Posted by Derek Bruff on Tuesday, February 18, 2014 in Coursera, Events, Future Faculty, MOOCs.

What is it like to serve as a teaching assistant in a course with thousands of students?

On Monday, February 24th, a panel of graduate students will share their experiences serving as teaching staff in Vanderbilt’s massive open online courses (MOOCs) hosted on Coursera. “TAing to Thousands” is scheduled for 12:00 to 1:30 p.m. in the Central Library Community Room. Scheduled panelists include Ruth Herrin (Student Thinking at the Core), Don Rodriquez and Blaine Smith (Online Games: Literature, New Media, and Narrative), and Ben Shapiro (Leading Strategic Innovation in Organizations).

• Panelists will describe their activities in several of Vanderbilt’s MOOCs, including course prep (both technical and instructional design), on-camera experiences, moderating discussion forums, and participating in live virtual office hours.

• Panelists will share their assessments of the quality of the learning and teaching experience, and very particularly, what they learned from the experience about teaching, culture, communication, and technology.
• Panelists may also discuss research on MOOCs (educational data mining, cultural accommodation, etc.) and the potential for MOOCs to enhance on-campus educational experiences.

The purpose of the panel is to introduce Vanderbilt community members, particularly graduate students, to MOOCs (whether they are a short-lived fad or part of a long-lived paradigm shift) through the eyes of those in the next generation of teaching, research, social activism, and entrepreneurship. There will be plenty of time for Q&A and other open discussion after initial presentations by the panelists.

This panel is co-sponsored by Vanderbilt’s Center for Teaching, Graduate School, Jean and Alexander Heard Library, and the Vanderbilt Institute for Digital Learning.

Follow the discussion on Twitter using the hashtag #Teachto1000s.