Teaching to the Individual: University Offers First Adaptive MOOC Course

Massive Open Online Course offered by UMass Boston to feature the first Adaptive MOOC technology

Remember when you were in college and struggled because you just aren’t “getting it,” the reason might have been less your ability than the way in which the material was being presented.  

Now UMass Boston is diving into the world of Massive Open Online Courses with
New technology that allows online course environments to analyze how individual students learn, customizing instruction to individualized learning strategies.

The College of Advancing and Professional Studies (CAPS) at the University of Massachusetts Boston is teaming up with Synaptic Global Learning (SGL) to use the new learning management system, Adaptive Mobile Online Learning (AMOL), to deliver the first adaptive Massive Online Open Course (a-MOOC) ever offered.

 “Molecular Dynamics for Computational Discoveries In Science,”will be taught by Nishikant Sonwalkar, a scientist, academician and adjunct professor of physics at UMass Boston.  Sonwalkar, who teaches on both the graduate and undergraduate level, has a long history of success as an educational innovator.

Sonwalkar and SGL are providing use of the AMOL learning platform cost-free to UMass Boston, and the course is open to anyone with an Internet connection, anywhere in the world, at no charge and begins on March 25.

 “It is about eliminating the fear and frustration so many experience as they learn,” says Sonwalkar.  “The course name alone might scare off some, but the MOOC assumes no prior knowledge and virtually will hold the students’ hands as they go through the materials, analyzing learning strategies then adapting a teaching approach to raise each student’s level of success.  This accessible MOOC is the first of its kind.”

“We are hoping thousands of students will sign up and find out what the world of MOOCs has to offer,” says Alan Girelli, the Director of Center for Innovation and Excellence in eLearning at CAPS.  “ We urge everyone to take the challenge and sign up today.”  

For more details and to register>