AD ALTA
JOURNAL OF INTERDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH
In the context of the European Union, MOOCs are organized
under EADTU – European Association of Distance Teaching
Universities. EADTU is co-funded by the European Commission
and its Erasmus+ Programme. The organization has a
membership of 25 European countries, covering 200 non-profit
open and distance teaching universities. It coordinates the
European MOOC Consortium (EMC) representing 400 higher
education institutions and over 3000 MOOCs. EADTU aims to
organize events in various projects which promote online, digital
and virtual learning, interaction and intercultural communication
among nations and cultures in the European and non-European
geographical context (https://eadtu.eu).
Virtual mobility is an academic mobility in which students and
teachers at universities study or teach by enhancing digital tools
and platforms. It complements physical mobility in the form of
face to face, blended or virtual forms of learning. For instance,
the Moonlite project - MOOCs for Social Inclusion &
Employability, supports refugees, migrants and students in their
access to higher education and employability.
There are two major virtual mobility projects running nowadays
for university students: Virtual Mobility (VM) and Open
Education (OE) which emerged into Open Virtual Mobility
(2017-2020). They cover virtual mobility and open education in
contemporary high education perspective. The aim of the
projects is to find out the good practices of using virtual reality
in educational environment, especially in Erasmus+ exchange
programme. Upon the decision of the European Commission, the
learners should be able to transfer credits obtained in the course
within the European Credit Transfer System (ECTS)
(https://eadtu.eu).
Opening up of universities towards virtual learning is still slow
and financially demanding. A group of scientists and educators
conducted a pilot research financed by the EU based on content
mapping study and found out the following open virtual mobility
competences:
Intercultural skills and attitudes - intercultural awareness of
own culture and identity as well as awareness about other
cultures;
Networked learning – ability to learn and communicate in a
digital social network;
Active self-regulated learner skills – ability to learn at own
pace successfully;
Media and digital literacy – ability to search and use the
quality resources;
Autonomy-driven learning – independent learning mode,
self-directive attitude of a student;
Interactive and collaborative learning in an authentic
international environment – developing teamwork skills;
Open-mindedness – open and accepting attitude towards
peers and teachers (Rajagopal et al., 2020).
Based on the competences, learners can develop knowledge,
skills and attitudes necessary for the contemporary professional
needs in the European Union states. The Open VM Learning
Hub hosts a set of eight mini-MOOCs, in each of the eight
competency areas. The courses usually start in March, April and
May and are accessible for registered students and teachers:
https://hub.openvirtualmobility.eu
The enrolment process is defined accordingly: before starting the
MOOC, each student is asked to take a quiz that pre-assesses his
/her skills. According to the score obtained, he/she will be
suggested to start from one of the three levels: the foundation
level, intermediate level or advanced level. In each level, he/she
will read texts, e-books or PDFs, watch videos and forums. Once
all the tasks are completed, he/she will complete an e-assessment
in order to obtain a badge that certifies his/her skills.
MOOCs have not yet become a standard at many universities.
Online teaching is often provided by Moodle platform,
Microsoft Teams or by online video conferencing systems such
as Jitsi Meet, Google Meet or Zoom. However, being affected by
the corona virus pandemics, global trend of MOOCs might
develop into a new inspiration not only for many institutions
providing mostly face to face education, but also for students,
who have also realized that learning is a way of thinking and is
not set in a physical environment only. Overall, if there is
someone eager to teach and someone eager to learn, any learning
can become a success.
1.3 Global MOOCs
Although there is an ongoing effort of the EU to expand virtual
education at universities and bring self-regulated learning into a
limelight from 2012, there are global MOOCs which set up the
new trends of online learning in the world nowadays. Selected
platforms best for English language and literature learning are
listed here:
Coursera (USA) - https://www.coursera.org
EdX (USA) - https://www.edx.org
Udemy (USA) - https://www.udemy.com
FutureLearn (UK) - https://www.futurelearn.com
Alison (Ireland) - https://alison.com
What makes some of these providers of virtual education
successful is the cooperation with top universities and cultural
institutions which attract new learners. For example, edX has
more than 160 member universities and institutions and Coursera
has more than 200 cooperating universities and companies. To
mention just few of them, the following universities provide
courses in English language and literature:
Berkeley University of California
Harvard University
Stanford University
University of Michigan
Boston University
Two types of MOOCs have been established during the
evolution of online learning. cMOOCs are courses with no set
curriculum, process, or particular method. The focus is on
community and connections; connectivist learning theory forms
the background of learning, which is based on Siemens´ research
(Connectivism: A learning theory for the digital age, 2005; as
cited in Nethi, Murray, 2014, p. 660). In xMOOCs, the focus is
on mastering the content of the course. Assessment of the course
is done by automated quizzes and tests because there are
thousands of learners enrolled. Teachers are trying to prepare
materials which cover as much information as possible in an
interesting way. High number of enrolled students on the other
hand leads to high drop-out rates, especially in courses with free
access.
Typically, there are four main learning activities designed for
MOOCs (Bang et al. 2016, p. 124):
Assignments from teachers
Teacher video lectures
Student assignments and productions
Communication and discussion
Even though the learning environment is digital and students
mostly view presentations and videos, the role of the teacher is
still crucial – his/her voice, accent and positive attitude while
presenting the topic affect the overall likeability of the course
more than it might be expected.
In language and literature oriented courses, academic degrees are
not usually offered, but some institutions offer TESOL
certificates after successful completion of the course. There are
also courses offering study skills at the university level –
academic writing, academic research, learning online, etc.
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