Producing MOOCs is not an easy task. It takes lot of effort, time, planning, resources and commitment. Various stakeholders are involved in creation of MOOCs, though what learners see is only Professor’s or Instructor’s presence.
MOOC production starts from the day the Course provider decides to create it. Various people are involved in MOOC production. Below mentioned are major stakeholders and their role in creation of a MOOC:
1. Top management: Top management or sometimes called senior management is the main stakeholder in MOOC preparation. They are the ones to decide about the strategy of MOOC creation. They decide the various points which are at strategic level: which platform to adopt, how many MOOCs per year to produce, how much budget allocate, how many people to recruit and finally what subjects to be taught through MOOCs. Once they decide on these, they go ahead with recruitment of the ‘in charge’ of MOOC project to implement the overall plans set by the top management.
In addition to initial overall plan, top management also reviews the process of the MOOC project once it starts rolling.
2. Program Manager: The program manager is like the heart, soul and brain of the MOOC project. He/ She is involved directly implementing the high level plans set by the senior management. Program manager must get involved in interacting with all the other stakeholders to not only come up with proper action plans but also to ensure the project kick starts at the scheduled date and time and achieve the targets set.
He/ She recruits the team members for MOOC development with consultation with top management and human resource management. The program manager plays a key role in the helping the research assistants in course design, creation and delivery activities of the MOOCs that are enhanced pedagogically. The role also demands working closely with faculty, support staff and external vendors to deliver the MOOCs on time. Finally program manager is directly involves in marketing the MOOCs to ensure large participation from learner community.
3. Professors (Faculty): In MOOC terminology, professors who are involved in directly teaching the MOOCs are referred to as ‘Instructors’. Professors are the ‘owners’ of MOOC. They are the ones who are teaching the course completely.
They are involved in lecturing which are recorded mostly inside a studio. They act as mentors to the ‘research assistants’ in building the course on the agreed platform. Once the course is launched, the professors are involved in answering the content related questions in discussion forum.
4. Instructional Designers: Instructional Design is the systematic process of developing instructional systems. Instructional designers (IDs) applies a systematic methodology based on instructional theory to create content for learning events.
IDs help in creating ‘instructional experiences’ in order to make the learning more efficient and effective. The process they use consists identifying the needs of the learner, defining the goal of instruction, clearly describing learning objectives and learning outcome and making content easy to understand. These IDs assist faculty in discovering methods of improving their instruction.
5. Research Assistants: Research assistants act as Single Point of contact for their respective MOOCs. Their main role is to help professors in course design, script writing, presentations, research and course building. Their role also entail working closely with video production team and program management office for smooth production of MOOC.
They act as bridge between program management office and the faculty in order to ensure all the required activities for MOOC production are completed successfully. Their specific activities include course content preparation, uploading content, course building, reviewing and scheduling. Finally research assistants are involved in addressing queries in discussion forum post course launch.
6. Project Executives: Project executives are involved in various activities pertaining to program management office. They work towards implementation of plans set out by Program manager. It includes tasks such as interacting with vendors, video team, research assistants for smooth progress of the course development and content related activities such as content review.
Project executives involve in tracking the MOOC projects, providing timely reports to Program manager and top management and supporting research assistants in completing the MOOCs on time. They are also involved in marketing the MOOCs and the overall program to create awareness and increase enrollments by persuade potential learners and engage with existing learners.
7. Video team: The video team or video production team is directly involved in video production and delivery and hence is a vital team in MOOC development division. The team’s video production process covers video recording, editing, project management, graphic designing and motion graphics.
The team includes video lead, video editors, camera men and graphic designer. The video lead takes the responsibility for all activities of the video team. He/ She is involved in maintenance of studio, the equipments and softwares. The video team works towards meeting the video requirements faculty, research assistants and program office.
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