MOOCs for Wisconsin and the World

A new MOOC initiative from the University of Wisconsin–Madison ties the topics to communities in the state of Wisconsin and gives residents an opportunity to meet in person.Sarah C. Mangelsdorf, Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs; Jeffrey S. Russell, Vice Provost for Lifelong Learning and Dean, Division of Continuing Studies; Linda A. Jorn, Associate Vice Provost of Learning Technologies and Division of Information Technology (DoIT) Director of Academic Technology; and Joshua H. Morrill, Evaluator, University of Wisconsin–Madison.

Imagine a massive open online course (MOOC) that doesn't feel so massive; one that's intimately tied to a region, with opportunities for meaningful face-to-face encounters in community settings. The University of Wisconsin–Madison will offer six such courses in its latest round of massive open online courses for 2015–16. One course will invite those interested in climate change to attend discussions throughout Wisconsin, thanks to partnerships with 21 public libraries. Another course, focused on hunting and conservation, features an event with hunters and chefs in the southern Wisconsin city of Baraboo.

UW–Madison began its experiment with massive open online courses in 2013. Hosted on Coursera, the four courses in our first phase reached about 135,000 learners from 141 countries and all 50 states.¹ Despite reservations about MOOCs in academic circles,² university leaders believe these courses have a part to play in our future, tying them to a larger push for institutional change called Educational Innovation: an attempt to prepare students and communities for the 21st century. In launching a second phase of MOOCs, we're thinking more carefully about our audiences so we can use the platform to engage with people in both Wisconsin and the world.

Our phase-one MOOCs focused on topics of general interest, such as human evolution and financial markets. For phase two, however, the topics are more strongly associated with the state of Wisconsin. Five of the six new MOOCs have an environmental theme, acknowledging that Wisconsin—home of "A Sand County Almanac" author Aldo Leopold and Earth Day founder Gaylord Nelson—is a cradle of the conservation movement.³ Continuing this legacy, our faculty and staff will offer courses on such topics as Leopold's Land Ethic and changing climate in the Great Lakes region.

Through MOOCs, we will invite citizens from around the globe to engage in discussions on some of the most important issues of our time. But even more important, we will extend this invitation to people in Baraboo, for example (see below), along with other state residents. In this way, we can offer a UW–Madison experience to Wisconsin citizens who might not otherwise feel connected to the university.