Some regard these online courses as ways of improving student learning outcomes and a natural extension of distance education; others view them as entirely disastrous for both students and instructors. Whether MOOC’s will transform e-learning or become a passing novelty remains to be seen.
To experience MOOC’s first hand the presenter, a long-time online student and online instructor, enrolled and completed several online courses offered by Coursera.org “with distinction.” Reasons for taking the courses included: brushing up on existing subject matter, observing teaching styles utilized in a MOOC, studying new fields, gaining inside student knowledge from taking massive open online courses and explore the potential for teaching MOOC’s.
This general session presentation will explore some of the potentials and pitfalls of MOOC’s from the instructor-as-student perspective.
In the discussion section participants will be invited to share and discuss their own experiences with MOOC’s either as students or as instructors.
Participants will also brainstorm on how these massive open online courses may be redefining the online education experience for both students and instructors.
Dr. Kirsti A. Dyer MD, MS, FT is a physician, health educator, professor, online instructor, lecturer, author, and longtime online student. Dr. Dyer received her medical and master’s degrees from the University of California, Davis. Since having her two daughters, her focus has shifted from clinical practice to education, wellness, and health promotion.
Dr. Dyer has been using online course tools since developing an enhanced Nutrition Course for Columbia College in January 2005. Her Nutrition course has been fully online in Blackboard since Fall 2008. Dr. Dyer has been teaching an online graduate course in Grieving Family Systems for Madonna University since January 2007. She has also taught several online continuing education courses for Mount Ida as part of their National Center for Death Education program.
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Dr. John Thompson is Associate Professor Emeritus at Buffalo State College, Buffalo, NY, USA. He also operates his own educational consulting business – Global Learning Institute, Inc. Although retired, Dr. Thompson continues to teach 100% online courses for several institutions of higher education. He has taught some 150 online courses since 2000. He enjoys the flexibility of teaching online from his home office at all hours of the day and night. Dr. Thompson has chaired conferences, done presentation and paper reviews for numerous conferences and publications, made presentations at numerous local to international conferences, and has authored many publications in his field. Prior to working in higher education, his career experience included working in urban, suburban, and rural schools as an elementary and secondary classroom teacher (general education and special education), curriculum coordinator, principal, and school superintendent. He also functioned as director of training for two state governments and director of a university-based computer training organization.
Dr. Trevor Belcher is an Assistant Professor in Ashford’s College of Health, Human Services, and Science, where he teaches undergraduate psychology courses such as Introduction to Psychology, Research Methods, and the Capstone course. He holds his PhD and MS in Psychology from Capella University and a BS with a double major in Ministry and Theology from Mid-America Christian University. Over most of the past two decades, his educational and practical experience has allowed him the opportunity to serve in various capacities such as pastoral ministry (ten years), counseling, teaching, and administration. “For the past eight years, I have had the privilege of working and teaching at the University level. I have enjoyed and learned from every class. I love working with students and helping to make a difference in someone’s life.” Dr. Belcher was born in Warren, MI, reared in Kentucky. And currently lives in Virginia. He has been married for over two decades and has one son. In his spare time, he enjoys movies, spending time with his family, and trying to learn guitar.
For more than 15 years, I have consistently performing successful teaching on various secondary and higher education institutions in the United States and Indonesia. As a result of my commitment to teaching, I have been awarded scholarships from several prestigious institutions, including the Ford Foundation, the East West Center, the Dennis Zvynakis Foundation, and the University of Hawai‘i Foundation. Recently, I defended my dissertation and will be graduating from the Educational Technology Program in the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa this May. My research interests are in multimodal learning environments, technology and language instruction, creative teaching in social sciences, and online-distance learning.
Head, Computing Education Department, Director of Graduate Teacher Training Program, Faculty of Education at Kibutzim College of Education, Israel.
Marthann Schulte, PhD is an Associate Professor of Education at Park University, teaching and developing online courses for the graduate program in Adult Education. She is also the Coordinator of Online Faculty Evaluation and leads a team that oversees online instructor training, mentoring and evaluation. This evaluation team, which has created a number of unique, research based online training and evaluation programs, works with more than 500 online adjuncts per academic year. Marthann’s doctorate (PhD) is in Education, Curriculum and Instruction, from Kansas State University, where she focused on online learning and distance education modes. Marthann is a military spouse (Army) and works for Park University at a distance from Portsmouth, Virginia.
Aloha,
I have been working in higher education for 15 years, first as an English Professor and then as a Faculty Developer. I have a master’s degree in English with a focus on teaching college writing and am in the final stages of my doctoral work in higher education and organizational change. 
Donna Gardner Liljegren is Director of the Elmhurst College Online Center and Manager, Instructional Support for the School for Professional Studies of Elmhurst College. In these roles she is responsible for the administration and growth of the Online Center as well as instructional support, including faculty recruiting and development, for online, onsite, and hybrid programs in the School for Professional Studies. She has worked in higher education for 22 years and distance learning for 17 years in both faculty and executive leadership roles. Her experiences have included for-profit and private universities. Dr. Liljegren earned BA and MA degrees in English from Governors State University and an Ed.D. in Adult Education from Nova Southeastern University.