Case Western Reserve University’s free online courses attract more than 80,000

Case Western Reserve University

More than 80,000 people from around the world have signed up for Case Western Reserve University‘s first free online courses – and there is still time to register.

The noncredit courses start Wednesday through Coursera, a company that provides an online platform to dozens of colleges for MOOCs, massive open online courses. It is CWRU’s first venture into MOOCs, which have exploded in popularity since Stanford University offered the first one in 2011.

As of Monday afternoon, over 65,000 had registered for a six-week CWRU course, Inspiring Leadership Through Emotional Intelligence, taught by Richard Boyatzis of the CWRU Weatherhead School of Management. The nationally known professor of organizational behavior plans to teach about how emotional intelligence can complement analytic tasks as well as invoke curiosity and openness in students’ lives.

Introduction to International Criminal Law, led by Michael Scharf, associate dean for global legal studies at CWRU’s law school, has attracted more than 17,500 people. The eight-week course by Scharf, who established the War Crimes Research Office at CWRU to assist international prosecutors, will include discussions on war crimes, terrorism and piracy.

Both professors, who acknowledged their high profiles led the university to ask them to lead the first MOOC offerings, are astonished by the response.

“I am blown away,” said Scharf. “Unlike Richard’s course, which has a mass appeal, mine is a boutique MOOC. I was hoping for 10,000.”

He said it is exciting “and a little scary” to offer the first-ever international law MOOC.

“I know a lot of people who signed on for this are experts in the field,” Scharf said. “To be able to talk about these issues and get my message across that I have been pursuing for years – that the international community should pursue peace through justice – I am upping it to a whole another level.

Scharf adapted a course he teaches at CWRU by adding videos, photos and pop-up quizzes. People will post assignments, such as writing a judicial opinion, and others can comment. He will monitor the chat room and participate when possible. The quizzes and final will graded by computer.

Boyatzis said he initially was reluctant to venture online and took several MOOC courses before agreeing to offer one himself.

“As a specialist in emotional intelligence and a psychologist I was skeptical for a long time that online learning was nothing more than watching TV,” he said. “When I learned 1,000 signed up the first day I said ‘Holy cow.’ “

Boyatzis said three teaching assistants will help him monitor a course email and electronic discussion forums.

“Another twist is I am getting a number of e-mails from folks who are doing this in groups,” he said. Thirty people at Mercy Medical Center in Baltimore will be online together as will seven executives at a New York City nonprofit, Boyatzis said.

Coursera, one of several companies that offer MOOCs, was founded by two Stanford University professors in April, 2012. It has registered about 3.4 million students and offers 341 courses from 62 universities.

Ohio State University has offered courses on Coursera including introduction to pharmacy, the science behind prescription drug use, calculus and Writing II: Rhetorical Composing. A course called TechniCity, about the technological changes in cities, begins Saturday.

A survey by the Chronicle of Higher Education of Coursera’s MOOC professors in March found a median of 33,000 registrants for the courses that have been offered so far. One course, offered by Duke University, saw 180,000 students sign up.

But the rate of completion in MOOCs is believed to be around 10 percent, according to surveys.

“Oddly enough I do not think a signal of victory is how many people finish it,” Boyatzis said. “What we are supposed to be doing as educators is motivating people and engaging curiosity. For some people if watching videos is all they need then God bless them, it worked. For others, it might be the reading. I am interested to see how many people do the personal and emotional exercises – such as who helped you the most in your life or what is your personal vision.”