Internal perspectives of MOOCs in universities

Abstract

Since 2012, the vision of MOOCs in universities has been evolving rapidly. Universities that have decided to place a serious bet for including this kind of courses in their portfolio have involved a diverse set of staff roles within the institution. In most cases, with the exception of fully dedicated staff members hired for the sole purpose of MOOC development, MOOC related tasks are assigned to staff that already performs other roles in the institution. This is the case, among others, for lecturers, learning designers, multimedia producers, and PhD students who have dedicated part of their professional time to this new form of online education delivery. This study aims to capture the reflection of such professionals in two European universities, around their involvement in MOOC production and implementation. A series of interviews, both individual and in group, have been conducted to determine how MOOCs have influenced their practice, and what their vision is with regards of the role of MOOCs within their institutions. A preliminary analysis of the results suggests that those engaged in the production of MOOCs see these courses as beneficial to the institution, and more support and incentives to this end would be desirableWork partially funded by the Madrid Regional Government with grant No. S2013/ICE- 2715, the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness project Flexor (TIN2014- 52129-R). Special thanks are due to the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid and the University of Southampton for their support in this cross-institutional collaboration, and to their staff for their participation in this stud