Towards a Crowd-sourced Open Education Strategy for Employment
in Europe with Qualification-focused MOOCs
Stylianos Mystakidis & Eleni Berki
HOME conference, Mapping the European MOOC Territory, 27/11/14, Porto
Stylianos Mystakidis MSc, PMP, Phd cand.
• Learning Manager & Innovator @ Center for Vocational Training, University of Patras (Greece)
• Adjunct Faculty @ University of the West of England (UK) & Open University of Catalonia (Spain)
• Teaching Mentor @ University of Washington (USA)
• Research Interests: E-learning, Open Education, 3d Virtual Worlds, Gamification, Problem-Based Learning, Digital Storytelling
4 Axes of Systemic Analysis
1. Strategy / Policy Aims (why?)
2. Organization (who?)
3. Business Model (€€€)
4. Pedagogy / Instructional Design (how?)
Disclaimer: alpha version! (PhD study)
Fast-track version
1 Strategy/Policy Aim
3 Challenges
2 Organization/Business Recommendations
3 Pedagogy Recommendations
Fast-track version
We can produce more, faster and better MOOCs to address skill gaps in Europe by multi-partner
alliances in a (new) crowd-sourced virtual Marketplace for MOOCs (MOOCAgora) for the
development of Quality- and Qualification-focused MOOCs (qMOOCs) that feature
deep learning through Problem-Based Learning and 3d Virtual Immersive Environments
Inspiration
• 1st (GR) informal Big Open Online Course (BOOC)
• Blended (sync & async)
• 3d VIEs (Second Life)
• 2011-2013
• 220 participants
Policy Recommendation
“Address the e-skills shortage challenge amidst of record-high European youth unemployment through open education for flexible mass scale upskilling”
Digital Agenda Assembly 2012 (Jobs & Skills)
Three Challenges for Mass Open Education for Employment
1. Design and offer more MOOCs in more EU countries [more2 MOOCs]
2. Create new models to accelerate MOOC production to address e-skills needs, and finally [faster MOOCs]
3. Facilitate the design of different and/or better MOOCs especially focused for webskills [better MOOCs]
MOOCAgora 1/2
• Virtual platform where governments, industries, professional associations, educational institutions and certification providers meet to address skill gaps through open education
• Mechanism for offer and demand of MOOCs for employment (a.k.a. ‘MOOC Store’)
• Based on Open Innovation and online Communities of Practice (CoPs)
MOOCAgora 2/2
• Open Education Ideagora
• Crowd-founded ecosystem
• Multiple partners
• Open biding
• Demand- and Offer-driven
• Qualification-focused
• Accountability
8 Stages
1. Job Market Monitoring
2. Skills Shortage Identification
3. Set Qualification Aims (linked with stage 7)
4. Action Decision
5. qMOOC Design
6. qMOOC Provision
7. Qualifications Certification
8. Job Market Impact
Partner Roles
1. Coordinator
2. Instructional Designer
3. Technology Provider
4. Content Provider
5. Problems Provider
6. Certification Provider
qMOOCs
• New form of MOOCs
• q stands for Qualification and Quality
• Empirical construction of specific qualifications and skills, achieving visible and verifiable learning outcomes
• Flexible multi-partner MOOC development
• Graduates: employable qualified, manifold thinkers
1. Deep Learning
• Development of conditionalized knowledge and metacognition through Communities of Practice
• Manifold Thinking Skills (creative, critical, caring and reflective)
2. Problem-Based Learning (PBL/PFE)
i. Begins with a problem
ii. Presents the problem as a real-life situation
iii. Supports students ́manifold thinking and working in a group
iv. Encourages students to identify their own learning needs and take responsibility of their own learning processes
v. Encourages assessment and evaluation of the learning process and its learning outcomes
3. 3d VIEs & MOOCs
• Formal and informal learning experiences
• Identity and avatar psychology
• Enhanced, immediate synchronous e-learning interactions
• Experiential and social learning
• Virtual teamwork
• Formation of virtual learning communities
• Effective behavior-changing learning experiences
Synopsis
We can produce more, faster and better MOOCs to address skill gaps in Europe by multi-partner
alliances in a (new) crowd-sourced virtual Marketplace for MOOCs (MOOCAgora) for the
development of Quality- and Qualification-focused MOOCs (qMOOCs) that feature deep learning through Problem-Based Learning and
3d Virtual Immersive Environments
Education in the Digital Era
• High Level Conference Brussels, Dec. 11th 2014
• 3 Themes
– Increasing the Quality of Learning
– Increasing the Impact of Educators (!)
– Addressing Inequalities through Access
• Opportunity to accelerate Innovation!
• Join the preconference online dialog #EdDigEra in Social Media!