1. Power, Pedagogy, and Process:
An exploration of learning and education
on Coursera
Thomas Shields
Candidate for MBA
19 April 2013
Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) are post-secondary level classes taught completely online
and open to anyone and which, recently, have been touted as a panacea to current educational
challenges. Only a year old, Coursera is one of the most popular MOOC platforms with nearly 3
million users. However, with Coursera’s newness, popularity, and high attrition rates (70-95%), there
is significant controversy over its effectiveness. As a new educational and social phenomenon, there
has been little research on MOOCs and much of the debate over Coursera is based on an a priori
understanding of the experience. I conducted ethnographic research on the Coursera experience,
comparing an online course with the same course run simultaneously in a traditional lecture
classroom as well as drawing on experiences from other Coursera courses, interviews, and
Coursera.org artifacts. This study aims to better inform the current debate and explore how the
learning experience on Coursera both reinforces and reconstitutes power structures, knowledge
creation, and pedagogy in education.
Abstract

2. Can Coursera make elite higher education more
democratic and accessible?
>
• “Take the world’s best courses
online, for free!”
• 62 universities, 320+ courses, &
3M+ students
• 33,000 median number of students
in one MOOC1
• 2,600 median number who
completed with a passing grade1
• 100 median number of hours
professors spend preparing for a
MOOC1
“We hope to give everyone access to the world-
class education that has so far been available
only to a select few. We want to empower people
with education that will improve their lives, the
lives of their families, and the communities they
live in.” –Coursera Wesbite
Staff. “Higher Education: Not what it use to be.” The Economist. Dec.1, 2012.
http://www.economist.com/news/united-states/21567373-american-universities-
represent-declining-value-money-their-students-not-what-it.
1Kolowich, Steve. “Professors who Make the MOOCs.” Chronicle of
Higher Education. Mar. 18, 2013.http://chronicle.com/article/The-
Professors-Behind-the-MOOC/137905/#id=overview

3. Coursera [online learning] faces 3 challenges to meet its
mission to “empower people with education.”
Pedagogy HegemonyEpistemology
Focus on positivist
knowledge domains
Marginalization of
humanities, social
science
Truth or truth?
Limited modalities of
learning
Sage on the Stage vs.
Guide at the Side
Banking model of
education
What is to become of
local knowledge. . . if
knowledge is framed [by]
professors and MOOC
producers. . . from their
western vantage points
at privileged institutions?
Panopticon of
EducationEntire slide sourced from:
Rhoads, et al. “The Opencourseware Movement in Higher Education: Unmasking power and raising questions
about the movement’s democratic potential.” Educational Theory. Vol. 63, Num. 1, 2013. Pg 87-109.
Michel Foucault Paulo Freire Clifford Geertz

4. Coursera offers courses from top universities that
are time constrained and from a variety of subjects.
Subjects include:
• Arts
• Business
• Computer Science
• Education
• Science
• Humanities
• Math
• Music, Film, and Audio
• Information, Tech, and Design
Landing Page
Explore Courses Page

5. My study focused on Dan Ariely’s “Irrational
Behavior” course; enrolled concurrently at Fuqua

6. Coursera’s pedagogical and epistemological
approach are mixed in addressing criticism
“Talking head” = Sage on
Stage
Lecture hall pedagogy
reinforced by videos,
readings, and quizzes.
Discussion
board,
qualitative
assignments,
hangouts,
meetups, & wiki
allow for
construction of
knowledge

7. Coursera has strove to internationalize its platform
and limit Western hegemony
U.S.
Russia
Brazil
India
International enrollment in
“Irrational Behavior”
China?
Courses offered “natively” in Chinese, French,
Spanish, and Italian; translated into many more
Coursera languages
word cloud

8. Coursera has made progress in addressing criticism
of MOOCs; needs further research
• Pedagogy is better than typical lecture hall class –
more opportunities for students to actively engage
on Coursera.
• Professors will drive success – reputation, quality,
pedagogy, epistemology. Creating a course is a
huge burden. Without support in doing this, they
will simply regurgitate “sage on a stage model.”
• Platform is growing; role in education is undefined.
• Depth of student engagement is an unsettled
issue

9. THANK YOU!