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MOOCs in Europe : Overview of papers representing a collective European response on MOOCs as presented during the HOME conference in Rome November 2015
Abstract and Figures
MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) have continued to attract considerable media coverage as
governments and universities respond to the open and online education movement. The MOOCs
business seems to be dominated by the big U.S. providers such as Udacity, Coursera and edX.
However, this seems to change rapidly as Europe seizes the opportunities offered by MOOCs
(see Porto declaration conference organised in 2014). Early 2015 this project revealed that Europe is
much more involved in MOOCs compared to the US, and that strategies to be involved in MOOCs
differ as well. Since then these results were confirmed by two other studies and by the latest HOME
survey repeated end 2015. These independent studies confirm that the European Higher Education
Institutions (HEIs) are more broadly involved in MOOCs compared to the U.S. institutions. Moreover,
it seems that European HEIs are clearly confident regarding MOOC development and
implementation. The European institutions are having a more positive attitude towards MOOCs and
those offering MOOCs have positive experiences.
In the framework of the HOME project - Higher Education Online: MOOCs the European Way - and in
preparation for the conference on WOW Europe embraces MOOCs, held in Rome on 30 November
2015, an open call for papers was launched. The call invited authors to submit papers on the
different conference themes. The conference was a success with a grand total 156 attendees from 21
different countries. Over 30 papers were accepted and more than 25 MOOC experts were asked to
give their presentations. On top of that, the European Parliament and the Italian Ministry attended
the conference in order to present their views on MOOCs. The papers selected after a peer review process elaborate on several main topics relevant on a continued uptake of MOOCs in Europe.
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... The results of a recent European mapping project (Jansen and Konings 2016) have shown that the practices of MOOCs are more connected to ideas of promoting and making visible existing higher education programmes than to ideas of developing new programmes. A unilateral focus on promotion may lead to reduced attention to the discussion of didactic issues to enhance the educational quality of MOOCs. ...
The proliferation and expansion of massive open online courses (MOOCs) prompts a need to revisit classical pedagogical questions. In what ways will MOOCs facilitate and promote new e-learning pedagogies? Is current learning design adequate for the “massiveness” and “openness” of MOOCs? This article discusses the ways in which MOOCs create new conditions for designing learning processes. The authors present various theoretical approaches to learning design and discuss a combination of theoretical perspectives. They discern a fragmentation of the teacher role; where the teacher was once the main person responsible for planning, practice and reflection, those activities may now be performed by different actors with different areas of responsibility. The theoretical discussion is complemented by a review of recent studies of new practices and design formats aiming to overcome the upscaling issues of MOOCs. The authors present a multifaceted picture of MOOC methodologies, including a typology of hybrid approaches to MOOC design. Through the example of MOOC implementation in India, they address the integration of MOOCs into formal higher education systems. They conclude their article with the contention that, through upscaling, important facets of students’ intellectual development and critical thinking might be left to the students themselves. This may cause problems. Adequate scaffolding from a teacher, such as adapting activities to the specific situation, might be needed to develop the skills required to be a self-directed learner. Furthermore, upscaling seems to promote a separation of the formerly unified teacher functions of planning, teaching and assessing, which necessitates increased collaboration among the many new actors in the field of pedagogy.
This report presents the results of a MOOC survey amongst higher education institutions (HEIs) with a strong focus on Europe and Canada. The survey was conducted in the fourth quarter of 2015. The results of this survey are compared to a similar study the year before as published in Jansen and Schuwer (2015). In addition the output is compared to three other European studies (Gaebel, Kupriyanova, Morais, & Colucci, 2014; Little, 2016; Muñoz, Punie, Inamorato dos Santos, Mitic, & Morais, 2016) and studies in the U.S. (Allen & Seaman 2014, 2015, 2016). Some questions are identical in all seven surveys, while for other questions a comparison is limited to a few of those surveys.
Hamdan, N., McKnight, P., McKnight, K., & Arfstrom, K. A
This article provides a brief review of the flipped learning pedagogical model. It has become widely cited in peer reviewed journals in articles on the topic.
Five myths about internationalization are explored. A common element of each myths is that the benefits of internationalization or the degree of internationality can be measured quantitatively. The purpose of identifying and reflecting on these myths and truths is to ensure that internationalization is on the right track and that we, as higher education sectors, are aware of intended and unintended consequences.
In education, retrospection is often used as a method for better understanding emerging trends as documented in many books and articles. In this chapter, the focus is not on a broad description of the history of educational technology but on the interplay between learning theories and technologies. However, neither learning theories nor tools are monolithic phenomena. They are composed of multiple attributes, and they refer to many aspects and facets which render the history of educational technology highly complex. Moreover, evolution in both theory and technology re fl ects no clear successive breaks or discrete developments-rather, waves of growth and accumulation. When looking closer at learning and technology, it becomes clear that many interactions occur. These interactions will be documented following continuous development after World War II. We do not follow a strict timeline but cluster the critical appraisal in the following observations: (1) evolutions in society and education have in fl uenced the selection and use of learning theories and technologies; (2) learning theories and technologies are situated in a somewhat vague conceptual field; (3) learning theories and technologies are connected and intertwined by information processing and knowledge acquisition; (4) educational technologies shifted learner support from program or instructor control toward more shared and learner control; and (5) learning theories and findings represent a fuzzy mixture of principles and applications. The history re fl ects an evolution from individual toward community learning, from contentdriven learning toward process-driven approaches, from isolated media toward integrated use, from presentation media toward interactive media, from learning settings dependent on place and time toward ubiquitous learning, and from fixed tools toward handheld devices. These developments increasingly confront learners with complexity and challenge their responsibility to become active participants in a learning society. © Springer Science+Business Media New York 2014. All rights reserved.
With the corporatization of higher education in Canada and acceptance of the ideology of neo-liberalism as the organizing principle of education, university teacher education programs have seen massive reform. Drawing on the work of Michael Apple, Stephen Ball and others, the author asks how notions that once would have been dismissed as inimical to the education of a well-prepared teacher, have now become accepted and indeed, considered common sense. Priorities for teacher education have changed drastically. Where once established faculties of education sought to become “full-service” institutions, preparing teachers for a wide-variety of levels of education in many different subject discipline areas, now the choice is drastically reduced to those areas where teacher candidates might possibly find a teaching position: language arts/literacy, mathematics, science and technology and second language teaching. In keeping with the new “business” approach to education, the kind of research that is encouraged will hold the possibility of developing a product that may result in profit for the university. Managerialism proliferates, numbers of tenure track positions are cut but more vice-presidents and managers are appointed. The author questions the sustainability of the “brave new” faculty of education but points out possibilities for resistance to counter the narrow approach now viewed as the norm for teacher education and higher education in general.
MOOCs (Massive Online Open Courses) are shaking up the traditional forms of primary and continuing education and training. These new distance teaching tools which take advantage of the Web and social network revolution are making us think again about how we teach and learn.
In today's society, educational opportunities have evolved beyond the traditional classroom setting. Most universities have implemented virtual learning environments in an effort to provide more opportunities for potential or current students seeking alternative and more affordable learning solutions. User-Centered Design Strategies for Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) focuses on the best practices and effective design of student interaction within virtual learning environments. Highlighting strategies from human-computer interaction experiences and user-centered models, as well as emergent approaches and implementation techniques, this reference publication is designed for computer science students, academics, researchers, instructional designers, IT professionals, software developers, and educators interested in mobile technologies, social learning, and educational inclusion.