MOOC poster April 4, 2013 by Mathieu Plourde
By Editor - Oct. 2, 2017
The best way to start a MOOC is to take one yourself. I started with a class in Conflict Resolution at the University of California Irvine. It was excellent. After taking such a class, you may well be able to find a simpler and cheaper way to produce a MOOC than suggested below, or you can simply follow the steps on the links below. Harvard University spends about $100,000 making one course. Much cheaper options exist.
A MOOC can be built for next to nothing if you can get people to understand this is a non-profit effort to help individuals, entire communities, nations and regions and can use iMovies, or build relationships at a media company or TV station.
Software does not have to be interactive like COURSERA and EdX. Lectures can be posed online, and assignments can be sent via email to course email boxes established for that purpose. Building simple websites that can host video is easy and free using www.weebly.com (which hosts Silk Road Virtual University), https://www.wix.com/ , https://www.freehosting.com/ , and many others. Just search: “Free web hosting.” Weebly.com provides a hundred or so email addresses when one upgrades to Pro and you lease the domain name (e.g. the URL without .weebly.com at the end.) That costs around $100 per year, which is pretty cheap for a site that can reach millions of viewers, if you build it right.
I do believe it is possible to make MOOCs for free using an iPhone, iMovie, and a free weebly.com site. You can use msn's Outlook Email and OneDrive for sharing documents.
Community leaders can and should be “brought on board” to help building cooperative teams to make a MOOCs. This is a "grassroots" approach to learning. Of course you can wait for the government to take the initiative on the education you want to provide now, it but that may take years. People need education now. If you do a good job, who knows, you may get funding and be a leader instead of a follower.
LEARN HOW TO BUILD A MOOC
Editor's Suggestion 1:
If you live in a multi-lingual country why not make your MOOC available in several languages? The cost will be about the same but you're reach a larger audience and be considered a real pioneer in MOOC evolution.
Editor's Suggestion 2:
Looking for curriculum ideas? In one Silk Road country I visited every hotel I stayed in had black mold growing in the bathroom around the sink water faucet and in some cases the shower. In many cases it was flourishing under the sink as well. Making a free access plumbing MOOC to fix leaky faucets and pipes under the sink would 1) save a lot of lives as black mold is the cause of many diseases, 2) help promote tourism because seeing black mold flourishing in the bathroom isn't good public relations for any country and 3) fixing the plumbing is an environmentally excellent idea because water resources are precious. So, yeah, a plumbing MOOC would be very helpful. All you need is a good plumber who'd like to cooperate, an iPhone, iMovie, free website, and free email! As a final exam you can ask the students to present photos of their own step by step progress in fixing their own leaky faucets which can be shared with the teacher for free on Outlook.com's OneDrive! Find a free "Certificate of Accomplishment" template on the Internet, and Email to successful graduates of your first MOOK. Finally, make a video record of how you built your MOOC, along with some of the final exams, and take them to the Mayor of your city. He or she might just give you an Award which you'd deserve, and a job.
The best way to start a MOOC is to take one yourself. I started with a class in Conflict Resolution at the University of California Irvine. It was excellent. After taking such a class, you may well be able to find a simpler and cheaper way to produce a MOOC than suggested below, or you can simply follow the steps on the links below. Harvard University spends about $100,000 making one course. Much cheaper options exist.
A MOOC can be built for next to nothing if you can get people to understand this is a non-profit effort to help individuals, entire communities, nations and regions and can use iMovies, or build relationships at a media company or TV station.
Software does not have to be interactive like COURSERA and EdX. Lectures can be posed online, and assignments can be sent via email to course email boxes established for that purpose. Building simple websites that can host video is easy and free using www.weebly.com (which hosts Silk Road Virtual University), https://www.wix.com/ , https://www.freehosting.com/ , and many others. Just search: “Free web hosting.” Weebly.com provides a hundred or so email addresses when one upgrades to Pro and you lease the domain name (e.g. the URL without .weebly.com at the end.) That costs around $100 per year, which is pretty cheap for a site that can reach millions of viewers, if you build it right.
I do believe it is possible to make MOOCs for free using an iPhone, iMovie, and a free weebly.com site. You can use msn's Outlook Email and OneDrive for sharing documents.
Community leaders can and should be “brought on board” to help building cooperative teams to make a MOOCs. This is a "grassroots" approach to learning. Of course you can wait for the government to take the initiative on the education you want to provide now, it but that may take years. People need education now. If you do a good job, who knows, you may get funding and be a leader instead of a follower.
LEARN HOW TO BUILD A MOOC
- Five MOOC Building Platforms: https://www.learndash.com/5-mooc-building-platforms/
- MOOCs Factory: https://moocs.epfl.ch/production
- Tips for building a MOOC: https://www2.le.ac.uk/offices/lli/developing-learning-and-teaching/enhance/strategies/mooc-development-guidance &
Editor's Suggestion 1:
If you live in a multi-lingual country why not make your MOOC available in several languages? The cost will be about the same but you're reach a larger audience and be considered a real pioneer in MOOC evolution.
Editor's Suggestion 2:
Looking for curriculum ideas? In one Silk Road country I visited every hotel I stayed in had black mold growing in the bathroom around the sink water faucet and in some cases the shower. In many cases it was flourishing under the sink as well. Making a free access plumbing MOOC to fix leaky faucets and pipes under the sink would 1) save a lot of lives as black mold is the cause of many diseases, 2) help promote tourism because seeing black mold flourishing in the bathroom isn't good public relations for any country and 3) fixing the plumbing is an environmentally excellent idea because water resources are precious. So, yeah, a plumbing MOOC would be very helpful. All you need is a good plumber who'd like to cooperate, an iPhone, iMovie, free website, and free email! As a final exam you can ask the students to present photos of their own step by step progress in fixing their own leaky faucets which can be shared with the teacher for free on Outlook.com's OneDrive! Find a free "Certificate of Accomplishment" template on the Internet, and Email to successful graduates of your first MOOK. Finally, make a video record of how you built your MOOC, along with some of the final exams, and take them to the Mayor of your city. He or she might just give you an Award which you'd deserve, and a job.