Metaliteracy as pedagogical framework for learner-centered design in three MOOC platforms: Connectivist, coursera and canvas

This article examines metaliteracy as a pedagogical model that leverages the assets of MOOC platforms to enhance self-regulated and self-empowered learning. Between 2013 and 2015, a collaborative teaching team within the State University of New York (SUNY) developed three MOOCs on three different platforms- connectivist, Coursera and Canvas-to engage with learners about metaliteracy. As a reframing of information literacy, metaliteracy envisions the learner as an active and metacognitive producer of digital information in online communities and social media environments (Mackey and Jacobson, 2011; 2014). This team of educators, which constitutes the core of the Metaliteracy Learning Collaborative, used metaliteracy as a lens for applied teaching and learning strategies in the development of a cMOOC and two xMOOCs. The metaliteracy MOOCs pushed against the dominant trends of lecture-based, automated MOOC design towards a more learnercentered pedagogy that aligns with key components of metaliteracy.