Head Start Online: A Mooc for Those Thinking About, or Preparing for, Flexible Study

Abstract

Head Start Online is a five week, free, online course (MOOC) that is designed to support prospective and/or new flexible learners’ transitions into higher education. Enhancing retention and completion rates of this group of learners, in order to facilitate successful widening of access, is a significant global challenge. Head Start Online is focused on the initial stages of the study-lifecycle, as the foundations for student success are laid early. Head Start Online has emerged out of the Student Success Toolbox project, a nationally funded research and technology development project that developed a toolbox of eight digital readiness/preparation tools that were shared with the sector as OERs, along with a guide for their customisation and use. Head Start Online brings together a number of these tools together in a cohesive pre-induction socialization course that aids new/prospective learners in, for example: calculating how much time they have available in their lives to study, relative to how much time they spend in the other existing parts of their lives; examining what supports they have in their lives, and how those supports may help them overcome common problems experienced by flexible learners; learning about the computer skills needed in higher education; and also about the study skills required to study successfully in higher education. A pilot of the MOOC went live on the week beginning Monday 15th August 2016 and enrolled its first cohort of prospective learners who are currently progressing through the course.