FutureLearn who host the course on their platform says it is one of their highest rated MOOCs.
Post-course feedback showed:
- 94% of those who responded rated the course as good/excellent;
- 97% would recommend it to a friend;
- The high quality materials and the engagement from the academics were some of the best features of the course.
In general, retention rates on MOOCs are around 5-10%, whereas 34% of those who logged on to ‘Inside Cancer’ stayed with us for the whole six weeks.
We had over 7,800 participants sign up from 44 different countries, bringing together students, researchers, medical practitioners, sufferers and carers into a single online space to gain access to current, up-to-date expertise.
The Vice-Chancellor said: “Congratulations on a truly collaborative effort by the teams from Biology & Biochemistry, the Learning & Teaching Enhancement Office, and Marketing & Communications amongst many others from across the institution.”
Gwen van der Velden, Director of Learning & Teaching Enhancement, said: “It is great that our first MOOC has been so well received.
"We have very much enjoyed working on the course with academics, and the Biology & Biochemistry staff were most appreciative of the e-Learning team’s expertise in supporting them to develop and deliver this MOOC so successfully.
“It is lovely to hear from one of the academics that took part that he has seen a UCAS application from one of the participants citing this MOOC as their initial point of engagement with the University. Hopefully there will be many more!”
As one of over 20 top partner universities in the FutureLearn consortium - a private company wholly owned by the Open University – we have delivered two MOOCs as part of FutureLearn’s launch portfolio of 20 courses available to the general public for registration.
Our second MOOC, entitled ‘Make an impact: Sustainability for professionals’, developed by the Department of Chemical Engineering in collaboration with the e-Learning team, went live less than two weeks ago and has already had over 5,000 comments posted by participants in the online learning space on the FutureLearn platform.
Further MOOC developments are already underway.
Staff can find out more about our MOOCs at Bath at the MOOCs lunchtime session at the Exchange 2014! event on 9 May.
Further information: Kyriaki Anagnostopoulou, Head of e-Learning, ext 5578.