Developing soft Skills through Active Learning: Storytelling Concrete Experiences through a MOOC

Abstract

The eLene4Life project aims to support curriculum innovation in higher education (HE) through the development of active learning approaches for transversal skills, with the ultimate aim of improving students’ employability. The MOOC “Active Learning for Soft Skills Development”, one of the project outputs, has been put in place as a space for learning through experience sharing and discussion. The MOOC aims at fostering the exchange of results achieved by instructors after the concrete experimentation of active learning methods and at increasing their sensibility and knowledge of the most effective modalities through which to implement those methods. This paper outlines the genesis of the MOOC. Its three main objectives are: (a) collecting and valorising different voices of the teachers who directly experimented one or more methodologies of active learning in their classroom (most of them during the pandemic); (b) embracing and sustaining experiences, as well as addressing doubts coming from a wider audience interested in putting into practice such methods oriented to soft and digital skills’ development; (c) offering a non-formal learning opportunity in line with European indications about micro-credentialing through developing synergies with the ECCOE project (European Credit Clearinghouse for Opening up Education).