ECO (Elearning, Communication And Open-data: Massive Mobile, Ubiquitous And Open Learning)
Author(s):
Alba Torrego (presenting / submitting) Alfonso Gutiérrrez (presenting)
Conference:
ECER 2015
Network:
06. Open Learning: Media, Environments and Cultures
Format:
Paper

Session Information

06 SES 08 A, MOOCs and beyond

Paper Session

Time:
2015-09-10
09:00-10:30
Room:
104.Oktatóterem [C]
Chair:
Theo Hug

Contribution

ECO (Elearning, Communication and Open-data: Massive Mobile, Ubiquitous and Open Learning) is an ambitious project funded from the European Community's CIP (Programme under grant agreement n° 21127)

The ECO proposal aims at extending to a pan-European scale the most successful MOOC experiences in Europe, piloting and showcasing these best practices by its implementation in regional hubs of excellence throughout Europe. To do so ECO will implement a merged MOOC platform integrating different modules provided by some ECO partners, to train teachers for online collaborative learning and certify teachers who will create their own courses.

The project will be piloted in the following locations across Europe: Portugal, Spain, France, Germany, Netherlands, United Kingdom and Italy. The Project will also corporate with universities who are using the MOOC methodology outside Europe – La Universidad Nacional de Quilmes de Argentina and La Universidad Manuela Beltrán de Colombia.

Main project objectives are:

  • To analyse requirements for MOOC platforms from a pedagogical viewpoint (Including learning analytics, web 2.0 and other aspects).
  • To set up a framework for designing and implementing MOOCs.
  • To design the overall ECO platform architecture and integrate all the individual modules building the overall platform.
  • To pilot with the ECO platform in the 10 hubs involving at least 50.000 students (teachers from different educational levels).
  • To analyse and assess the MOOC market international scenario.
  • To develop an appropriate business strategy and business plan for ECO sustainability.
  • To increase awareness in Europe on the open educational resources benefits for European citizens  and institutions.

Open Educational Resources (OER) has the potential to widen access to education and to improve the quality and cost-efficiency of teaching and learning in Europe. (UNESCO, 2012)

The most successful way to achieve a practical implementation of OERs are Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs). MOOCs are large-scale online courses and represent one of the latest developments in open education in its continuous effort to improve quality, access and equity in education and training. MOOCs can be applied to formal/informal/non-formal learning and make learning ubiquitous (Fischer, 2014). ECO will focus on extending to a pan-European scale the most successful MOOC experiences in Europe, piloting and showcasing these best  practices by its implementation in regional  hubs  of excellence throughout Europe, assessing the outcomes, results and lessons learnt from these best  practices in open and mobile learning.

ECO will contribute to increasing awareness in Europe of the benefits of open educational resources for European citizens and institutions.  The project will demonstrate the potential of MOOC (courses & communities) for lowering or remove technological barriers in learning processes for users with special needs or at risk of exclusion.

The expected impact of ECO will be increased by preparing certified teachers who will be able to create their own online courses and other open educational resources and distribute them through the open learning platform that gathers all the pilot projects. This will extend the project impact to their respective communities. Therefore, ECO pilots will pay special attention to training European teachers

Participant organizations in the project are:

Universidad Nacional De Educación A Distancia (Spain)

Open Universiteit Nederland (Netherlands)

Universidad De Valladolid (Spain)

University Of Manchester (England)

Universidade Aberta (Portugal)

Universidad De Oviedo (Spain)

Politecnico Di Milano (Italy)

Universidad De Zaragoza (Spain)

Universidad De Cantabria (Spain)

Reimer It Solutions B.V. (Netherlands)

Sunne Hanna Eichler (Germany)

Universidad Loyola Andalucia (Spain)

Universite Paris Iii Sorbonne Nouvelle (France)

Tabarca (Spain)

Telefónica Learning Services S.L. (Spain)

Fedrave (Portugal)

Editrain, S.L. (Spain)

Vereniging Van European Distance Teaching Universities (Netherlands)

Humance Ag: (Germany)

Prisma Vista Digital S.L. (Spain)

Universidad De Quilmes (Argentina)

Universidad Manuela Beltrán (Colombia)

Yaco Sistemas (Spain)

Method

Open Educational Resources (OER) has recently become a hot topic. There is a general agreement that openness has the potential to widen access to education and to improve, amongst others, quality and cost-efficiency of teaching and learning in Europe. In its recent communication on Rethinking Education, the European Commission announced a new initiative on "Opening-up Education" launched in September 2013. One of the most successful ways to achieve a practical implementation of OER is through Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs). MOOCs are large-scale online courses and represent one of the latest developments in open education in its continuous effort to improve quality, access and equity in education and training. MOOCs can be applied to formal/informal/non-formal learning and make learning ubiquitous. Since their beginnings in 2008, MOOCs have grown into an online learning phenomenon, with hundreds of thousands of participants in individual courses and millions in aggregate courses. (Perna et al., 2014). The ECO project will work on the design and implementation of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) pilots in regional hubs of excellence in order to train teachers / and trainers of all educational levels to design and develop such courses through mobile technology. MOOCs courses are usually offered following a conventional methodology, based on traditional formal education models without paying enough attention to the students’ involvement. Our proposal is based on constructivist learning theories where students need to create true learning communities to build their knowledge and social engagement. ECO will be based on interactive multimedia materials and other media enabling social learning opportunities with other people who are studying the same course. ECO will use state-of-the-art technologies in implementing the merged OER/MOOC platform (based on individual platforms and resources provided by individual partners in the project), which will enable the combined and cross-border pilot activities in all the hubs involved in the project. There can already be found numerous comments, analysis, studies of different nature regarding to the MOOC methodology. Main lines of argumentation are: MOOCs as an obsession or a revolutionary supplement and / or alternative to current universities. We have researched the phenomenon of MOOC in detail, taking into consideration reports as "MOOCs and Open Education: Implications for Higher Education" developed by Li Yuan and Stephen Powell in March 2013; the EUA occasional paper on MOOC (Gaebel, 2013), and the special issue of Distance Education edited by Jona and Naidu (2014).

Expected Outcomes

The project´s main aim is to develop the courses, in different languages, in order to allow new forms of accreditation of knowledge concerning processes of communication, creation and utilization of MOOC courses around different subjects. It is expected that around 50,000 students (teachers of different levels) will take part in the pilot phase. About 4,000 of them will be selected to design and create their own MOOC courses. Apart from using the most innovative MOOC methodology, ECO understands the importance of the social and entertainment aspects, as well as networking, motivation and commitment whilst learning. Integration of all these aspects will also set ECO apart from traditional educational projects. As a result of the fact that the project will be implemented by leading Universities from all over the Europe, the project will have a wide impact on educational and social aspects as well. MOOC courses delivered by the ECO platform will be available in 5 European languages creating a learning opportunity for a wide range of participants guaranteeing the pan-European dimension of the project. This project aims to respond to a set of identified educational needs in today's society. The expected impact in relation to identified goals includes a new “education without boundaries” approach; integration between web resources and mobile ones; development of initiatives in online free environments; the development of socio-cultural teaching skills and not only technical; the teachers’ acquisition of effective skills to adapt themselves to new job requirements: skills such as finding information, using free resources open, adaptation of materials in different formats, manage communication processes online, participate, collaborate, network, etc., and the creation of an international exchange community to share initiatives, resources and knowledge. The aim is to maintain and increase this community beyond the project life.

References

Fischer, G. (2014). Beyond hype and underestimation: Identifying research challenges for the future of MOOCs. Distance Education, 35(2), 149-158. doi:10.1080/01587919.2014.920752 Gaebel, M. (2013). MOOC. Massive Open Online Courses. Brussels: European University Association (EUA). Jona, K. & Naidu, S. (2014). Editorial. MOOCs: emerging research. Distance Education, 35 (2), 141-144. doi: 10.1080/01587919.2014.928970. Perna, L. W., Ruby, A., Boruch, R. F., Wang, N., Scull, J., Ahmad, S., & Evans, C. (2014). Moving through MOOCs: Understanding the progression of users in massive open online courses. Educational Researcher, 43(9), 421-432. doi:10.3102/0013189X14562423. UNESCO (june, 2012). 2012 Paris OER Declaration. World OER Congress, Paris, France. Retrieved from http://oercongress.weebly.com/paris-declaration.html Yuan, L., & Powell, S. (2013). MOOCs and open education: Implications for higher education. Bolton: University of Bolton, Centre for Educational Technology, Interoperability and Standards & JISC. Retrieved from http://publications.cetis.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/MOOCs-and-Open-Education.pdf

Author Information

Alba Torrego (presenting / submitting)
University of Valladolid
Segovia
Alfonso Gutiérrrez (presenting)
University of Valladolid
Pedagogía
Segovia

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