The MOOC Whenever You Want

THE NEW, ON DEMAND VERSION OF MANAGING FASHION AND LUXURY COMPANIES IS AVAILABLE WITHOUT CONSTRAINTS OF TIME. STUDY ONLINE AT YOUR OWN OWN PACE

Recently launched, Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) are already evolving. So far they were present on specialized platforms that distribute them only in the session-based version, i.e. in the form of online courses available for a limited period of time and to be followed according to the time schedule determined by the designers. To meet the needs of a wider audience, they are now offered also on demand, i.e. without constraints of time and to be followed at your own pace.
 
Managing Fashion and Luxury Companies, the course of Erica Corbellini and Stefania Saviolo launched by Bocconi last October on the platform Coursera, is now available in the on demand version. "Surveys show that a large share of the audience is made up of workers, who prefer the on demand version because it allows them to better organize time", says Valentina Todoro of Bocconi Education Teaching Alliance (BETA), the University’s laboratory for research and development on learning methods.
 
"MOOCs, for Bocconi, are a massive experiment with a large impact on production skills, on the mastery of new languages ​​and on the knowledge of learners’ behavior", says BETA director Luigi Prosperpio, "and now we want to evaluate the pros and cons of the on demand mode”.
                                                              
If the freedom given to the participants is the strength, the fact that interactivity and the ability to develop a vibrant community are limited is the weakness to be counterbalanced. "So we have maintained the figure of the community manager, even if she calls in the teachers less frequently than in the session based mode", explains Todoro. Furthermore, a quiz has replaced the part of the final assessment which depended on a peer-evaluated assignment. The next change will consist in structuring some form of feedback in case of wrong answers, because in the on demand version the participants can’t have immediate explanations addressing the community forum.
 
However the evolution does not stop here. "Next MOOCs’ structure could be a bit different from the three that we have already produced", says BETA’s Chiara Moscardo. "The idea is to create materials designed to be used in several situations, including the classroom".

by Fabio Todesco