Leveraging AI for MOOC Course Preparation: A Reflection from Online Instructors

Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) have entered their second decades of existence and continued to evolve. However, concerns related to their cost, quality assurance, and the problem of low participation rate still persist. While Artificial Intelligence (AI) is widely recognised as a powerful tool for enhancing productivity and even completing tasks that require human intelligence traditionally, the current discussion regarding the potential use of AI in online courses preparation remains fragmented and has yet to be explored. This paper examines the potential of adopting multiple AI tools inspired by the “AI family tree” model in the delivery of MOOC videos. Based on our experience in developing a small-scale private online course, we critically assessed the potential of technology based on different branches of the AI family tree. Our experiences reveal that the ever-evolving speech and natural language processing tools could reduce the time spent in preparing MOOC videos, while new generative text-to-image tools could address the cost concerns from using licensed materials. Meanwhile, an AI-enabled Avatar could encourage instructor’s participation in online course development. Besides, this paper also discusses the potential and limitations of using other AI tools, such as machine learning and machine vision, to enhance instructor support and identify non-participative students. Our findings suggest a blended approach, leveraging multiple AI tools in establishing and running engaging MOOC courses, and provide practical insights in addressing cost and time constraints.