An Exploration of MOOC + SPOCs Teaching Mode

Abstract

Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC), a “one teacher for worldwide students and worldwide students learn together” teaching mode, have attracted public attention, have prompt the higher education reform and have provide an effective way to solve the difficulties in higher education. However, there is a contradiction between the attention of learners and the degree of difficulties in MOOCs: the more difficulty, the less attention. Reducing the difficulty level of MOOCs may draw lots of attention from society, but it can’t meet the requirements of classroom teaching in higher education. In this paper, a new teaching mode, MOOC + SPOCs (Small Private Online Courses), was explored to solve the contradiction. The new mode can make MOOC suitable to both learners from society and students from university classrooms. Harbin Institute of Technology (HIT) collaborating with other 12 universities in China practiced MOOC + SPOCs teaching mode for more than 21,000 students on “College Computer” courses in 2014 fall semester. The practice indicated that in MOOC + SPOCs mode teach groups and learner groups in different universities can benefit from one high quality MOOC course and the interactions with each other. With MOOC + SPOCs mode, MOOC courses can be effectively involved in classroom teaching and prompt the higher education.