Goldberg Lynette R, Bell Erica, King Carolyn, O'Mara Ciaran, McInerney Fran, Robinson Andrew, Vickers James
Wicking Dementia Research and Education Centre, School of Medicine/Faculty of Health, University of Tasmania, Private Bag 143, 7001, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia.
School of Medicine, University of Tasmania, Private Bag 34, 7001, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia.
BMC Med Educ. 2015 Mar 26;15:60. doi: 10.1186/s12909-015-0344-z.
The completion rates for Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) generally are low (5-10%) and have been reported to favour participants with higher (typically tertiary-level) education. Despite these factors, the flexible learning offered by a MOOC has the potential to provide an accessible educational environment for a broad spectrum of participants. In this regard, the Wicking Dementia Research and Education Centre has developed a MOOC on dementia that is evidence-based and intended to address this emerging major global public health issue by providing educational resources to a broad range of caregivers, people with dementia, and health care professionals.
The Understanding Dementia MOOC was designed specifically to appeal to, and support, adult learners with a limited educational background. The nine-week course was presented in three units. Participants passed a quiz at the end of each unit to continue through the course. A series of discussion boards facilitated peer-to-peer interactions. A separate "Ask an Expert" discussion board also was established for each unit where participants posted questions and faculty with expertise in the area responded.
Almost 10,000 people from 65 countries registered; 4,409 registrants engaged in the discussion boards, and 3,624 (38%) completed the course. Participants' level of education ranged from postgraduate study to a primary (elementary) school education. Participants without a university education (vocational certificate and below) were as likely as those with a university education to complete the course (χ(2) = 2.35, df = 6, p = 0.88) and to engage in the online discussions (F[6, 3799] = 0.85, p = 0.54). Further, participants who completed the MOOC engaged in significantly more discussion board posts than participants who did not complete the course (t = 39.60, df = 4407, p <0.001).
The high completion rate and level of engagement of participants across a broad spectrum of levels of education suggest that MOOCs can be successfully developed and delivered to students from diverse educational backgrounds. The high participation rate also highlights the combination of MOOC design as well as the scale of unmet need for quality dementia education.
大规模开放在线课程（MOOC）的完成率普遍较低（5%-10%），据报道，这类课程更适合接受过高等（通常是高等教育水平）教育的参与者。尽管存在这些因素，但MOOC提供的灵活学习方式有可能为广大参与者提供一个易于获取的教育环境。在这方面，威金痴呆症研究与教育中心开发了一门关于痴呆症的MOOC，该课程以证据为基础，旨在通过为广泛的护理人员、痴呆症患者和医疗保健专业人员提供教育资源，来应对这一全球新兴的重大公共卫生问题。
“理解痴呆症”MOOC专门设计用于吸引和支持教育背景有限的成年学习者。这门为期九周的课程分为三个单元。参与者在每个单元结束时通过一次测验才能继续学习课程。一系列讨论板促进了 peer-to-peer互动。每个单元还设立了一个单独的“向专家提问”讨论板，参与者可以在上面提出问题，该领域的专家教员会进行回复。
来自65个国家的近10000人注册；4409名注册者参与了讨论板，3624人（38%）完成了课程。参与者的教育水平从研究生学历到小学教育不等。未接受过大学教育（职业证书及以下）的参与者完成课程的可能性与接受过大学教育的参与者相同（χ(2) = 2.35，自由度 = 6，p = 0.88），参与在线讨论的可能性也相同（F[6, 3799] = 0.85，p = 0.54）。此外，完成MOOC的参与者在讨论板上的发帖明显多于未完成课程的参与者（t = 39.60，自由度 = 4407，p <0.001）。
广泛教育水平的参与者的高完成率和参与度表明，MOOC可以成功开发并提供给不同教育背景的学生。高参与率还凸显了MOOC设计以及对高质量痴呆症教育未满足需求的规模之间的结合。
