A Framework towards Educational Scalability of Open Online Courses

Although the terms scale and scalable are often used in the context of Open Online Education (OOE), there is no clear definition about these concepts from an educational perspective on the course level. This paper critically discusses the origins of these concepts and provides a working definition for educational scalability. A heuristic framework, which integrates four common educational design principles, is introduced, in order to study support and formative assessment and feedback at large scale. The proposed framework is presented, discussed and applied to five case studies. First qualitative results of the case studies show that the designs are relatively similar. The detailed study of their units of learning, however, indicates practices which can potentially be interesting for other MOOC developers to enhance their design and their scalability. Further research will apply the framework to zoom in on scalable best practices in MOOCs with a focus on scalable practices of formative assessment and feedback.NRO/NW

Addressing Educational Needs of Teachers in the EU for Inclusive Education in a Context of Diversity (INNO4DIV): Volume 3 - Part 1: Assessment guidelines for teacher education and training practices on intercultural and democratic competence development.

In spite of policy impetus, research shows that teachers struggle to address the increasing diversity in classrooms, among others, due to the lack of competences to deal with it. The acquisition of Intercultural Competence (IC), which could be defined as “the ability to mobilise and deploy relevant attitudes, skills, knowledge and values in order to interact effectively and appropriately in different intercultural situations”, is a crucial need for teachers to deal with diversity and to be successful in their teaching. In this context, in 2019 the JRC launched the INNO4DIV project with the aim to support polices in the field of IC of teachers, through the analysis of literature and innovative good practices which have successfully addressed the existing barriers for teacher´s IC development. In this context, it was necessary to identify innovative practices for overcoming barriers in the development of intercultural and democratic competences (IDC) of teachers. Given the wealth and variety of educational practices, and in order to preserve the scientific rigour of the identification process, this report offers the rationale and the description of the selection criteria that have been developed according to the conceptual framework of the project, Volume 1. Teachers ́ Intercultural Competence: Working definition and implications for teacher education. Similarly, the process for case identification and selection is also described. Following a brief explanation of the sources for the selection of cases (Section 2), the report focuses on establishing the selection criteria, which are divided into generic and specific criteria (Section 3). The generic criteria apply to all the cases. The specific criteria, however, relate to the scope of each specific Key Enabling Component (KEC), and are the most direct reference to the particular features of the cases. Finally, the document contains an elaborate protocol for case selection that will lead to the final list of selected cases.JRC.B.4-Human Capital and Employmen

Referencial para o design de MOOC (Massive Open Online Courses) na formação contínua de professores no contexto português

A presente investigação enquadra-se se na área de educação no domínio de especialidade das tecnologias de informação e comunicação na educação, tendo por objetivo o desenvolvimento de um framework conceptual para o design de MOOC, no âmbito da formação contínua de professores em Portugal. O estudo assentou no paradigma pragmático, de natureza descritiva e adotou duas abordagens metodológicas mistas – estratégia exploratória sequencial e estratégia de triangulação concomitante. O processo de recolha de dados foi organizado em duas fases, através da (i) realização da abordagem scoping literature review com nove entrevistas semiestruturadas a um conjunto de stakeholders com envolvimento no processo da formação contínua de professores nacional e (ii) aplicação de um questionário online a 103 formadores dos Centros de Formação de Associação de Escolas de Portugal Continental e das Associações de Professores e a realização de duas entrevistas focus group com sete especialistas com experiência enquanto professores, formadores e participantes em MOOC. A primeira fase de recolha e análise de dados qualitativa, permitiu identificar e agrupar (sub)dimensões e, consequentemente, constituir o framework. Na segunda fase de recolha e análise de dados, de natureza quantitativa e qualitativa, procedeu-se à validação do mesmo. Os resultados delinearam a versão final do framework para o design de MOOC para a formação contínua de professores, sendo este composto por três dimensões e 10 subdimensões. Por último, procurou-se igualmente produzir princípios e orientações para a utilização do documento como um instrumento orientador no processo de construção e desenvolvimento de cursos massivos de acesso aberto.This investigation is inserted in the domain of information and communication technologies in education, whose objective is to develop a conceptual framework for the design of MOOCs, within the scope of the continuous teachers training in Portugal. The study was based on a pragmatic paradigm of descriptive nature and adopted two mixed methodological approaches: sequential exploratory strategy and concomitant triangulation strategy. The data collection process was divided in two phases: (i) the scoping literature review approach with nine semi-structured interviews with stakeholders involved in the process of continuous teacher training and (ii) an online questionnaire to 103 trainers of the Centros de Formação de Associação de Escolas of Portugal Mainland and Associações de Professores and also two focus group with seven experts in the area of MOOC (as teachers, trainers and/or participants). The first phase of collecting and analyzing qualitative data allowed us to identify and group (sub)dimensions and, consequently, build the framework. The second phase of data collection and analysis of a quantitative and qualitative nature allowed us to validate the proposed framework. The results from this research outlined the final version of the framework for the MOOCs design used for the continuous teachers training in Portugal, which can be divided in three dimensions and 10 sub-dimensions. Finally, we aimed to develop principles and guidelines that can be used as a guiding instrument in the building and development process of massive open online courses

Participants’ Perceptions of MOOCs in Saudi Arabia

Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), which are typically short courses offered free to anyone with Internet access, provide opportunities for online education regardless of participants’ gender, professional status, qualifications, age or location. Since the international introduction of MOOCs in 2008 in Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States, they have attracted public attention and online learning researchers have already made headway in investigating their essence. However, although MOOCs were introduced to Saudi Arabia in 2013 and have gained the attention of Saudi government sectors such as the Ministry of Labour, little research has been published on the effects of MOOCs in the country. Therefore, this research, to the best of my knowledge, is the first to explore Saudi participants’ perceptions of MOOCs. As a Saudi teaching assistant at King Saud University in Riyadh (Saudi Arabia), I can see a clear trend in Saudi education towards online learning. The use of online learning is perhaps one of the most important current developments in the education system (Algahtani, 2011) and it would be difficult to dispense with this kind of learning now. Therefore, after consulting with several Saudi professors in educational technology, I concluded that investigating Saudi participants’ perceptions of MOOCs could make a significant contribution to the evolution of Saudi education generally and online learning in particular, thus contributing to improving Saudi people’s culture. This study aimed to explore the cultural implications of MOOCs for Saudi participants with the main objective being to identify Saudi participants’ perceptions of MOOCs, specifically the impact of MOOCs on participants’ lives, their pedagogy and learning design, and their social environment. The data was collected using mixed methods through conducting surveys, observation, and interviews with participants. Consequently, participants’ perceptions are linked to the literature review and discussed in detail in relation to the Saudi Arabian context. Furthermore, recommendations are offered on how to maximise the potential of MOOCs alongside suggestions for further research. The conclusion of this study asserts that MOOCs are widely used by Saudi participants, especially women, due to MOOC flexibility and their contribution to the development of educational cultures. MOOCs contributed to improving participants’ knowledge and personalities, as well as developing their educational and professional lives; however, the study revealed that the benefits participants gained from MOOCs varied depending on their positions and aims. In addition, the findings showed that participants’ views regarding the effectiveness of the pedagogy and learning design of MOOCs differed. Moreover, the study highlighted several factors that affected participants’ learning in terms of course design and the rules of participation, and some insights are provided that could address the concerns participants raised. MOOCs can contribute to attaining Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 by providing courses that focus on educating Saudis and imparting the skills required for future employment and for effectively carrying out the jobs recently allocated to citizens