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Part IV. Storytelling and Learning in the 21" Century | 153
CHAPTER 7.
MOOCS AND STORYTELLING
Storytelling can take place not only in an integrated learning environment,
but also in an independent open educational course. Massive Open Online
Courses (MOOCs) are a special form of distance learning in which a course
organized by a reputable institution becomes available to the masses via the
Internet. The aim of the initiative is to make knowledge accessible to the
widest possible public audience, with Internet access being the only condition
necessary for joining such courses. Applying for these courses is possible
from other cities and countries, and the curriculum is published on a weekly
basis and accessible from home while sitting in front of a computer. Such
courses present a great opportunity for those with reduced mobility who,
due to their location, are unable to attend traditional, offline courses. The
democratic nature of MOOCs is further exemplified by the fact that anyone
interested can enroll for free, regardless of their qualifications or financial
situation. The number of participants is also not limited, so there may be
thousands applying for a particular MOOC.
Siemens (2012) distinguishes between two types of MOOCs: xMOOCs
(eXtended MOOCs) and cMOOCs (community / connectivist MOOCs).
Reflecting a more traditional, methodologically conservative approach,
xMOOCs are online, asynchronous implementations of existing university
courses. The content shared with participants at regular intervals is mainly
lectures and video tutorials, and examination is carried out through online
tests. Although participants of xMOOCs form a vast collective virtual learning
community, fellow students are not really able to interact with each other while
taking a course. The emphasis is placed on managing individual progress and
content acquisition rather than engaging in a cooperative form of learning.
Participants do not come into direct contact with either their instructor or
their peers during the process.
Coursera regularly offers a DST xMOOC led by two professors at the
University of Houston: Bernard R. Robin and Sara G. McNeil.* The language
of the five-week course is English, and attending the course requires 3-4
hours a week. The primary target groups for Robin and McNeil’s course
are educators. In the course, participants receive links to explanatory video
tutorials, relevant digital stories, and explanatory texts and are able to create
their own digital stories by the end of the course.
The steps involved in the learning process are strictly based on StoryCenter’s
model. In the first week of the course, students gain a general understanding
of DST methodology and define the purpose and topic of their story. In the
videos from the second week, participants can learn about the rules of text
writing, selecting and creating images and infographics, as well as storyboard
%4 https://www.coursera.org/course/digitalstorytelling