MIT researcher building 'YouTube for MOOCs'

Keith Button writes, "In an interview with Forbes, Kim describes LectureScape as a video player for online educational content that adapts based on the learners’ collective viewing patterns and on analysis of the content." 

Photo: Education Dive

Features of the free platform include a timeline that shows which parts of the video content have been most watched, an interactive transcript that allows students to search video via keywords, word clouds and summaries for the presentations, and easy reference back to popular slides.

Dive Brief:

• Massachusetts Institute of Technology doctoral candidate Juho Kim analyzed how more than 100,000 EdX students viewed over 6.9 million MOOC video sessions, finding that viewers tend to stop watching after six minutes and that professors who project an informal air, seated at a desk instead of standing at a podium, are more successful.
• Other keys to MOOC success include: engaging visuals instead of static slides; engaging speakers, with the most successful professors talking at a 254-word-per-minute clip; presenting with pauses so students can absorb complex visuals; and creating videos with an online audience in mind rather than cutting up existing videos.
• Kim is using the data to create the LectureScape learning platform, with the goal of making it the “YouTube for MOOCs,” Forbes reports.

Source: Education Dive