Explaining Concepts through Labs that Present Real-World Scenarios in an Introductory Computer Science MOOC

Abstract

Massive Online Open Courses (MOOCs) such as those hosted on edX have the ability to reach thousands of students all over the world. Typically, they consist of a combination of lectures, graded assignments, and tests and are generally less interactive than the typical in person course. We believe that the interactive aspect of in person courses add a lot of value to the class and can and therefore should be added to MOOCs. Adding additional ungraded exercises that are fun, interactive, engaging, and present real-world scenarios can allow students to further explore concepts otherwise only taught through lectures. Additionally, by connecting these concepts to real-world scenarios they are already familiar with, students may be better able to think intuitively about the concepts and the related code. In this thesis we present a set of labs that will hopefully provide these benefits in the edX course 6.00.1x (Introduction to Computer Science and Programming Using Python).