MOOCs are massive open online courses. I’m not too sold on this one, but my other choice was a flipped classroom. Flipped classrooms and MOOCs both say that students need to be very motivated and internet service is required more for flipped classrooms. Like with my situation these past few days, my internet access was limited. In my school district, most homes don’t have internet access and in most cases, the bandwidth cannot support heavy usage as it is slow. The school is the main source of internet usage, and it is very blocked at that. We cannot even access youtube because of the bandwidth issue.
MOOCs, I’m not too sure about, but I read from coetail.com that MOOCs used in elementary/middle school can be successful when the teacher does the course work right alongside the teacher (2013). The teacher’s guidance seems to help students maintain momentum.
I might not be doing the best work this week, but I read all the articles in the listed readings to choose between the flipped and the MOOCS. I think I need to do more research on MOOCs for the big presentation we are doing at the end of the semester.
The virtual educators critique that a motivated student can use MOOCs to prepare for high stakes exams. I read that the positive factors include that you can do this from anywhere and it’s free. It seems to be in the research state.
I was wondering if there are low completion rates and no credit for these. I am wondering and will be looking into a lower level kind of MOOC course for 6th grade students.
As an elementary teacher, it is important to know there are such options so that I can give these options to students who are advanced.
bjulroan 
This last school year I worked on several MOOC projects for my courses and our primary age group was 6th graders so I’ve seen how it can work with that age group across a large number of schools and students. Your technology issues at this point will be your biggest hurdle; however, MOOCs are not always video and high bandwidth content. They can take place through websites, blogs, and other forms of technology that is probably already accessible at your school. I’m sure there are many schools across the country (and the world) that have these same issues, so I would look at similar communities to see what they are trying and implementing in their schools. Not all MOOCs are created equal, so because it’s an emerging technology, we’re still figuring out what will keep students engaged and improve completion rates. However, a student should be able to walk away from a course that is not meeting their need, so we can’t just look at those numbers to understand the situation. Your insight will be valuable in understanding if MOOCs are truly free and available for all or if they are just for those with access!
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I also forgot to mention this but I’d love to talk to you more about your school and your interest in MOOCs and maybe helping to think of a solution or similar option that you can try with your students next year!
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Mia, that would be great! I might have one girl or two that would benefit from these, so if we can work sometime out for you to show me, that would be awesome! Thanks!
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