Massive Open Online Classes - Engaging Large Audiences: C. Impey at the OAE’s 5th Shaw-IAU Workshop
0Title:
Massive Open Online Classes are an effective way to engage large audiences of adult learners.
This was a talk given at the 5th Shaw-IAU Workshop on Astronomy for Education, organised by the IAU Office of Astronomy for Education (OAE, http//astro4edu.org).
Massive open online classes, or MOOCs, are intended for adult, lifelong learners worldwide. The author has created four astronomy MOOCs that have reached nearly 400,000 people in 180 countries. The core of a MOOC is a set of video lectures, and other pedagogy that is effective in a MOOC includes citizen science projects, peer writing assignments, live Q&A sessions, and the use of social media and discussion boards. Completion rates of MOOCs can be low, since free-choice learners often have jobs, families, and busy lives. However, when the learners complete surveys, do writing assignments, work on a project, or participate in discussion forums, the completion rate increases dramatically. MOOCs can reach audiences in developing countries that other modes of communication might not.
About Chris Impey:
Chris Impey is a Distinguished Professor of Astronomy at the University of Arizona. He has over 250 refereed publications and has been awarded $20 million in grants from NASA and the NSF. He has won eleven teaching awards and has taught four online classes with over 400,000 enrolled and 6 million minutes of video lectures watched. Impey is a past Vice President of the American Astronomical Society and has won its career Education Prize. He’s also been an NSF Distinguished Teaching Scholar, the Carnegie Council’s Arizona Professor of the Year, and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Professor. He has written 120 popular articles on cosmology, astrobiology, and education, two textbooks, a novel called Shadow World, and 9 popular science books.
About the 5th Shaw-IAU Workshop:
This year’s Shaw-IAU Workshop on Astronomy for Education focuses on two themes: one special practical astronomy education topic and one scientific topic. The special topic is astronomy education outside the classroom, looking at how astronomy can be taught in a diverse range of environments such as science centers, planetaria and youth clubs. The scientific topic is planetary atmospheres, both in the solar system and exoplanets as well as our own Earth. The workshop was organised by the IAU Office of Astronomy for Education (http://astro4edu.org/). More details can be found on: https://astro4edu.org/shaw-iau/5th-shaw-iau-workshop/schedule/
Keep up to date with future Shaw-IAU Workshops and other opportunities at the IAU Office of Astronomy for Education by joining our mailing list https://astro4edu.org/mailing-list/
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