United States.21 The nonmandatory nature of MOOCs attracts self-motivated and curious individuals willing to invest their time and effort into self- and peer-education. However, passing rates for most MOOCs are less than 10%.22 After browsing forum threads dedicated to students’ feedback, it was noticed that students who remained active and completed the course were seeking self-improvement, hoping that taking an online course would help them prepare for returning to school or for taking standardized tests. Students who left MOOCs mentioned technical difficulties and lack of time as the main reasons.

Course Content

The online nature of MOOCs shapes their content: any subject can be taught. For example, instructor can choose whether to convert an “offline” course to MOOC, or to develop a MOOC based on material that does not fit well in a typical curriculum. Hands-On Experience

Molecular model kits and laboratory experiments play an important role in chemical education. Chemistry MOOCs lack these traditional elements of instruction. Molecular visualization software is currently an online alternative to model kits; interactive simulations (PhET by UC Boulder, Molecular Workbench by The Concord Consortium, Merlot.org by MERLOT cooperative, etc.) could provide a sense of the laboratory activity; however, no alternative exists for the actual lab.

Accessibility

Personal computer and Internet access, as well as minimal computer literacy, are the only prerequisites to register and access MOOCs. Thus, MOOCS are available worldwide to those who can connect to an online course, including individuals having difficulties accessing other forms of education because of disability or lack of resources.

Ethical Considerations

Being an open resource, MOOCs attract people of various ethical standards. Most of the MOOCs do not require verification of an individual student’s identity. Signing the honor code agreement is usually mandatory in order to enroll in the MOOC, but ways of preventing cheating and plagiarism are limited. Currently, the ways to detect academic misconduct in an open online environment are scarce. Some courses touch on topics of public resonance, such as climate change, evolution, HIV, nuclear industry, nutrition, and public health. In addition to serving an educational objective, these courses sometimes become a contested space for people with opposite views and beliefs on the subject.

Flexibility

Although there are set deadlines for a submission of assessment materials, the online nature of the courses allows students to fit the instruction process into their schedules. Short lecture videos, which can be streamed or downloaded, allow for flexible time management. Grading

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MOOCs use either computer-based grading systems or peergrading methods. Often multiple (even unlimited) attempts are allowed for graded assessments. Feedback on the submitted assessments is provided routinely.

HISTORY OF MOOC PLATFORMS Since the early 2000s, universities have provided access to lecture notes, assessment materials, and lecture recordings online. For example, materials from approximately 2150 courses are available at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology OpenCourseWare (MIT OCW) project, a pioneering project launched in 2002.25 Among those, complete sets of video lectures are available for about 50 courses.26 Another example of a massive collection of course materials is Open Yale Courses, started in 2007 at Yale University. Course materials that include video lectures are available for 42 courses.26 Many other schools were launching similar initiatives about the same time as well. Naturally, a need arose for a platform that can potentially accommodate these growing resources. A free online service, iTunes U, was launched in 2007. Currently it hosts an impressive collection of instruction materials on various subjects, counting more than 800,000 files.27 Although early resources mentioned above can potentially supply an end-user with instruction materials, they lack a crucial component of an instruction process, which is instruction itself. By instruction we mean student−teacher interactions in a process of knowledge transfer organized in a sequenced and meaningful structure. This deficiency was fulfilled when the first MOOC, Connectivism and Connective Knowledge, was offered in 2008 by Siemens and Downe from the University of Manitoba with an enrollment of 2000 people from around the

Textbook Usage

In MOOCs students are supplied with subtitled lecture videos, lecture slides, and digital notes, reducing or even eliminating the need for a textbook. A recent article in Chemical and Engineering News mentioned that instructors may start assigning course videos as a substitute for reading textbook chapters.23 Noting students’ resistance to reading the textbook, one instructor commented that students are willingly watching the videos instead. Student−Student Interaction

Students are encouraged to participate in forum discussions, where they can seek answers to their questions, discuss assignments, and provide feedback to others, and to meet offline and form local study groups. Student−Instructor Interaction

There is no equivalent to traditional office hours that exists in MOOCs: massive enrollment limits the extent of interaction. However, depending on the instructors’ availability and involvement, communication between students and instructors occurs on forums, through live webcast sessions, or even meeting in person with student groups. Another consequence of massive enrollment and open access to the course materials is rapid error identification. For 1534

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Figure 1. Timeline of the development of open-access educational resources. The first chemistry MOOC offered from edX was 3.091x, Introduction to Solid State Chemistry; the first chemistry MOOC from Coursera was Introductory Organic Chemistry I. See the text for details.

multiple-choice and open-response questions, and an automatic grading system. Early in April 2013, edX announced its plans to develop a nonprofit, open-source learning platform in collaboration with Stanford University, which may potentially advance its outreach further.34 Students at Coursera and edX are encouraged to discuss the course topics and seek help from each other through forums. Technical issues and general questions are also resolved there. Video lectures are accompanied by subtitles in English and sometimes in other languages, making material comprehensible for students whose native language is not English. One of the technical differences between Coursera and edX is the organization of the retaking of assessments: a student has to take the entire quiz on the next attempt on Coursera, even if some questions were answered correctly; only the incorrectly answered questions need to be taken on the next attempt on edX.

globe. Students in this course were able to interact with the instructors and each other through an online conference environment or access audio and video lecture recordings and discussion forums afterward.28 At about the same time, the idea of connectivism, a novel learning theory, evolved. The core statement of the connectivistic approach is that knowledge can be transmitted through a network of connections. As a result, learning is viewed as an ability to establish and use those networks.29,30 The rapid development of electronic networks (social networks, blogs, and forums) and an information flow through them that was not accounted for in traditional learning theories, such as behaviorism, cognitivism, and constructivism, finally found its place in the theory of connectivism. It will not be an overstatement to say that connectivism-based MOOCs introduce a paradigm shift in the way education is viewed and pursued in the 21st century. The year of 2012 was fruitful in constructing learning networks. Three MOOC platforms were launched that year: Udacity (February 2012), Coursera (April 2012), and edX (April 2012). These rapidly growing platforms offer courses from various universities (mostly U.S. schools). Each platform has a unique interface and approach to course management. Udacity, which currently contains 25 self-paced courses,31 aims to supply free courses that can stay online and be rerun with minimal involvement from the instructor who originally developed it. Students can start the chosen course anytime after registration on the Web site. Coursera started with just four universities, but now offers courses from over 80 educational institutions and organizations, including more than 20 international ones.32 Coursera provides more than 300 courses, which are announced several months in advance with the help of a short introduction video. Courses usually run for 3−15 weeks, according to the schedule resembling an academic calendar. Coursera allows the interaction of instructor with students on forums, or during open office hours (by video streaming technologies, such as Google hangouts). Some instructors address problems that students point out in forums in subsequent or additional lectures and e-mails. One of the unique features of the Coursera platform is an automated peer evaluation of written assignments (for some courses) in which students are provided an opportunity to grade each other’s work. The platform edX started as a collaboration of Harvard University and MIT, and has grown to 27 educational organizations with 14 international institutions among them, providing more than 60 courses.33 The key feature of edX is its courseware, which is a linear sequence of video fragments,

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CHEMISTRY MOOCs

To date, only Coursera and edX offer chemistry MOOCs. Figure 1 marks the launch of the chemistry MOOCs relative to the overall timeline of the open online course platforms development. edX

The very first chemistry MOOC was launched by edX in the fall of 2012. The course Introduction to Solid State Chemistry, which is based on a core MIT 3.091 course, was started on October 9, 2012 and lasted until January 2013. The course was taught by Michael Cima of MIT. So far it is the only chemistry course offered through the edX platform. This course was among the five launching courses that started edX. The second running of the course began in February 2013 and lasted until June 2013. Introduction to Solid State Chemistry covers topics such as band theory of solids and semiconductors, along with traditional general chemistry content. The graded assignments for this course include eight homework assignments and three exams. Assessment materials mostly include open-response questions; a fraction is multiple-choice questions (one to four attempts allowed). During the first run of this course, the margin for a passing grade was set to be 60%. Out of 28,512 students who registered for the course initially, about 6000 remained active on average and only 2082 (∼7%) received a passing grade or above.35 Coursera

A summary of basic characteristics of Coursera courses is presented in Table 1. 1535

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Table 1. Chemistry MOOCs from Coursera Course (Start Date) Introductory Organic Chemistry I (January 2013)

Intermediate Organic Chemistry I (March 2013)

Chemistry: Concept Development and Application (March 2013) Analytical Chemistry/Instrumental Analysis (May 2013)

Statistical Molecular Thermodynamics (May 2013) A Look at Nuclear Science and Technology (June 2013) a

Duration, weeksa

Estimated Workload, h/weeka

Av. Duration of Lectures, min/week

Assessment Format

8

8−10

50−60

Multiple-choice quizzes Open-response questions Multiple-choice quizzes Open-response questions Multiple-choice quizzes Multiple-choice quizzes Problem sets Case studies Multiple-choice quizzes Multiple-choice exams

8

10−15

70−90

10

4−6

50−65

8

6−8

80−100

9

4−6

90−110

8

4−8

80−90

Number of Attempts 2

Grade Needed for Certificate of Accomplishment/with Distinction, % 70

30 2−100

70

30 2b

70/90

4−5

70/85

3−5 1 1

60/80

3

70

Retrieved from Coursera Web site.36 bSecond attempt includes 25% penalty.

The first chemistry MOOC offered by Coursera was Introductory Organic Chemistry I, which started in January 2013. The course was taught by Jeffrey S. Moore and Nicholas Llewellyn, both at University of Illinois at Urbana−Champaign (UIUC). The course is designed for eight weeks and covers the basics of organic chemistry: stereochemistry, orbitals and their interactions, substitution and elimination reactions, and so forth. Assessment materials consist of multiple-choice quizzes administered weekly (15−20 questions) and open-response questions in which students practice drawing chemical structures and reaction mechanisms (30 attempts allowed). According to the information posted on a forum by instructors, there were about 2200 students who took quizzes during the first week of class, but less than 1000 continued taking quizzes by the fourth week.37 Certificates of accomplishment signed by the instructor were awarded to students who earned at least 70% of the maximum score. In the beginning of March 2013, Coursera launched two more chemistry courses: Intermediate Organic Chemistry I from UIUC, and Chemistry: Concept Development and Application from Rice University. Intermediate Organic Chemistry I is an advanced organic chemistry course based on the molecular orbital approach and focuses on the foundations of structure and reactivity of organic molecules. This course is taught by Jeffrey S. Moore together with Michael Evans. The course offers a unique feature: numerous incorporations of orbital visualization software into instruction and assessment materials. Assessment materials primarily include open-response questions with a small fraction of multiple-choice questions. At the beginning, only two attempts are allowed for multiple-choice questions; later the number of allowed attempts increases to one hundred for some assignments. Chemistry: Concept Development and Application is a course taught by John S. Hutchinson of Rice University and is based on his textbook, which is freely available in the electronic format.38 According to the instructor’s end-of-course survey, 539 students submitted the last assignment, while the last video lecture was watched by 1154 students.39 For both organic chemistry courses, the lecture videos are short (2−10 min) and numerous (10−15 per week) and

accompanied by reading assignments in the case of Intermediate Organic Chemistry I. Lectures for Chemistry: Concept Development and Application are somewhat longer (10−20 min) and less numerous (3−4 per week). Projected workload varies from 4−6 h per week for the general chemistry course to 10−15 h per week for the advanced version of organic chemistry. Assessment systems for all courses provide feedback if a student answers a question incorrectly (usually in a form of the explanation shown next to the selected answer). Both organic chemistry courses are self-contained; that is, all the materials necessary are provided to the student on the course page, no additional textbook is assigned, and the course materials are composed by the instructors. As of June 2013, there are three other Chemistry courses in progress on Coursera platform. A Look at Nuclear Science and Technology is taught by Larry R. Foulke of the University of Pittsburgh. The course covers topics such as nuclear reactors, nuclear power, the nuclear fuel cycle, and the economics and safety of the nuclear industry. Before taking weekly exams, participants of this course have an opportunity to complete practice quizzes. Forum activity is encouraged and occasionally results in heated discussions. Statistical Molecular Thermodynamics is taught by Christopher J. Cramer of the University of Minnesota. Assessment materials include eight assignments composed of multiplechoice questions with five−nine response options and a final exam. Only one attempt to complete these assignments is allowed, and the correct answers with detailed solutions are not shown until the deadline. Videos of demonstration experiments are added to the lecture list in order to enhance the learning experience. Analytical Chemistry/Instrumental Analysis is taught by Vicki L. Colvin of Rice University. Assessment materials for this course include weekly quizzes and problem sets, case studies, extra-credit problems, and a final exam. A notable feature of this course is peer-graded case studies. This is the first chemistry MOOC to use peer grading. Case studies help to relate concepts of analytical chemistry to real-world problems, such as determination of lead content in toys, or the composition of chocolate. In order to complete a peer-graded assignment, students have to read materials selected by instructor, answer 1536

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Table 2. Chemistry Courses and Features at Various Open Online Platforms Features Platform

Course

University

Levela

Video Lectures

Coursera

Coursera Chemistry MOOC (see Table 1) Introduction to Solid State Chemistry Freshman Organic Chemistry I and II Chemistry Organic Chemistry Introduction to Solid State Chemistry Thermodynamics and Kinetics Principles of Chemical Science Introductory Quantum Mechanics II General Chemistry I and II Organic Chemistry I and II Physical Chemistry I and II Biochemistry Inorganic Chemistry Analytical Chemistry Advanced Organic Chemistry Advanced Inorganic Chemistry Spectroscopy Biochemistry



A/B

+

+

+

+

+

MIT

B

+

+

+

+

+

Yale

B

+

  MIT

B B B

+ + +

MIT

B

+

+

MIT

B

+

+

MIT

A

+

+

       

B B B B B B A A

+c +c +c +c +c +c +c

+ + + + + + + +

 CarnegieMellon

A A

+c +

edX Open Yale Courses Khan Academy MIT OpenCourseWareb

Saylor.org

Open Learning Initiative a

Graded Quizzes

Graded OpenResponse Questions

Discussion Boards

Practice Problems

+ + + +

+

+ +

B is basic level; A, advanced level. bFor selected courses only. cAvailable videos are from external resources.

develop their own curricula. These resources were also important in the early development of open online education.

several essay questions, and submit their answers before the set deadline. After submission, students proceed to evaluate several works submitted by their peers.

MIT OpenCourseWare

Future Offerings

The chemistry section at MIT OCW contains materials from more than 60 courses covering inorganic, organic, physical, and analytical chemistry subdisciplines at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. However, availability of notes as well as video and audio materials varies significantly among the courses. Video lectures are available for a limited number of courses while materials such as homework sets, practice tests with solutions, and lecture notes are available for most of the courses. Courses for which a complete set of materials is available (textbooks, video lectures, lecture notes, problem sets and exams, discussion boards) closely resemble MOOCs, with the only exception being the absence of the dedicated platform and interaction with the instructor. For example, course 3.019, Introduction to Solid State Chemistry, was developed into its edX version of 3.019x, as discussed previously.

Currently, a number of chemistry courses are scheduled to appear on Coursera, including Nanotechnology: The Basics from Rice University, and Nanotechnology and Nanosensors from the Israel Institute of Technology. The follow-up courses for both organic chemistry courses from UIUC have been announced, but the start date is yet to be determined. In addition, edX has announced Science and Cooking: From Haute Cuisine to Soft Matter Science, and Introduction to Water Treatment, both to start in the fall of 2013. Despite the limited number of chemistry courses offered, chemistry content is not limited to just those courses. For example, the MIT course The Secret of Life on edX covers a substantial amount of introductory biochemistry. Coursera’s Fundamentals of Pharmacology from the University of Pennsylvania, and Nutrition for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention from University of California San Francisco, covers applications of general and organic chemistry concepts in life sciences.

iTunes U

iTunes U is a freely accessible collection of instruction materials with more than 300 chemistry courses. Courses available through this platform are aimed at students of different levels, starting from middle school to advanced graduate-level. Searching in iTunes U reveals that educational materials are divided into two categories: “iTunes U Courses” (45 entries) and “iTunes U Collections” (371 entries).40 In both categories each entry contains a collection of video/audio materials (recordings of lectures, minilectures, or seminars), but some entries are enhanced with notes and assignments available for

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CHEMISTRY AT OTHER OPEN EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES MOOCs were preceded by Web-based platforms such as MIT OCW, iTunes U, Khan Academy, and others. One can look at these resources as information depositories, which may help students to learn on their own and may help instructors to 1537

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download in PDF format. In addition, entries in “iTunes U Courses” category may contain presentations, iBooks, apps, and purchasable items. As of June 2013, there are four chemistry courses listed among the top 20 iTunes U courses in the area of science: General Chemistry from The Ohio State University (1−15 min original video lectures), Chemistry from Foxcroft Academy (1−15 min original video lectures; practice problems in PDF format; links to chemistry apps), Core Concepts in Chemistry from Duke University (1−50 min original videos as well as videos from various sources such as Khan Academy, MIT OCW, and Academic Earth; notes from Wikipedia and other open resources in PDF format) and Freshman Organic Chemistry 2 from Yale University (∼50 min original lectures; notes; and exams in PDF format). The variety of subdisciplines and levels of coverage of chemistry available through iTunes U is so diverse and numerous that its detailed overview is beyond the scope of this report. Many universities launched their own open online courseware, such as Open Yale Courses by Yale University, webcast.berkeley by UC Berkeley, Open Learning Initiative by Carnegie-Mellon University, Connexions by Rice University, Open.Michigan by the University of Michigan and others. The video and audio recordings provided through these projects are often available through resources like iTunes U and YouTube, which significantly simplifies the search for the desired material or course.

MOOCs are a rapidly growing global phenomenon that changes the ways knowledge and education are being disseminated and pursued in the modern world. For established educational institutions, MOOCs might be instrumental in the transition to flipped classroom instruction.23,44,45 For educators (especially at the early stage of their careers), MOOCs give a chance to become students again and learn the art of teaching from examples delivered by renowned experts. For students, MOOCs provide an opportunity to deepen their knowledge about their favorite subject, as well as go beyond the curriculum of their educational program. The time and effort invested in the development and usage of MOOCs provide invaluable experience for instructors and students. As MOOCs progress, we anticipate reading more about experiences from both sides in the future. Overall, MOOCs contribute to the idea of lifelong learning, which is one of the key components of sustainable development.46

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AUTHOR INFORMATION

Corresponding Authors

*E-mail: [email protected]. *E-mail: [email protected]. Notes

The authors declare no competing financial interest. Both authors (graduate students at their respective universities) enrolled, explored, completed, and enjoyed chemistry MOOCs available through the platforms discussed in the paper. The authors want to emphasize that MOOCs develop rapidly. The number of chemistry MOOCs doubled while the manuscript was under review. These changes were addressed during the revision of the manuscript.

Khan Academy and the Saylor Foundation

Aside from the courseware made available by universities, there are also resources from nonprofit organizations such as the Khan Academy and the Saylor Foundation, whose missions are to deliver free education worldwide. The chemistry content of the Khan Academy includes two courses: chemistry and organic chemistry. Both of these courses cover basic topics of introductory college-level general chemistry and organic chemistry, respectively. Despite gradual development of the courseware infrastructure, no assessment materials are currently available for chemistry courses. The noticeable feature of the Khan Academy lectures is that they are delivered as an imitation of chalk talk, with voice recording over animated video (so students never see an instructor, only hear the voice). The platform also promotes peer tutoring and interaction of students through the discipline-specific dedicated forums. Chemistry courses available through The Saylor Foundation cover general, organic, physical, analytical, and biological chemistry, with a few advanced topics. The main idea is to provide the entire curriculum for a chemistry major. However, the content of these courses is mostly assembled from the materials available through other freely available resources. Table 2 summarizes chemistry MOOCs and other resources offering free online course materials. Comparison of the features presented within every platform clearly distinguishes MOOCs from other Web-based educational resources.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The authors would like to thank Richard M. Hyslop and anonymous reviewers for their valuable criticism and comments to the manuscript.

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REFERENCES

(1) Pappano, L. The Year of the MOOC. The New York Times, Nov 4, 2012. (2) Ripley, A. College Is Dead. Long Live College! Time, Oct 18, 2012. (3) Carr, N. The Crisis in Higher Education. MIT Technology Review, Sep 27, 2012. (4) Regalado, A. The Most Important Education Technology in 200 Years. MIT Technology Review, Nov 2, 2012. (5) Korn, M.; Levitz, J. Educators Debate Academic Merits of Free Online Courses. WSJ.com, Jan 1, 2013. (6) Shirky, C. Higher Education: Our MP3 is the MOOC. The Guardian, Dec 17, 2012. (7) Free Education: Learning New Lessons. The Economist, Dec 22, 2012. (8) Higher Education: Not What It Used To Be. The Economist, Dec 1, 2012. (9) Young, J. R. What Professors Can Learn From “Hard Core” MOOC Students. The Chronicle of Higher Education, May 20, 2013. (10) Roth, M. S. My Modern MOOC Experience. The Chronicle of Higher Education, Apr 29, 2013. (11) Deneen, P. J. We’re All to Blame for MOOCs. The Chronicle of Higher Education, Jun 3, 2013. (12) Carlson, S.; Goldie, B. The False Promise of the Education Revolution. The Chronicle of Higher Education, Dec 17, 2012. (13) Kolowich, S. Outsourced Lectures Raise Concerns About Academic Freedom. The Chronicle of Higher Education, May 28, 2013.

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CONCLUSIONS MOOCs represent a promising educational technology, currently developing at a very fast pace. To evaluate the efficiency and impact of MOOCs, extensive educational research is necessary in the future. First efforts to analyze the output and specifics of MOOCs are based on surveys among students and instructors and research done by course providers themselves.41,42 MOOC Research Initiative recently launched by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is another way of facilitating the research in this area.43 1538

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Journal of Chemical Education

Technology Report

(14) Berrett, D. Debate Over MOOCs Reaches Harvard. The Chronicle of Higher Education [Online], May 10, 2013. http:// chronicle.com/article/Debate-Over-MOOCs-Reaches/139179/ (accessed Sep 2013). (15) Crawford, T. H. MOOCs and the Material World. The Chronicle of Higher Education, Apr 29, 2013. (16) Bowen, W. G. Walk Deliberately, Don’t Run, Toward Online Education. The Chronicle of Higher Education, Mar 25, 2013. (17) University Spotlight: See courses offered by UCSD, Case Western, UNC, Northwestern and more! http://blog.coursera.org/ post/44688625384/university-spotlight-see-courses-offered-by-ucsdcase (accessed Sep 2013). (18) Coursera’s First Birthday! http://blog.coursera.org/post/ 48343453924/courseras-first-birthday (accessed Sep 2013). (19) Pienta, N. J. Online Courses in Chemistry: Salvation or Downfall? J. Chem. Educ. 2013, 90, 271−272. (20) Kim, K. Duke Ethics Professor Teaches Thousands How To Argue. http://www.dukechronicle.com/articles/2013/01/16/dukeethics-professor-teaches-thousands-how-argue (accessed Sep 2013). (21) Waldrop, M. M. Online Learning: Campus 2.0. Nature 2013, 495, 160−163. (22) Jordan, K. MOOC Completion Rates: The Data. http://www. katyjordan.com/MOOCproject.html (accessed Sep 2013). (23) Arnaud, C. H. Flipping Chemistry Classrooms. Chem. Eng. News 2013, 91, 41−43. (24) Lester, H. A. Commentary, posted on Jan. 27, 2013 at 10:44 am. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/27/opinion/sunday/friedmanrevolution-hits-the-universities.html (accessed Sep 2013). (25) MIT OpenCourseWare. http://ocw.mit.edu/about/ourhistory/ (accessed Sep 2013). (26) Number of the courses with video content was obtained by manually searching the corresponding Web resources. (27) iTunes U: Frequently Asked Questions. http://support.apple. com/kb/ht5100 (accessed Sep 2013). (28) Connectivism and Connective Knowledge 2011. http://cck11. mooc.ca/ (accessed Sep 2013). (29) Siemens, G. Connectivism. http://www.connectivism.ca/ (accessed Sep 2013). (30) Siemens, G. Connectivism: A Learning Theory for the Digital Age. http://itdl.org/Journal/Jan_05/article01.htm (accessed Sep 2013). (31) Udacity.com. https://www.udacity.com/courses (accessed Sep 2013). (32) The list of the universities participating in Coursera. https:// www.coursera.org/partners (accessed Sep 2013). (33) The course catalog is available at the edX home page. https:// www.edx.org/ (accessed Sep 2013). (34) Stanford University To Collaborate with edX on Development of Non-Profit Open Source edX Platform. https://www.edx.org/alert/ stanford-university-collaborate/693 (accessed Oct 2013). (35) Chu, J. Duflo, Lander, Lewin To Lead Spring-Semester MITx Courses. http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2013/mitx-spring-offerings0131.html (accessed Sep 2013). (36) The course catalog is available at the home page of Coursera. https://www.coursera.org/courses (accessed Sep 2013). (37) Introductory Organic ChemistryPart 1: Course Grade Data. https://class.coursera.org/orgchem1a-001/forum/thread?thread_id= 1114 (accessed Sep 2013). (38) Hutchinson, J. Concept Development Studies in Chemistry. Connexions Web site, 2012. http://cnx.org/content/col11444/1.4/ (accessed Sep 2013). (39) Course Statistics, Concept Development and Application. https://spark-public.s3.amazonaws.com/genchem1/PDF/course_ statisti_cs_concept_development_and_application.pdf (accessed Sep 2013). (40) Search was performed in iTunes Store by using “Power Search” tool, iTunes software, version 10.7.0.21. Reported number of entries is as of June 23, 2013.

(41) Kolowich, S. The Professors Behind the MOOC Hype. The Chronicle of Higher Education, Mar 18, 2013. (42) Simonite, T. As Data Floods In, Massive Open Online Courses Evolve MIT Technology Review [Online], Jun 5, 2013. http://www. technologyreview.com/news/515396/as-data-floods-in-massive-openonline-courses-evolve/ (accessed Sep 2013). (43) MOOC Research. http://www.moocresearch.com/researchinitiative/about (accessed Sep 2013). (44) Bergmann, J.; Sams, A. Flip Your Classroom: Reach Every Student in Every Class Every Day; International Society for Technology in Education: Eugene, OR, 2012. (45) Ealy, J. B. Development and Implementation of a First-Semester Hybrid Organic Chemistry Course: Yielding Advantages for Educators and Students. J. Chem. Educ. 2013, 90, 303−307. (46) Jakarta Strategy Paper on South-South Policy Forum, on Lifelong Learning as the Key to Sustainable Development. http://uil. unesco.org/fileadmin/keydocuments/LifelongLearning/en/Jakarta-sforum-paper.pdf (accessed Sep 2013).

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dx.doi.org/10.1021/ed400283x | J. Chem. Educ. 2013, 90, 1533−1539