吃瓜爆料

Mark Balson

Alternative energy MOOC captures global audience

When he began teaching at 吃瓜爆料 Engineering 37 years ago, Professor James Wallace (MIE) learned that a spare piece of chalk was all he needed to ensure his lessons went uninterrupted. Now, with the introduction of massive online open courses 鈥&苍产蝉辫;or MOOCs 鈥&苍产蝉辫;he鈥檚 found you can bring together a couple of IT technicians, a state-of-the-art camera and an internet connection to reach a worldwide classroom.

Wallace recently finished teaching a MOOC on alternative energy technologies 鈥&苍产蝉辫;the second MOOC in 吃瓜爆料 Engineering鈥檚 history. Called Wind, Waves and Tides: Alternative Energy Systems, the course examined the equipment used to harness various energies and brief explored their historical influences.

鈥淎t 吃瓜爆料, we are learning about online education and what it can do and what it cannot do. I think it is in essence an experiment on online education,鈥 said Wallace, who in 2012 received 吃瓜爆料鈥檚 prestigious President鈥檚 Teaching Award.

鈥淥ne of my motivations for participating as a MOOC instructor is that your reach goes much further 鈥&苍产蝉辫;student feedback from around the globe makes you aware of local projects or technologies that enrich the course for everyone.鈥

One module featured a company that used waves to generate power, but the business became insolvent the week after. This only enriched the course content though, as it highlighted the tough environment of the industry. It sparked online discussion between the students, who provided Wallace with similar companies he was unaware of, both running and defunct, and current news on alternative energy systems from different parts of the world.

With his global online class providing such a wealth of information, Wallace found that he was learning of new methods and angles to compliment his alternative energy systems MOOC, and his continued work in environmental engineering.

鈥淭he MOOC enabled me to develop much better course materials that are now being used in my regular 吃瓜爆料 Alternative Energy Systems course, which is also taught online,鈥 said Wallace.

Two years ago, Professor Bryan Karney (CivE) led the Faculty鈥檚 first MOOC. His  course studied how our world鈥檚 energy forces 鈥&苍产蝉辫;from wind and waves to storms and currents 鈥&苍产蝉辫;animate the Earth鈥檚 surface and allow our planet to support life.

These types of online opportunities enable students to pool information form all across the world. Rodney Sumlin, from Baltimore, graduated from Georgia Tech last year and is pursuing a career in wind energy, and he found the MOOC a valuable opportunity to add to the knowledge he had already gained. He relished being part of an international classroom.

鈥淸MOOCs allow] easy access to a large, global network of information from people 鈥&苍产蝉辫;classmates, TAs and professors 鈥&苍产蝉辫;with similar interests,鈥 Sumlin said.

As well as allowing the University to boost its international reputation further through one of the world鈥檚 largest MOOC providers, Coursera, Wallace also appreciates the flexibility online learning offers to students.

鈥淓ngineering students in particular are kept really busy. They have a demanding workload and a very full schedule so they greatly appreciate being able to watch the videos online at a time of their choice. The ability to self-schedule is a key feature of online course delivery,鈥 he said.

These sentiments are echoed far beyond the walls of 吃瓜爆料. Matthew Brown studied the course from Perth in Australia to put him back in touch with his undergraduate qualification 鈥&苍产蝉辫;an MEng in mechanical engineering 鈥&苍产蝉辫;and to continue to educate himself on the issue of climate change.

鈥淭his is a serious and significant issue that as a world community we need to address urgently,鈥 said Brown.

His home life in Western Australia is busy as he raises a young family while holding a full-time position in sales and marketing, but his initial concerns in being able to squeeze in time for study were soon quashed.

鈥淚 studied the course twice a week for a couple of hours at night,鈥 he said.

This flexibility does inevitably result in participation dropping off as those who were initially attracted in the MOOC find they are too busy, or just not as interested as they thought they were. Overall, 11,000 people signed up from all over the planet. About 6,500 viewed the first lecture, and by the end of the final exam, there were just 10 per cent of that amount left. Still, you would struggle to squeeze 650 students into a 吃瓜爆料 seminar.

In the future, Professor Wallace has  plans to broaden his online teaching portfolio with another MOOC on energy storage. He aims to build on what he learned with this course, keeping content more succinct and interacting further with his audience in the next round 鈥&苍产蝉辫;it is an ongoing experiment to provide the best education possible to a large audience.

Who knows, this time around he might leave that trusty piece of chalk in his office.

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