Taking the next step beyond MOOCs - TIM DODD, Australian Financial Review

A University of NSW spin-off company, Smart Sparrow, will this week launch a new e-learning product which goes a step beyond the popular massive open online courses, or MOOCs. “A MOOC is a way to give a massive audience a similar experience, similar to a lecture,” said Smart Sparrow chief executive Dror Ben-Naim. “Smart Sparrow is a bit more like the private tutor. It’s like personalised learning at scale.” While MOOCs offer online learning in a linear fashion – usually with short videos each followed by a multiple choice quiz to ensure the student has understood the concept before moving on – Smart Sparrow’s technical platform offers adaptive e-learning. This means students are free to explore for themselves and learn by doing. They may play with chemicals in a virtual chemistry lab, test different engineering structures or learn about a physical concept with an interactive moving diagram. The platform also gives instructors and course designers the opportunity to target learning for individual students and give students more creative tasks. http://www.afr.com/p/national/education/taking_the_next_step_beyond_moocs_YOp1faaL3PDE6ziDzTt97O