The Mode Reform of Superior Education in the MOOC Times

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Abstract

With the progress of science and technology and the rise of the Internet， the network education has gradually come into people’s sight. mooc， as a new form of network education， has exerted an important influence on the Chinese higher education， and meanwhile， promoted the reform of higher education. In this paper， by analyzing the education idea of MOOC and the national educational conditions in China， as well as the impact of MOOC on China’s higher education mode， accordingly， the writer poses opinions and suggestions on the development and the reform of higher education in the MOOC era. “While education has been both open and online， the sizeable enrolment numbers associated with massive open online courses （MOOCs） are somewhat unprecedented” （Knox， 2014， p.166）.

Key words： MOOC； Higher education； Education reform

INTRODUCTION

MOOC， as a deeply combined form fusing information technology and education teaching together， is known as the biggest innovation of education and the dawn of the future education since the invention of printing， meanwhile， an important driving force of reform and development of higher education. MOOC provides global learners with abundant learning resources， as well as a variety of learning opportunities. By means of MOOC， learners can acquire knowledge skills and accordingly improve their own learning cultivation. However， while we are enjoying the benefits MOOC bring us， we should also pay attention to the great influences MOOC brings on higher education. Facing MOOC storm， the institutions of higher education in our country should calmly ponder， rationally analyze， and actively explore the challenges and opportunities MOOC brings to higher education in China in MOOC era.

1. THE CONCEPT OF MOOC AND ITS MAIN CHARACTERISTICS

“MOOC， namely massive open online courses， called as Mu Ke in China， is a new teaching model whose emergence is a great challenge to the traditional classroom teaching mode” （Yu， 2014， p.136）， which means large-scale Open Online Network Courses. Brian Alexander （Bryan Alexander） and Dave are the creators of this term. MOOC is a kind of open free online courses provided by the world-wide first-class universities’ cooperation. Based on the old development model of the curriculum and with the help of the Internet’ advantage， MOOC achieved a wider range of knowledge dissemination and teaching interaction， ending up as learners’ access to acquiring knowledge and skills in the Internet age. MOOC is typical of three basic characteristics： large-scale application， free-open facility and online courses. Large scale： Up to tens of thousands of people， or even hundreds of thousands of people are lucky to be MOOC’ objects. Large-scale means MOOC courses are different from traditional classroom teaching， there being no limit to the number of learning people， which is a unique teaching form of all time. “Research suggests that massive open online course （MOOC） students prefer to study in groups， and that social facilitation within the study groups may render the learning of difficult concepts a pleasing experience” （Li et al.， 2014， p.219）. For example， the number of artificial intelligence courses taught by Sebastian and Shi Lang is up to 160000， which confirms that large-scale is the essence of MOOC. Openness： MOOC platform is not for the purpose of profit， but interest-oriented， laying stress on resource sharing. With the arrival of the life-long education idea and the development of computer internet technology， the world-wide， first-class universities have been seeking a shortcut to promote school’s development and social development. Openness means that all the learners access to network in the world can have access to free education resources of high quality. Online courses： MOOC courses are not extracted from texts， but based on interactive learning supported by the Internet， which is typical of high flexibility instead of regional restriction. Meanwhile， learners can obtain corresponding college credits while completing online learning tasks and assessment. The real-time interaction is more convenient and flexible than the traditional classroom.

2. THE MAJOR EFFECT OF MOOC ON HIGHER EDUCATION OF OUR COUNTRY

2.1 The Influence on Higher Education Model in Our Country

2012 is the world’s “first year of MOOC”， while 2013 is the “first year of MOOC” in China. Some scholars believe that for mainland colleges and universities in China， MOOC not only opens a new page of the courses’ globalization， but also brings impact and challenges to traditional teaching mode of Chinese universities. As for the definition of teaching model， different schools of theories have different points of view， but whatever kind of teaching mode it belongs to， it has dual characteristics of theory and practice， and it is endowed with methods with a set of perfect teaching steps under the guidance of the theory to achieve certain education goals. MOOC reflects the teaching concept centered on the students’ learning， aiming to arouse the enthusiasm of the students. In teaching process， the MOOC video courses are divided into micro courses with tiny minutes， embedded with random tests in class， like clearance Settings in the game， which claims that only those who give the right answers can continue to follow the teacher， as the students’ attention need to be highly concentrated. At the same time， the tiny courses can meet the needs of learning anytime and anywhere. In this international environment， only high-qualified courses in the first-class universities can be exhibited on the MOOC platform， so if our national universities intend to join the MOOC courses， the colleges and universities in our country need create and open the same high-qualified courses. Online open courses symbolize a university’s and even a country’s cultural software power， which confirms online courses and popularity level provided can reflect the level of a university’s education or the rendering of the national higher education power. As a result， the high qualified courses are bound to attract more learners’ attention， converting the traditional teaching mode， in which teachers are prior to others， to another mode， in which students’ autonomous learning is combined with teachers’ auxiliary teaching mode.

2.2 The Impact on the Teaching Methods of Our Country’s Higher Education

The traditional higher education lays emphasis on face-to-face communication between teachers and students， with teachers acting as the center. MOOC courses based on the network platform have developed into a kind of network course， with openness， interactivity of network education， democracy and autonomy， etc. working as its characters. These characteristics result in changes of the teaching method of higher education， and that MOOC courses enhanced the students’ autonomous learning ability is prior to other sides among the changes brought by MOOC. Wedemeyer， a professor of education at the Wisconsin University put forward the concept of independent learning， on the basis of Rogers’s humanism learning theory. He believes that “learners’ independent learning environment and school’s environment are totally different， in which learners can accept but never rely on the instructions from teachers， and learners shoulder learning responsibility for themselves and complete the corresponding learning tasks” （Rourke， 2000， p.62）. Second， videos are prior to other sides in MOOC teaching methods， so the visual effect is more highlighted. In traditional teaching， teachers’ instructions play a leading role， supplemented by relevant videos， in which students lack the establishment of knowledge in the process of their learning， and learning becomes a dull and discharged thing. Finally， MOOC courses are different from traditional network courses because of students’ participation. MOOC network platform， like Coursera， Udacity and Udemy， etc.， all have the corresponding online discussion groups， discussion BBS， and learning communities for learners’ autonomous learning. Traditional courses are limited by time and space， while MOOC learners can choose a variety of learning communication platforms， on which learners enjoy open and personalized learning platform.

3.2 Strengthen the Teamwork of Teachers and Improve the Quality of Courses

In today’s society， the updating speed of information knowledge is very fast， in which situation， the requirement in imparting the most classic， and cutting-edge knowledge on MOOC courses to students is more urgent. Teachers not only need teach students knowledge， information and theory taken in the MOOC courses， but also need pass on the skills of using education resources of MOOC to students， for example， information collection， information analysis and integration， etc. Therefore， college teachers should pay close attention to the professional development frontier， insist on in-depth discussion and research on a new problem， and keep up with the pace of this age closely， which not only claims that teachers need to possess a solid language foundation， but also need to be equipped with a wide range of knowledge and the capability of information technology. Course quality is a basic factor of any education form， so considering the specific requirements of MOOC for the course， the paper recommends that teachers in colleges and universities should strengthen the team cooperation， treating the cultivation of collective wisdom as a starting point， pooling the wisdom and efforts of everyone， shouldering individual obligation， promoting the growth of knowledge of each individual participant on MOOC course， enhancing the curriculum quality and curriculum cohesion， and ultimately providing high-quality online learning resources for the majority of learners.

3.3 Improve the Education Management System and Realize Resources Sharing

In face of the impact of the MOOC， universities should take measures to actively perfect the exposed problems and give scientific guidance to those problems. MOOC， as a kind of new education form， there are disadvantages in learning evaluation and credit certification. Even if some courses are offered certification， in credits accumulation， transformation and application， etc.， they are still in the initial exploration stage. In addition， due to the form of online teaching， in the process of management， MOOC is accompanied by some problems such as the integrity and identification， etc.. Such defects cannot go without the perfection of the education management system from the experts， who are responsible for establishing a reliable anti-fraud mechanism， and exploring much more in dealing with these defects.

4. MOOC EDUCATION PRECEDENT IN THE UNITED STATES STIMULATES ITS DEVELOPMENT IN CHINA