Digital and Social Media Marketing MOOC review: Greece

On Monday, the 7th of December 2015, the Digital and Social Media Marketing MOOC focus group event took place at the University of Sheffield International Faculty, CITY College in Thessaloniki Greece. The purpose of the event was to review the course which run from September to December 2016 and hear from MOOC participants what they thought about the current version of the MOOC and how it could be improved.

#passion4digital MOOC focus group: Greece

Overall 21 participants gathered to provide their opinions about the #passion4digital MOOC. The whole session was divided into three parts. Firstly, the participants discussed in groups the positive and negative aspects of the MOOC. Later, they brainstormed and made their suggestions about the overall improvement of the course. Finally, the participants completed questionnaires about the MOOC which was done for the cross validation of JEMSS’s original MOOC survey. After each stage there was an open discussion between the groups and the moderator of the focus group, which leaded to a more elaborate and detailed feedback.

 

Digital and Social Media Marketing MOOC review: Greece focus group

Digital and Social Media Marketing MOOC benefits

In the beginning of the event the 21 attendees were split into groups of 4. They were instructed to write down the ways in which the MOOC was beneficial to them and their improvement professional skills. The benefits mentioned include:

  • Detailed content
  • Easy and simple to navigate on site
  • Useful information
  • Efficient usage of time – in a short amount they managed to learn a lot
  • Affordable price
  • Multicultural speakers
  • Fair difficulty level
  • Provided blogging experience
  • Real life applicable examples
  • Multicultural peer evaluation
  • Diversity of options of many speakers
  • Up to date content

Digital and Social Media Marketing MOOC review: Greece focus group

Digital and Social Media Marketing MOOC drawbacks

Later, they were instructed to write down their opinions about flaws of the course. Overall, all the groups shared similar opinions. The drawbacks mentioned were as follows:

  • Lack of English subtitles
  • Lack of visual content
  • Poor quality of the videos-some ended while the professor was still talking
  • The speakers talked too fast- the students found it hard to follow or take notes
  • Videos are not downloadable
  • No structure – no introduction and transitions between the videos
  • The assignment are time consuming
  • Lack of balance in the length of videos- there is more elaboration on some chapters than others
  • The summary of the chapters is hard to follow

Digital and Social Media Marketing MOOC review: Greece focus group

 

Digital and Social Media Marketing MOOC improvements

Finally, the attendees were asked to give their own recommendations for the improvement of the MOOC. Here is what the students came up with:

  • English subtitles
  • More pictures, graphs, diagrams
  • Downloadable videos
  • Improvement of video’s quality
  • Less complicated assignments
  • Achievements (for completing chapters e.g. points collection)
  • Include tutorials
  • More interaction between the students enrolled on the course
  • Skype or WebEx for personalized lectures/support
  • The videos should include more practical business examples
  • The summary should be in bullet points

Digital and Social Media Marketing MOOC review: Greece focus group

Digital and Social Media Marketing MOOC future

This was the first MOOC by the JEMSS project team and it was essential to learn from the experience to improve the course for the next version as well as learn lessons on creating a more comprehensive Advanced Digital Marketing MOOC. The first MOOC focused on foundations and introduction to Digital Marketing terminology and concepts and assumed no background knowledge. The next MOOC will be aimed at those who are just about joining digital marketing agency or in house roles.

Considering that the attendees tested and completed the JEMSS’s MOOC in Digital and Social Media Marketing and have browsed through the online platforms multiple times, getting their feedback was critical for upgrading the current MOOC and developing the future MOOC. The friendly atmosphere of the review session and open discussions made sure that detailed feedback is collected from the participants and the participant expressed their honest opinions.

The feedback raised awareness of key elements that have to be changed or added to the platform and to keep up the good features and improve them further. Most importantly it made the participants be part of the future MOOC versions where their opinions matter. We are delighted to hear that all the attendees said that they would gladly taking part in other MOOCs  organised my JEMSS.

A BIG thank you to all the participants!!! from the #passion4digital MOOC team! Watch this space for the announcement of the next MOOC and wish us good luck at the Northern Digital Awards. 

Digital and Social Media Marketing MOOC review

Do you have feedback on the MOOC or thoughts about the points raised above? Please do share these in the comments section below!