Janet Gregory

Throughout March and April 2014, the Learning Transformations Unit at Swinburne University of Technology (Melbourne, Australia) developed and delivered the Carpe Diem MOOC (CD MOOC) via the Blackboard CourseSites platform (coursesites.com). The CD MOOC, which attracted 1426 registrations, provided participants with the opportunity to learn about the Carpe Diem learning design process and to apply it to their own educational practice. We discuss the challenges and opportunities faced by the CD MOOC designers and moderators in offering participants the opportunity to obtain digital badges for recognition and reward of their participation and completion of tasks in the CD MOOC. Here we present findings of research into the impact of badges on the completion of learning tasks and the motivation of participants. We demonstrate that many of the CD MOOC participants, who were generally well-educated and mature professionals, were motivated by digital badges – some through to course completion.

We report on educators’ experiences of a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) focussed on the ‘Carpe Diem’ learning design process. The MOOC was developed in-house using Blackboard CourseSites by a university innovation and development unit, Learning Transformations, at Swinburne University Technology in Melbourne, Australia. We propose the potential of MOOCs as an opportunity to expose university academics who are taking part as participants in online learning to constructively change their teaching practice. We report on a study of their experiences with the Carpe Diem MOOC. Conclusions include illumination of MOOCs’ value as professional development opportunities that can provide an authentic relevant experience for educators as well as promote new skills in learning design and delivery for their own teaching.