=Paper=
{{Paper
|id=Vol-2356/experience_short7
|storemode=property
|title=Digital Learning from scratch: Initiating MOOCs within a Business School
|pdfUrl=https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-2356/experience_short7.pdf
|volume=Vol-2356
|authors=Marc Egloffstein,Benjamin Ebner,Dirk Ifenthaler
|dblpUrl=https://dblp.org/rec/conf/emoocs/EgloffsteinEI19
}}
==Digital Learning from scratch: Initiating MOOCs within a Business School==
https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-2356/experience_short7.pdf
Proceedings of EMOOCs 2019:
Work in Progress Papers of the Research, Experience and Business Tracks
Digital Learning from scratch: Initiating MOOCs within
a Business School
Marc Egloffstein1, Benjamin Ebner2 and Dirk Ifenthaler3
13 University of Mannheim, Learning, Design and Technology, Germany
2 Mannheim Business School, Germany
egloffstein@uni-mannheim.de
Abstract. This paper reports experiences from the successful implementation of
Massive Open Online Courses within an internationally ranked business school.
After a brief introduction to the organizational background, the instructional
design of the initial MOOC and results from a multi-perspective evaluation are
presented. Participants were mostly professional learners studying for personal
motives. The modular course design was well received, with learners especially
valuing structure and instructional elements for self-directed learning.
Institutional stakeholders predominantly named business oriented arguments for
implementing MOOCs in business education, and they stressed the importance
of collaborative or interactive instructional elements. Design recommendations
for business MOOCs include an increased flexibility for self-directed learning
and a dedicated community management.
Keywords: MOOCs, Business School, Professional Learning
1 MOOCs in Business and Management Education
Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) have had the highest adoption rates among
learning technologies in recent years. Until today, MOOCs have become a well-
established learning format in academia. Meanwhile, commercial MOOC providers
are moving their offerings away from university-like courses toward more business
oriented formats. MOOCs have become increasingly common in professional learning
and development, gaining acceptance among employers [2] and employees [1].
Research has highlighted various challenges for MOOCs. Course completion,
participation, motivation and retention issues have been analyzed in depth [3]. The
instructional quality of MOOCs remains a crucial topic [4]. Although generic design
frameworks [5] can provide support, further research and development is needed.
With a share of 18.2%, MOOCs from the field of business formed the second
largest section among the global MOOC offerings in 2018 [6]. A market overview
from June 2018 revealed 481 business MOOCs offered by the top 100 universities
from the Times Higher Education ranking. MOOCs have become an important means
for the online delivery of business education [8]. Against this background, this paper
121
Proceedings of EMOOCs 2019:
Work in Progress Papers of the Research, Experience and Business Tracks
reports first-hand experiences from the initiation and implementation of MOOCs
within an internationally ranked business school.
2 Initiating business MOOCs – the case of MBSx: VBM
2.1 Project Background
Mannheim Business School (MBS) is a leading provider of management education in
Europe associated with the University of Mannheim, Germany. As part of its digital
transformation strategy, MBS has carried out a two-year MOOC initiation project
from scratch, which involved building up a dedicated team as well as technical
resources. Based on external funding, a project coordinator/instructional designer was
employed, together with a team of three specialist graduate assistants for video
production, course design and support. A complete video studio was set up and
equipped. Likewise, an in-house OpenEdX system (MBSx) was implemented by the
MBS IT department together with an external service provider. Additional expertise
in instructional design and MOOC research was provided by the Learning, Design
and Technology group from the University of Mannheim. The whole project was
carried out in cooperation with the German Graduate School of Management and Law
in Heilbronn. This implied joint steering meetings, aligned project management
efforts and a mutual exchange of expertise. The initial MBSx MOOC was launched in
spring 2017.
2.2 Course Design and Implementation
The first MBSx MOOC on the overall topic of Value Based Management (VBM)
featured a distinctive instructional design. The main focus was on flexible content
delivery. Thus, the MOOC promoted self-directed learning with video and text-based
materials. While MBSx:VBM was aimed at business professionals and advanced
business students, the course was open to all audiences free of charge. There were no
formal prerequisites. However, learners were expected to have a solid understanding
of basic management concepts like the net present value or SWOT-analysis and a
good command of the English language. As a learning outcome, successful
participants were able to explain, evaluate and transfer critical aspects of the concept
of VBM to business problems. Generally following the xMOOCs-model, the course
contents were broken down into six self-contained modules: IT-Management,
Corporate Social Responsibility, Organizational Learning, Company Taxation,
Marketing and Finance. Hence, six instructors from the faculty approached the overall
topic from different angles. Additional content was presented by high-ranking
business experts in one or more transfer videos for each module. The official course
length was eight weeks. As the MOOC was implemented as a self-paced course,
participants had the chance to complete their coursework until a closing date another
8 weeks later. The individual learning progress could be monitored with self-test
quizzes and minor case studies. For a free MBSx certificate (honor track), 60% of all
assignments had to be completed.
122
Proceedings of EMOOCs 2019:
Work in Progress Papers of the Research, Experience and Business Tracks
3 Experiences from MBSx: VBM
Within the project, a multi-perspective evaluation has been carried out. The learner
perspective is complemented by the institutional perspective derived from significant
internal stakeholders.
3.1 Learner perspective
In the first course run, N=683 (69% male, 31% female) learners participated in
MBSx:VBM. Among them, 144 people earned a certificate (completion rate 21%).
The median age was 34 years. Almost all the participants had an academic
background. Participants came from 61 different countries, with a majority from
Germany (ca. 65%).
The learner oriented evaluation focused on contextual and motivational variables.
Table 1 shows elements of the online surveys applied. Two research questions (RQ1
and RQ2) were approached.
Table 1. Elements of the Learner evaluation
Survey Area Items n Sample Item
Please indicate your learning objective.
Participant
4 149 ≤ n ≤ 155 What do you intend to achieve in MBSx:
characteristics
VBM?“ – single choice
„Participating in this course is relevant for
Initial
9 148 my personal development.“ – six-point
motives
Likert scale
Course Design „Course objectives and learning goals were
14 73
Evaluation clearly stated.“– six-point Likert scale
RQ1: Who is participating in the MOOC, and what are learners’ initial motives?
With regard to their professional status, 78 % of the respondents could be classified as
professional learners. (70 % employed, 8 % working freelance, 16 % students, 5 %
not employed / retired). 82 % of the participants had intended to learn in MBSx:
VBM during leisure time (9 % during work time, 9 % on other occasions). 92 % of
the participants wanted to complete the course and earn a free certificate (4 %
intended to complete the course without a certificate, 4 % just wanted to browse the
contents). Figure 1 gives an overview on participants’ initial motives.
123
Proceedings of EMOOCs 2019:
Work in Progress Papers of the Research, Experience and Business Tracks
Fig. 1. Initial learner motives (item means; 1 – strongly disagree, 6 – strongly agree).
RQ2: How do learners perceive the course design and its instructional elements?
Additionally, participants were requested to rate the instructional elements of the
MOOC. Figure 2 shows the highest four and lowest four ratings.
Fig. 2. Learners’ evaluation of course elements (item means; 1 – strongly disagree, 6 – strongly
agree).
3.2 Institutional perspective
To map the institutional perspective on the MOOC initiation, narrative interviews
with institutional stakeholders have been conducted. N=11 stakeholders involved in
the project (4 professors, 2 research/teaching assistants, 4 project team members, 1
instructional designer) reported on their experiences and on their views on digital
teaching and learning. After recording and transcription, a qualitative content analysis
(frequency analysis) has been carried out. A coding frame was developed from a
research perspective (5 main categories: Organizational parameters, Roles & Actors,
Rationale, Instructional Design, Project specifics) and further elaborated out of the
124
Proceedings of EMOOCs 2019:
Work in Progress Papers of the Research, Experience and Business Tracks
material (37 subcategories). All in all, 638 codings were assigned. The evaluation
focused on the motivation for implementing MOOCs and on stakeholders’ views on
course design, tackling two further research questions (RQ3 and RQ4).
RQ3: What is the motivation for business MOOC from the institutional
stakeholders‘ perspective? Here, the codings in the category ‘Motivation’ were
analyzed. Figure 3 shows the percentages.
Fig. 3. Institutional stakeholders’ motivation (74 codings)
RQ4: What instructional elements are considered important from the
institutional stakeholders‘ perspective? Here, the codings in the category ‘Online
instruction – methods’ were analyzed. Figure 4 shows the percentages.
Fig. 4. Institutional stakeholders’ views on instructional design (61 codings)
125
Proceedings of EMOOCs 2019:
Work in Progress Papers of the Research, Experience and Business Tracks
4 Discussion
This paper reported the experiences from the initial MOOC implementation within a
business school. In sum, the MBSx:VBM project achieved the following goals:
• Set the stage for digital teaching and learning in the field of business and
management at the University of Mannheim (resources & infrastructure)
• Gain first-hand experiences in MOOC development (processes & best practices)
• Achieve faculty involvement and commitment for digital teaching and learning
(internal effects)
• Extend the reputation of MBS and the University of Mannheim (external effects)
The implementation was accompanied by a multi-perspective evaluation, enabling a
broad view on the project. From the learner perspective, it became evident that
• unlike in academic MOOCs, participants were mostly professional learners who
intended to use the MOOC in their free time. Personal development motives
outweighed job related motives. However, there were notable discrepancies
between the intention to earn a certificate and the actual course performance.
• the course design and its instructional elements were fairly well-received. Self-
assessments and materials were considered most important for supporting
learning. Collaborative/interactive instructional elements lagged behind.
Professional learners seemed to appreciate the self-paced xMOOC-format.
From the institutional perspective,
• business oriented arguments seemed to dominate the rationale behind the
MOOC implementation from the stakeholders‘ point of view. Improving the
quality of teaching was not a leading motive here.
• stakeholders stressed the importance of collaborative/interactive instructional
elements. However, this was not reflected in the course design.
Design recommendations for future business MOOCs include
• to maintain the flexibility to suit the needs of professional learners: Above all,
business MOOCs should be considered as self-directed learning environments.
• to build offerings that go beyond the concept of an academic online course:
‚Mini MOOCs‘ [7] seem to be suitable offerings for business topics.
• to integrate interaction without compromising scalability and flexibility by
‚community management‘ and scalable online tutoring.
References
1. Egloffstein, M., Ifenthaler, D.: Employee Perspectives on MOOCs for Workplace
Learning. TechTrends 61(1), 65-70 (2017).
2. Hamori, M.: The drivers of employer support for professional skill development in
MOOCs. In: Delgado Kloos, C., Jermann, P., Pérez-Sanagustín, M., Seaton, D., White, S.
(eds.) Digital education: Out to the world and back to the campus. EMOOCs 2017, pp.
203–209. Springer, Cham (2017).
126
Proceedings of EMOOCs 2019:
Work in Progress Papers of the Research, Experience and Business Tracks
3. Jordan, K.: Massive open online course completion rates revisited: Assessment, length and
attrition. International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning 16(3), 341–358
(2015).
4. Margaryan, A., Bianco, M., Littlejohn, A.: Instructional quality of Massive Open Online
Courses (MOOCs). Computers & Education 80, 77–83 (2015).
5. Sergis, S., Sampson, D. G., Pelliccione, L.: Educational Design for MOOCs: Design
Considerations for Technology-Supported Learning at Large Scale. In Jemni, M., Kinshuk,
Khribi, M. K. (eds.) Open Education: from OER to MOOCs, pp. 39-71. Springer,
Heidelberg (2017).
6. Shah, D.: By The Numbers: MOOCs in 2018, https://www.class-central.com/report/mooc-
stats-2018/, last accessed 2019/04/02.
7. Spector, J. M: A critical look at MOOCs. In Jemni, M., Kinshuk, Khribi, M. K. (eds.)
Open Education: from OER to MOOCs, pp. 135–147. Springer; Heidelberg (2017).
8. Whitaker, J. W., New, J. R., Ireland, R. D.: MOOCs and the Online Delivery of Business
Education. What’s new? What’s not? What now? Academy of Management Learning &
Education 15, 345-365 (2016).
127