Design & Learner-Centric Analytics. Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Designs for Learning. 23-25 May, 2018, Bergen Norway

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Disrupting and democratising higher education provision or entrenching academic elitism: towards a model of MOOCs adoption at African universities

Published ArticleChallenges of broadening access, escalating cost, maintaining desirable quality and enhancing meaningful learning experiences in African higher education (HE) have spurred debates on how to restructure higher education delivery to meet the diverse needs of heterogeneous learners and adapt pedagogical models to the educational realities of lowincome African countries. In view of these complexities, Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) have been advanced by Western Consortia, universities and online platform providers as panaceas for disrupting/transforming existing education models African universities. MOOCs have been touted as disruptive innovations with the potential to create new niche markets for HE courses, disrupt traditional models of instruction and content delivery and create new revenue streams for higher education. Yet academic elitism which manifests in the exclusive selection of top American universities to develop, host and deliver MOOCs, MOOC providers’ use of university brand and reputation as benchmarks for charging recruitment fees on headhunters recruiting MOOC graduates and their complex business models involving the sale of students’ big data (e.g. learning analytics) for profit seem to be inconsistent with claims about philanthropic and egalitarian drive of MOOCs. Drawing on disruptive innovation theory and a review of mainstream literature on MOOCs adoption in American and African tertiary sectors, this study argues that behind the MOOC rhetoric of disrupting and democratizing higher education lies the projection of top academic brands on the marketing pedestal, financial piggybacking on the hype and politics of academic exclusion

Opolnomočenje nadzornikov za odgovorno raziskovalno ravnanje pri nadzoru prek spletnega tečaja: pilotna študija

Supervision and mentoring are highly relevant aspects of research integrity. Codes of Conduct, such as the ALLEA code of conduct, stipulate the relevance of training researchers how to conduct research well and about the role supervision plays in preventing unacceptable research practices. The Dutch Code of Conduct, for example, explicitly states that universities are responsible for facilitating training about research integrity. We developed a course for supervisors to address their responsibility and role in training early career researchers in research integrity. This contribution describes what evidence base was used to design this course and how the course is experienced by supervisors who participated in its piloting in early 2022. A total of 147 subscribed to the course in the testing phase, and seventeen participants obtained a certificate. The main lessons from the experiences with this course and the literature are 1) to tailor supervisor courses to the small amounts of time that supervisors can schedule to take these courses and to adjust the content and assignments to their needs, 2) to make online courses very attractive, but that need to be combined with 3) a face-to-face meeting to motivate them to finish the course in time and it might help to enable shared reflection by sharing personal experiences. (DIPF/Orig.

The Impact of a Professional Development MOOC on the Teaching Beliefs of University Science Laboratory Teachers

This study contributes to the understanding of online professional development of university STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) lecturers. An active learning massive open online course (MOOC) to develop best practice in teaching in university science laboratories was developed using the ADDIE (Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, Evaluation) model in three cycles. The teaching beliefs and intentions of the participants were determined before and after they completed the MOOC and their level of satisfaction with this professional development opportunity was examined using a survey. The results showed high completion rates and an appreciation of the online course design. Participants who completed the course evaluation were satisfied and they identified the usefulness of the active learning components that required them to discuss and reflect, develop plans and peer-assess. A large majority developed new ideas to help them to improve their teaching. The participation in the course increased participants’ understanding of the multidimensional aspects of laboratory teaching and the challenges related to it. The majority of participants changed their teaching beliefs to become more student-centred

OpenCases: case studies on openness in education

OpenCases is a study which is part of the OpenEdu Project. It is a qualitative study consisting of a review of literature on open education and nine in-depth case studies of higher education institutions, a consortium of universities, a private organisation and a national initiative. It analysed the rationale and enabling conditions for involvement in open education, open education activities, strategies, impact, challenges and prospects. The main outcome of this study is evidence that a large number of OER have reached a large group of learners. However, completion rates of MOOCs are low. Accreditation is not formalised and in general its impact on employability is not measure

The impact of a professional development MOOC on the teaching beliefs of University science laboratory teachers

This study contributes to the understanding of online professional development of university STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) lecturers. An active learning massive open online course (MOOC) to develop best practice in teaching in university science laboratories was developed using the ADDIE (Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, Evaluation) model in three cycles. The teaching beliefs and intentions of the participants were determined before and after they completed the MOOC and their level of satisfaction with this professional development opportunity was examined using a survey. The results showed high completion rates and an appreciation of the online course design. Participants who completed the course evaluation were satisfied and they identified the usefulness of the active learning components that required them to discuss and reflect, develop plans and peer-assess. A large majority developed new ideas to help them to improve their teaching. The participation in the course increased participants’ understanding of the multidimensional aspects of laboratory teaching and the challenges related to it. The majority of participants changed their teaching beliefs to become more student-centred