Inclusión estudiantil en Educación Media Técnica Profesional a través de una experiencia Blended Learning con MOOCs

Hay muy pocos estudios que informen sobre el uso de los Cursos Online Masivos y Abiertos (MOOCs) en la Educación Secundaria. Aun así, los MOOCs pueden ser una gran oportunidad para dar a los estudiantes "igualdad de condiciones" cuando existen brechas de aprendizaje entre los compañeros de clase. Esto es especialmente notorio en las escuelas vulnerables, ya que los estudiantes pueden provenir de muy diversos orígenes, con diferentes situaciones socioeconómicas que dificultan su progreso académico. En este contexto, los profesores se enfrentan a la enorme tarea de ser inclusivos y asegurar que todos sus alumnos aprendan, mientras aseguran cierta calidad en sus clases. Este estudio presenta una experiencia de Blended Learning basada en un MOOC realizada en un centro de educación secundaria vulnerable en la que el MOOC es un medio para ayudar al profesor a atender la diversidad de los alumnos en clase. Nuestros resultados muestran que esta metodología de enseñanza tiene un efecto positivo en los resultados de aprendizaje de los estudiantes, la adoptan con éxito y, finalmente, permite al profesor centrarse en los estudiantes que necesitan más ayuda en pos de promover la equidad entre estudiantes y reducir la brecha de aprendizaje entre los compañeros de clase

FLINN: A framework to characterize technology enhanced formal, non-formal and informal learning situations

Thanks to technology, people learn continuously, anytime and anywhere, and in multiple situations that combine formal, non-formal and informal learning. However, recognizing the type of learning taking place in such technology-enhanced learning (TEL) situations is a big challenge, since the boundaries between these three kinds of learning are blurred. In this paper we present FLINN (FormaL INformal and Non-formal), a framework that defines formal, non-formal and informal learning situations as a continuum of two factors: (a) how learning is achieved; and (b) the setting where the learning situation takes place. This framework helps systematically characterize TEL situations, and as a consequence understand the kind of learning taking place, and recognize the learning opportunities that may arise in these situations. To illustrate the FLINN framework the authors describe three different scenarios, all employing interactive tags combined with other technologies for supporting collaboration in different settings, and embracing a diversity of learning objectives.This work has been partially funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness with the EEE project (TIN2011-28308-C03-01 and TIN2011-28308-C03-03), by the Regional Government of Madrid with the eMadrid project (S2009/TIC-1650) and by the postdoctoral fellowship Alliance 4 Universities.Publicad

Who are the top contributors in a MOOC? Relating participants' performance and contributions

The role of social tools in massive open online courses (MOOCs) is essential as they connect participants. Of all the participants in an MOOC, top contributors are the ones who more actively contribute via social tools. This article analyses and reports empirical data from five different social tools pertaining to an actual MOOC to characterize top contributors and provide some insights aimed at facilitating their early detection. The results of this analysis show that top contributors have better final scores than the rest. In addition, there is a moderate positive correlation between participants' overall performance (measured in terms of final scores) and the number of posts submitted to the five social tools. This article also studies the effect of participants' gender and scores as factors that can be used for the early detection of top contributors. The analysis shows that gender is not a good predictor and that taking the scores of the first assessment activities of each type (test and peer assessment in the case study) results in a prediction that is not substantially improved by adding subsequent activities. Finally, better predictions based on scores are obtained for aggregate contributions in the five social tools than for individual contributions in each social tool.This work has been partially funded by the Madrid Regional Government eMadrid Excellence Network (S2013/ICE-2715), the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness Project RESET (TIN2014-53199-C3-1-R) and the European Erasmus+ projects MOOC-Maker (561533-EPP-1-2015-1-ES-EPPKA2-CBHE-JP) and SHEILA (562080-EPP-1-2015-BE-EPPKA3-PI-FORWARD).Publicad

PROF-XXI: Teaching and Learning Centers to Support the 21st Century Professor

PROF-XXI is a European-funded project whose aim is the creation of Teaching and Learning Centers (TLCs) for Latin American Higher Institutions in an effort to promote the development of competences for university professors and foster teaching innovation in onsite, but also in online and hybrid education. PROF-XXI includes a partnership of seven higher education institutions, three from European countries (Spain, France, and Portugal), and four from Latin American countries (two from Guatemala, and two from Colombia). This article presents the main results of the first part of the project, including the diagnosis of institutional practices, the state of the art of TLCs around the world, the framework on 21st century professors in Latin America, and the PROF-XXI framework

How to make MOOCs better for specific target groups and developing countries?

Presentation of Abstract at OE Global 2018, Delft, The Netherlands, by Stracke, C. M., et al. (2018, 24 April) on: "How to make MOOCs better for specific target groups and developing countries?

Can feedback based on predictive data improve learners' passing rates in MOOCs? a preliminary analysis

This work in progress paper investigates if timely feedback increases learners’ passing rate in a MOOC. An experiment conducted with 2,421 learners in the Coursera platform tests if weekly messages sent to groups of learners with the same probability of dropping out the course can improve retention. These messages can contain information about: (1) the average time spent in the course, or (2) the average time per learning session, or (3) the exercises performed, or (4) the video-lectures completed. Preliminary results show that the completion rate increased 12% with the intervention compared with data from 1,445 learners that participated in the same course in a previous session without the intervention. We discuss the limitations of these preliminary results and the future research derived from them.Potsda