MOOCs and their Effect on the Institution: Experiences in Course Design, Delivery and Evaluation; Research; Faculty Development; Unbundling and Credits for MOOCs

Abstract

Four years after the introduction of MOOCs-which were proclaimed to be «the end of education as we know it» in 2012-the role and effect of these free, online courses is becoming clearer. The online means of delivery to the heterogeneous audiences of MOOCs have enabled and compelled instructors and course teams to develop innovative and flexible learning materials. We can analyse the data on the study behaviour of learners to identify which course elements are effective. In addition, the integration of elements of MOOCs in campus education has resulted in promising outcomes and positive reactions from both students and teachers. On the level of the institution, we also see the effect of MOOCs: ranging from new possibilities in communication and branding, to new needs for faculty development and the support organisation. Furthermore, MOOCs play a role in the unbundling of education, e.g. the learning experience and the assessment tasks now can be uncoupled and may be delivered by different institutions and by different means: the learning experience may be in the form of a MOOC and the assessment may be a written exam at an institution.

Learner skills in open virtual mobility

“…They see the potential of open online education and OER in innovating HE, developing and testing new designs and new educational formats. Furthermore, universities use open online courses to present and promote their curricular offering (Castano Munos et al 2016;Hollands and Tirthali 2014;Kiers 2016) and enrich or extend curricula or create an additional offering for graduates (Pickering and Swinnerton 2017). Collaboration between OE providers can be organised on an individual level, for example in the form of reuse of OER and practices, and at an institutional level, for example through recognition of selected MOOCs offered by other institutions (Cronin 2017;Hew and Cheung 2014;Loeckx 2016).…”

The Design and Evaluation of Online Faculty Development for Effective Graduate Supervision

“…Benefits of MOOCs include schedule flexibility, greater enrolment capacity, increased diversity of learners and ideas, expanded time to access and reflect on resources, and curated content well beyond what is usually offered in a short workshop. Well-designed MOOCs can support large-scale faculty development (Rodrigues & Leinster, 2016) that is open and flexible in how and when participants engage with material (Kiers, 2016). Participants appreciate access to online course content on the go or from their home or campus office (Rodrigues & Leinster, 2016).…”

El cambio educativo ante la innovación tecnológica, la pedagogía de las competencias y el discurso de la educación emocional. Una mirada crítica

“…Pequeños robots virtuales, aplicaciones de autoevaluación, chatbots, etc., interactuarán con los estudiantes para alentar sus avances en un entorno de gamificación generalizada del aprendizaje controlado mediante algoritmos dispuestos a satisfacer su curiosidad en función de sus acciones e interacciones. 2 Finalmente, la conectividad entre diferentes nodos de conocimiento, tal y como sucede con los populares MOOCs (Massive Online Open Courses, o cursos online masivos y abiertos) (Kiers, 2016), no hará más que multiplicar la oferta formativa y las posibilidades de expansión de un mercado que augura grandes beneficios. Así las cosas, el desarrollo de tecnologías educativas e infraestructuras digitales no solo está renovando las estrategias formativas de la escuela con todo tipo de iniciativas (educación disruptiva, aula invertida, hiperaula, conectivismo, etc.…”