Learner experiences of a blended course incorporating a MOOC on Haskell functional programming

Dale, V. H.M. and Singer, J. (2019) Learner experiences of a blended course incorporating a MOOC on Haskell functional programming. Research in Learning Technology, 27, (doi: 10.25304/rlt.v27.2248)

Abstract

There is an increasing move in higher education to blend university courses to include a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC). This article reports on the learner experiences of such a course, which incorporated a purposely designed MOOC as part of the blend, to teach Haskell functional programming. A survey revealed that students most valued the programming exercises, quizzes and instructional videos, while the follow-up focus group highlighted the flexibility of the MOOC, usefulness of the videos, drop-in sessions and programming exercises. The overall mix of activities was regarded as particularly useful. While discussions were not rated as highly in the survey, students in the focus group commented on their value, particularly for getting support from external learners. The perceived lack of face-to-face contact was the biggest issue; however, this reflected a lack of awareness of lab sessions which could have been better signposted. There was perceived to be a gap between the MOOC and the rest of the course in terms of level of difficulty and authenticity of learning tasks. These issues were positively addressed in subsequent runs of the course. The outcomes of this study are relevant to educators seeking to incorporate MOOCs into blended courses.

• Item Type: Articles
• Additional Information: The authors would like to thank QAA Scotland and the University of Glasgow for co-funding this study.
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Dale, Dr Vicki and Singer, Dr Jeremy
• Authors: Dale, V. H.M., and Singer, J.
• College/School: College of Science and Engineering > School of Computing Science; University Services > Learning and Teaching Services Division
• Journal Name: Research in Learning Technology
• Publisher: Association for Learning Technology
• ISSN: 2156-7077
• ISSN (Online): 2156-7077
• Published Online: 10 July 2019
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2019 V.H.M. Dale and J. Singer
• First Published: First published in Research in Learning Technology 27
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced under a Creative Commons License