MOOCs for language learning – opportunities and challenges: the case of the Open University Italian Beginners’ MOOCs

Massive open online courses (MOOCs) are a fairly recent development in online education. Language MOOCs (LMOOCs) have recently been added to the ever-growing list of open courses offered by various providers, including FutureLearn. For learners, MOOCs offer an innovative and inexpensive alternative to formal and traditional learning. For course designers and developers, this emerging learning model raises important issues concerning the affordances of the new learning environment and the rationale for adopting a particular pedagogical approach to sustain the learning experience. The authors offer an insight into their own experiences in designing and delivering an Italian for Beginners MOOC on Future Learn. This case study explores the opportunities and challenges we met and the link with existing research

Exploring New Approaches towards Open Online Courses

Designing Learning for the 21st Century1 (DL21C) is an online course developed by collaboration between a UK and Chinese University to explore new approaches for open learning courses, and the key attributes of Massive Open Online Courses

A Teaching Perspective of the Democratization of Knowledge on Open Educational Resources (OER) for MOOCs in México

This research aims to explore the teachers’ perspective from the Autonomous University of Yucatán, México (known as UADY in spanish) about of the Democratization of Knowledge on the Open Educational Resources (OER), especially on adapting the existing instructional models to be designed as Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC). This study was conducted under the qualitative approaches part of the elective course ‘Designing and Developing OERs’ using the case study research method. Triangulation of the participants’ perspectives, teacher and students, was done to ensure reliability and validity

Designing mass open online courses for the teachers' digital competence development (experience of the European Academy of School Networks)

Метою дослідження є аналіз підходів щодо проєктування масових відкритих онлайн-курсів для безперервного розвитку інформаційно-цифрової компетентності вчителів у межах діяльності European Schoolnet Academy для виокремлення позитивного досвіду і надання пропозицій вітчизняним фахівцям щодо створення таких курсів. Розкрито, що при проєктуванні масових відкритих онлайн-курсів (англ. Massive open online courses, MOOC) Європейської академії шкільних мереж тьютори, перш за все, проводять аналіз глобалізаційних процесів щодо модернізації освіти відповідно до розвитку суспільства знань. Наскрізним завданням цих курсів є розвиток інформаційно-цифрової компетентності вчителів, зокрема, допомогти їм засвоїти нові інформаційно-комунікаційні технології для підвищення якості своєї педагогічної діяльності.The aim of the study is to analyze approaches to designing mass open online courses for the continuous development of information and digital competence of teachers within the European Schoolnet Academy to highlight positive experiences and provide suggestions to domestic professionals to create such courses. It is revealed that when designing Massive open online courses of the European Academy of School Networks, tutors, first of all, analyze the globalization processes for the modernization of education in accordance with the development of the knowledge society. The overarching goal of these courses is to develop teachers' information and digital competence, in particular, to help them learn new information and communication technologies to improve the quality of their teaching activities

Open Education as Disruption: Lessons for Open and Distance Learning from Open Educational Practice

This paper reflects on what Open and Distance Learning providers might learn from the Open Educational Resources/Practices (OER/OEP) and Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs). It is based on experiences working on OER and OEP first at the OU in Scotland (OUiS) and more recently under the auspices of the Scottish Funding Council (SFC) funded Open Educational Practices Scotland (OEPS) programme hosted by OUiS. The paper by exploring the disruptive potential of MOOCs and OER within Higher Education. While it acknowledges lessons for HE it argues the focus on access and scale has obscured other lessons ODL might learn from opening up educational practices. Much of our work has centred on OEP and partnership with organisations outside the formal education sector. As such it has taken the possibilities offered by openness as an invitation to look at the relationship between the formal and the informal. The paper traces OEPS journey as it explores less apparent but no less important lessons around designing and creating open content through partnership in a way that is cost effective and context relevant

Massive open online course for Brazilian healthcare providers working with substance use disorders : curriculum design

Background: Interpersonal and technical skills are required for the care of people living with substance use disorders. Considering the applicability and usability of online courses as continuing professional education initiatives, this study aimed to describe the content design process of an introductory-level healthcare-centered Massive Open Online Course (MOOC). Methods: The content of the course was informed through needs assessment, by using three sources: (a) narrative literature review, (b) Delphi health experts panel consensus, and (c) focus groups conducted with people living with substance use disorders. The data from the empirical research phases were analyzed through qualitative Thematic Analysis. Results: The product of this research project is the introductory-level Massive Open Online Course “Healthcare: Developing Relational Skills for the Assistance of People Living with Substance Use Disorders” which approaches health communication and empathetic relational professional skills as a means of reducing stigmatization of people living with substance use disorders. Conclusions: Diverse strategies for designing distance education initiatives have to consider different views on the subject being approached in such courses. The product presented in this paper has the potential to be an educational tool for topics traditionally not addressed in Brazilian continuing education and can be used as a model to the design of online courses directed to the development of work-related skills for the healthcare professions

In Search of Quality: Using Quality Matters to Analyze the Quality of Massive, Open, Online Courses (MOOCs)

The concept of the massive, open, online course (MOOC) is not new, but high-profile initiatives have moved MOOCs into the forefront of higher education news over the past few years. Members of institutions of higher education have mixed feelings about MOOCs, ranging from those who want to offer college credit for the successful completion of MOOCs to those who fear MOOCs are the end of the university as we know it. We set forth to investigate the quality of MOOCs by using the Quality Matters quality control framework. In this article, we present the results of our inquiry, with a specific focus on the implications the results have on day-to-day practice of designing online courses

Shaping the Boundaries of a Service Ecosystem: The Case of Udacity

Service-dominant logic highlights the ability of service ecosystems to ‘self-adjust’ as a reaction to systemic inefficiencies or external changes [1]–[3]. We contribute to the question on how focal actors shape the boundaries of service ecosystems through service innovation. This is a single case study on a digital ecosystem focused on a first mover in digital platforms for Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs): Udacity. We found two mechanisms, where Udacity shaped the boundaries of its ecosystem: ‘user self-service integration’ and ‘gradual partner disintegration’. Throughout three phases between 2011 and 2015 they disintegrated services from higher education, namely offering courses online, designing courses, and accreditation due to lowly perceived adaptability of univer-sities and external pressures for finding a sustain-able business model. Additionally, they disinte-grated self-organized solutions of user needs and re-integrated them with new actors. This led to newly shaped boundaries of the service ecosystem

Introducing computer-marked tests in an online Financial Accounting course: patterns in academic performance and approaches to assessment design

In the last two decades online computer-marked assignments (CMAs) have been widely used in accounting education. Although there is a growing body of research on this form of online assessment, most of the previous studies relied on small samples of respondents or focused on student self-report using survey methods. This exploratory mixed-method study aims to combine a quantitative analysis of learners’ academic performance on an online Financial Accounting course with a more in-depth exploration of learner experiences using qualitative methods. The quantitative findings suggest that student previous educational qualifications, age and experience of studying a similar subject are strongly associated with CMA completion, which is also linked to scores on other pieces of assessed work. The qualitative results show that from the learners’ perspective, diversifying assessment methods, introducing low-stakes assessment activities and creating opportunities for situational interest are viewed as key aspects of online CMA design. The paper concludes with discussing the implications of the study for designing and delivering online courses in accounting, particularly in the light of the growing popularity of massive open online courses (MOOCs)

Designing Massive Open Online Courses to take account of participant motivations and expectations

We report on a study conducted on a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) to explore and improve understanding and practice about MOOC learning design and participant motivations and expectations. The 'Carpe Diem' MOOC was designed, developed and delivered in 2014. The MOOC participants' experiences were studied through surveys and interviews, and the analysis was triangulated. Three dominant motivations to complete the MOOC were found: to further existing knowledge, to acquire skills in the learning design process and to apply the learning design methodology in practice. We describe the relationship between participant motivations and expectations in this MOOC, which was undertaken mainly by participants who were themselves educators, and make recommendations for pedagogical design in MOOCs to promote and enable participant engagement and completion