IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine - June 2016 - 82

and second in the use of an automated process for student-
peer review of project outcomes.
Central to this article is a discussion of our motivation for
creating the two online courses and of the tools, processes,
and platforms we developed to create the MOOCs. We present some preliminary
findings regarding our
As an innovative approach experience in implementing and facilitating the
courses and responses
to educational change,
from the first student cohort. We conclude with
MOOCs are shaping the
final observations about
the importance of a conew online learning
hesive, multiskilled team
approach to MOOC deenvironment.
velopment and implementation, the need for
effective support and facilitation of the student community in the discussion forums, and the value of effective relationships with
third-party providers in educational ventures that rely
heavily on new digital technologies.
Motivation for Development of the MOOCs
As digitization transforms how knowledge is produced
and consumed and how learning takes place [1], higher
education institutions are driven to explore innovative
approaches to the design and development of learning
and learning environments [2]. As an innovative approach
to educational change, MOOCs are shaping the new
online learning environment [3], [4] and, to some extent,
are being used to capitalize on the affordances of digitization. Since late 2011, beginning with the emergence of
MOOCs from institutions such as Stanford, Harvard, and
MIT, they have attracted widespread media attention and
global interest [5]. This renewed interest in online learning, piqued by the rise of the MOOC, is the result of a
combination of factors. This includes greater competition
and increased privatisation of higher education, shifts in
economic models, and changes in sociodemographic factors leading to a greater diversity of the student population [2]. Other drivers include pressure on educational
institutions to broaden student participation and the
emergence of concepts of lifelong learning and portfolio
career paths [6]. The proliferation of MOOCs has heralded the mainstream recognition of online learning as part
of the higher education landscape and, as interest has
grown, opportunities have emerged.
From the early stages of our MOOC project, QUT strongly supported the development and delivery of the online
courses. A scan of existing MOOCs in the field of robotics
worldwide indicated that while a small number of introductory courses were offered, none had a specific focus on
robotic vision or approached the topic at the level of difficulty demonstrated by the two QUT MOOCs. QUT recognized
82

IEEE ROBOTICS & AUTOMATION MAGAZINE

june 2016

an opportunity to profile a major engineering research area
(robotics) in a course championed by an international expert
in the field, while simultaneously positioning the university
as a modern and transformative institution: a global participant in emerging educational practice. These first MOOCs
were also an opportunity to strengthen capacity and capabilities in innovative online course design and development.
This included the professional development of participating
teaching staff and the development of a scalable approach for
the design, production, and support of subsequent MOOCs
and online courses. The university also has a strong social
justice agenda and supports programs that broaden the participation in education by students from a wide range of
backgrounds. QUT's objectives for offering MOOCs have
been found to be commonly held with a recent report,
"Higher Education Online: MOOCs the European Way" [7],
confirming the key drivers for MOOC development as being
the enhancement of institutional reputation and institutional visibility, the strategic use of MOOCs as part of policies around innovation, and a response to the changing
demands of learners and society.
The development of a MOOC requires willingness on the
part of individual lecturers to take a risk and to try a new
mode of online learning. It also requires institutional support. In the case of the QUT MOOCs, it was a combination
of university interest in moving into the MOOC space and of
the realization by the first author that there was a demand for
trustworthy educational material in the area of robotics and
robotic vision. In particular, there seemed to be a demand for
courses pitched between the hobby-level (how to build a
robot with servo motors and an Arduino) and the graduatelevel online courses. Our theory about this demand was
based on an overwhelming response to a set of unedited
robotics lecture videos uploaded to YouTube at the end of
2012. These were devised by the first author for his undergraduate robotics course when, due to unforeseen circumstances, he was unable to present face-to-face lectures on
campus and so recorded the lectures to meet his commitment
to his students. These videos on YouTube were discovered by
students around the world, and to date there have been over
100,000 views. One lecture alone has over 50,000 views.
A survey of existing open online robotics courses supported our theory about the need for courses in this field.
Our courses attracted, in total, over 20,000 participants in
the initial offering in the first half of 2015. Students came
from 145 countries, with the top three countries being
India, Australia, and the United States. Unusually for a
MOOC, according to recent Harvard MIT research on
MOOC participants [9], our cohort was young (73% under
30 years old), and 40% had no university qualifications.
Course Design
The two MOOCs were based on the QUT course ENB339
Introduction to Robotics, which has been taught as part of
the mechatronics major since 2011. This was a conventional
13-week course, and each week comprised two one-hour

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine - June 2016