¿Pueden los MOOC cerrar la brecha de oportunidades?: La contribución del diseño pedagógico social inclusivo

Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) are open courses made available online at no cost to the user and designed to scale up, allowing for a large number of participants. As such, they are a disruptive new development which has the potential to widen access to higher education since they contribute to social inclusion, the dissemination of knowledge and pedagogical innovation. However, assuring quality learning opportunities to all cannot be simply reduced to allowing free access to higher education. On the contrary, it implies assuring equitable opportunities for every participant to succeed in their learning experience. This goal depends on the quality of the learning design. To be successful, a massive open online learning experience has to empower learners and to facilitate a networked learning environment. In fact, MOOCs are designed to serve a high heterogeneity of profiles, with many differences regarding learning needs and preferences, prior knowledge, contexts of participation and diversity of online platforms. Personalization can play a key role in this process. In this article, the authors describe the iMOOC pedagogical model and its later derivative, the sMOOC model, and explain how they contributed to the introduction of the principles of diversity and learner equity to MOOC design, allowing for a clear differentiation of learning paths and also of virtual environments, while empowering participants to succeed in their learning experiences. Using a design-based research approach, a comparative analysis of two course iterations each representing each model is also presented and discussed.Los cursos en línea abiertos y masivos (MOOC) son cursos abiertos disponibles en línea sin costo para el usuario y diseñados para ampliarse, permitiendo un gran número de participantes. Como tales, son un nuevo desarrollo disruptivo que tiene el potencial de ampliar el acceso a la educación superior, ya que contribuyen a la inclusión social, la difusión del conocimiento y la innovación pedagógica. Sin embargo, garantizar oportunidades de aprendizaje de calidad para todos no puede reducirse simplemente a permitir el acceso gratuito a la educación superior. Por el contrario, implica asegurar oportunidades equitativas para que cada participante tenga éxito en su experiencia de aprendizaje. Este objetivo depende de la calidad del diseño de aprendizaje. Para tener éxito, una experiencia de aprendizaje en línea abierta y masiva debe empoderar a los alumnos y facilitar un entorno de aprendizaje en red. De hecho, los MOOC están diseñados para servir a una gran heterogeneidad de perfiles, con muchas diferencias con respecto a las necesidades y preferencias de aprendizaje, conocimiento previo, contextos de participación y diversidad de plataformas en línea. La personalización puede jugar un papel clave en este proceso. En este artículo, los autores describen el modelo pedagógico iMOOC y su derivada posterior, el modelo sMOOC, y explican cómo contribuyeron a la introducción de los principios de diversidad y equidad en el diseño MOOC, lo que permite una clara diferenciación de las rutas de aprendizaje y también de entornos virtuales, al tiempo que permite a los participantes tener éxito en sus experiencias de aprendizaje. Usando un enfoque de design-based research, también se presenta y discute un análisis comparativo de dos iteraciones del curso, cada una representando cada modelo

Report on 2nd GO-GN Seminar

This document reports the status of the research for the GO-GN members attending to the second seminar. This seminar took place in Ljubljana (Slovenia) in conjunction with the OCWC Global ConferenceGlobal Open Educational Resources Graduate Networ

A systematic literature review on the quality of moocs

This paper presents the findings from a systematic literature review on the quality of massive open online courses (MOOCs). The main research question was “How can the quality criteria for MOOCs identified in the analysed studies from the systematic literature review be best organ-ised in a categorisation scheme?” The systematic literature review was conducted using the PRISMA procedures. After conducting the screening and eligibility analysis according the pre-defined crite-ria, 103 studies were finally selected. The analysis was done in iterative cycles for continuous im-provements of the assignments and clustering of the quality criteria. The final version was validated in consensus through the categorisation and assignment of all 103 studies in a consistent way to four dimensions (pedagogical, organisational, technological, and social) and their sub-categories. This quality framework can be re-used in future MOOC research and the discussion of the analysed studies provides a current literature overview on the quality of MOOCs

Assessment as Learning: Use of Reflection Videos in the Massive Open Online Course to Enhance Learning and Digital Identity Among Pre- and In-Service Teachers in Norway

This study examines teachers’ experiences of their engagement with the reflection videos in the Pedagogical Information and Communication Technology (ICTPED) Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) aimed to develop Norwegian teachers’ professional digital competence. The study also considers how teachers’ engagement with reflection videos might have enhanced their digital identity. Analyses of teachers’ experiences draw on the cultural-historical perspective and, in particular, Galperin’s conceptual contribution. Mixed methods were used to analyse the data by providing evidence about the teachers’ engagement with the reflection videos in 2016-2020. Findings reveal that the teachers’ engagement with the reflection videos contributed to the development of their conceptual understanding and their agentic capacity to learn online. In doing so, their digital agency might have been enhanced.publishedVersio

A New Competence-based Approach for Personalizing MOOCs in a Mobile Collaborative and Networked Environment

Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) are a new disruptive development in higher education that combines openness and scalability in a most powerful way. They have the potential to widen participation in higher education. Thus, they contribute to social inclusion, the dissemination of knowledge and pedagogical innovation and also the internationalization of higher education institutions. However, one of the critical elements for a massive open language learning experience to be successful is to empower learners and to facilitate networked learning experiences. In fact, MOOCs are designed for an undefined number of participants, thus serving a high heterogeneity of profiles, with diverse learning styles and prior knowledge, and also contexts of participation and diversity of online platforms. Personalization can play a key role in this process. The iMOOC pedagogical model introduced the notion of diversity to MOOC design, allowing for a clear differentiation of learning paths and also virtual environments. In this article, the authors present a proposal based on the iMOOC approach for a new framework for personalizing and adapting MOOCs designed in a collaborative, networked pedagogical approach by identifying each participant's competence profile and prior knowledge, as well as the respective mobile communication device used to generate matching personalized learning. This article also shows the results obtained in a laboratory environment after an experiment has been performed with a prototype of the framework. It can be observed that creating personalized learning paths is possible and the next step is to test this framework with real experimental groups.Los cursos en línea masivos y abiertos (MOOC) son una nueva tendencia rompedora en la educación superior. Estos cursos combinan la propiedad de ser abiertos con la posibilidad de ser escalables de una forma muy potente. Tienen el potencial de permitir la participación en la educación superior para todas las personas, a todos los niveles. Por lo tanto, contribuyen a la inclusión social, la difusión del conocimiento y la innovación pedagógica, así como la internalización de las instituciones de educación superior. Sin embargo, uno de los elementos críticos para que tenga éxito una experiencia de aprendizaje de forma abierta y masiva es potenciar y facilitar una red de aprendizaje. De hecho, los MOOC no están diseñados para un número predefinido de participantes por lo que sirven para un alto número de perfiles heterogéneos, con diversidad de estilos de aprendizaje y conocimientos previos, pero también contextos de participación y diversidad de plataformas online. La personalización puede desempeñar un papel clave en este proceso. El modelo pedagógico iMOOC introdujo el principio de diversidad en el diseño de MOOC, permitiendo una clara diferenciación de caminos de aprendizaje y también entornos virtuales. En este artículo los autores presentan una propuesta basada en el enfoque de iMOOC, sobre un nuevo sistema para la personalización y adaptación de MOOC diseñados en un enfoque colaborativo y en una red pedagógica. El mecanismo es identificar cada competencia del perfil de los participantes, el conocimiento previo que estos tienen así como detectar sus respectivos dispositivos móviles, y se genera un camino de aprendizaje personalizado en base a estos parámetros. Este artículo también muestra los resultados obtenidos en un entorno de laboratorio después de un experimento llevado a cabo con un prototipo del sistema. Se puede observar que es posible crear caminos de aprendizaje personalizados y que el siguiente paso es probar este sistema con grupos experimentales reales

Quality in MOOCs: Surveying the Terrain

The purpose of this review is to identify quality measures and to highlight some of the tensions surrounding notions of quality, as well as the need for new ways of thinking about and approaching quality in MOOCs. It draws on the literature on both MOOCs and quality in education more generally in order to provide a framework for thinking about quality and the different variables and questions that must be considered when conceptualising quality in MOOCs. The review adopts a relativist approach, positioning quality as a measure for a specific purpose. The review draws upon Biggs’s (1993) 3P model to explore notions and dimensions of quality in relation to MOOCs — presage, process and product variables — which correspond to an input–environment–output model. The review brings together literature examining how quality should be interpreted and assessed in MOOCs at a more general and theoretical level, as well as empirical research studies that explore how these ideas about quality can be operationalised, including the measures and instruments that can be employed. What emerges from the literature are the complexities involved in interpreting and measuring quality in MOOCs and the importance of both context and perspective to discussions of quality

Quality Frameworks for MOOCs

The hype surrounding MOOCs has been tempered by scepticism about the quality of MOOCs. The possible flaws of MOOCs include the quality of the pedagogies employed, low completion rates and a failure to deliver on the promise of inclusive and equitable quality education for all. On the other hand, MOOCs that have given a boost to open and online education have become a symbol of a larger modernisation agenda for universities, and are perceived as tools for universities to improve the quality of blended and online education—both in degree education and Continuous Professional Development. MOOC provision is also much more open to external scrutiny as part of a stronger globalising higher education market. This has important consequences for quality frameworks and quality processes that go beyond the individual MOOC. In this context, different quality approaches are discussed including possible measures at different levels and the tension between product and process models. Two case studies are described: one at the institutional level (The Open University) and one at a MOOC platform level (FutureLearn) and how they intertwine is discussed. The importance of a national or international quality framework which carries with it a certification or label is illustrated with the OpenupEd Quality label. Both the label itself and its practical use are described in detail. The examples will illustrate that MOOCs require quality assurance processes tailored to e-learning and open education, embedded in institutional frameworks. The increasing unbundling of educational services may require additional quality processes