1. Survey ELC students? Do they know about MOOCs? Have they ever enrolled in a MOOC? Would they be interested in enrolling in a MOOC? If yes, under what conditions (I suspect credit transfer, or reduced workload in a subject)? What kind of topic (related to English) would they be interested in?
2. An ELC MOOC – should it be related to our existing subjects, or can / should it be a completely new subject?
Related to existing subjects
Advantages: we already have a lot of the content; we know the problems students have; we are not stepping into the unknown to such an extent; we can reuse the materials created in our existing subjects; PolyU students can benefit from what we create.
Disadvantages: it’s quite likely to be boring, and other providers have the same idea; duplication; hard to make the ELC MOOC stand out; pressure for us to offer a credit transfer for students taking the MOOC – implications?
Completely new subject
We have to come up with an idea; we have to come up with content; we are starting from scratch; what may work this year might not work next year; will it still stand out / be attractive to students? We are not only stepping into the unknown in terms of platform and numbers, but also content.
A combination of the above?