IEEE Solid-State Circuits Magazine - Spring 2014 - 65

FIGURE 3: A sample Web page showing how course notes and videos are posted for anyone to view at any time.

To be fair, a quality learning experience is possible without giving the student feedback, that is, using only video
lectures and notes, as long as relevant
problems and corresponding solutions
are available. The student does, of
course, have to be self-motivated, since
there aren't any homework, quiz, or test
deadlines. I have seen this approach
work very well, for example, when a
well-established semiconductor company moves into a country with very
little or dated circuit design expertise in
the universities. To gain employment,
the students need to gain the knowledge and skills needed by the employer,
so they are extremely motivated. They
study the online videos and notes, work
problems backwards and forwards, and
then go to the job interview prepared to
demonstrate their knowledge and get a
job. And many do!
Let's discuss this last item-a MOOC
lacking feedback-in greater detail.
Imagine that a student studies for an
exam by looking at the solutions manual to a course's textbook. He or she

looks at a problem and the corresponding solution and thinks, Yup, I know
how to do that one. Then the student
moves on to read the next solution and
problem. This process is repeated until
the student has read every problem
and the corresponding solution in the
solutions manual. In other words, the
student is not actually working on any
problems or thinking critically about
the steps in the solutions to the problems. The exam comes, and the student, of course, does poorly. A similar
scenario can be imagined for the student who only reviews lecture videos
or notes. To be successful, a student
has to try to solve a problem without
looking at the solution. Then when the
student either gets stuck or thinks the
problem has been solved, it's time to
look up the solution. If it doesn't match
the student's own answer, asking
"Which solution is right?" is better than
merely saying to oneself, "I am wrong."
The bottom line is that the usefulness of a MOOC is largely determined
by the person using it. MOOCs aren't

a magical learning tool that enables
someone to gain knowledge without
any effort. On the other hand-and
I've witnessed this firsthand-online
courses can enable motivated students
to gain significant skills that can change
their lives and those of their families.
Be excited about MOOCs, yes, but temper your enthusiasm with the realization that with these learning aids comes
more work. That means more work for
both the person creating the material
and-perhaps more important-the
person attending the MOOC.

References

[1] Wikipedia. (2014). The massive open
online course (MOOC; provides a good
overview of the recent developments of
MOOCs for distance education). [Online].
Available: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Massive_open_online_course
[2] R. J. Baker. Information on setting up a laptop
with a document camera to record a lecture.
[Online]. Available: http://cmosedu.com/
jbaker/recording/recording.htm
[3] R. J. Baker. Example information, including
a "how to" video, on editing Web pages.
[Online]. Available: http://cmosedu.com/
jbaker/webpages/webpages.htm

IEEE SOLID-STATE CIRCUITS MAGAZINE

-R. Jacob Baker

s p r i n g 2 0 14

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ http://www.cmosedu.com/ http://www.cmosedu.com/

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Solid-State Circuits Magazine - Spring 2014