Instructor presence in course videos is important, especially when hundreds or even thousands of students are enrolled, says instructor Amy Skyles.

Missouri University of Science and Technology will enter the world of massive open online courses when it launches its first MOOC later this month. The course, “Effective Strategies for Group Work,” is designed to give educators strategies for incorporating group work into their own classes.

The course is an on-demand, non-credit professional development resource for educators and instructional design professionals. The course will initially be offered at no cost to allow campus officials to study the process, mechanisms and benefits of MOOCs at Missouri S&T.

The self-paced course is designed to accommodate a broad range of training needs, from K-12 instructors with annual requirements for professional development to higher education faculty who are seeking formal training in pedagogy and educational best practices. Participants can complete all of the course modules in one sitting, or progress through the modules at a slower pace.

Amy Skyles, instructional designer for educational technology at Missouri S&T, created the course with Canvas Network, an open and free MOOC platform available from Instructure Canvas. The course paves the way for other non-credit course offerings taught by experts at Missouri S&T.

“There is great potential to use this venue as a pipeline to feed the distance certificate and degree programs as well as the continuing education trainings offered through S&T Global,” says Angie Hammons, manager of educational technology at Missouri S&T. “In the Canvas Network MOOC platform, courses can be offered at any price point, which creates and opportunity to generate revenue.”