Towards Becoming a MOOC Designer

Goal and Learning Objectives

This training intended to help the participant teachers acquire theoretical and practical knowledge and skill to design and develop a MOOC or a MOOC-based course for formal learning and test its effectiveness, efficiency, and attractiveness. At the end of the training the participants will be able to;

1. Develop a deep understanding about online learning and teaching,
   
2. Discuss the potentials and challenges of integrate technology based and enhanced learning and assessment into their formal learning
   
3. Design a MOOC or MOOC based formal learning course
   
4. Produce course content and resources for the MOOC they designed 
   
5. Develop an implementation strategy for the MOOC they designed and developed
   
6. Generate plans about integrating MOOC-based micro-credentials into their services
   
7. Share their experiences in design, development and implementation of MOOCs into their formal curricula.

Instructional Strategy and Content  

This training employs a blended learning strategy which means some of the activities are to be completed online asynchronously, some online synchronously and some others face-to-face.

The training is based on extensive use of an open education resources (OERs). Namely, it is designed as an OER-based course. There are two major OERs in the form of MOOCs to be used during the training. These OERs will used as asynchronous activities. In other words, the training required you to take and complete all the activities in;

(1) a MOOC delivered via Iversity, and

(2) a module of another open online course on the prowide.anadolu.edu.tr site.

 The MOOC, entitled as MOOC Design and Delivery, is an artifact of an Erasmus+ project (2019-1-DE01-KA203-005051), “Curricular modernization by implementing MOOCs model (MODE IT)”. It is a completely free (no fee or cost required) course consists of 5 modules targeting a number competencies enables to design and delivery of MOOCs or integrating MOOCs into formal curricula. Participant have to register the Iversity (https://iversity.org) platform and then enroll the course.   

An online open course, entitled as Online Proctoring Manager - Self Paced Course, was created as a part of another Erasmus+ project (2020-1-DE01-KA226-HE-005765) “Online Proctoring Manager – Further education program for supporting digital transformation at Higher Education Institutions (PROWIDE)”. The training consists of 9 Modules, but the participants are required to complete the first module, Introduction to Technology Based/Enhanced Teaching and Assessment.

The training overall takes ten weeks:

The participants must complete all the asynchronous activities and attend the scheduled synchronous sessions with the local facilitators. These synchronous session schedules will be identified by the institutional participants and the local facilitators in each institution. These meeting will be held in the participants’ preferred languages and will take maximum 60 minutes each week. The main purpose of these synchronous meetings is to monitor the learning process in the MOOCs, discuss some of the major messages in the modules, provide administrative and technical support to the participants, and collect the participants feedback about the course content, flow and materials.  

The training leader (Anadolu University representative) will meet with the facilitators in the third and sixth weeks synchronously to discuss the progress. The leader will also provide asynchronous support to the local facilitators during the training. 

The orientation (launch) and the final (presentations and wrap-up) synchronous meetings will be held with the participation of all the participants, local facilitators and the project partners. 

The face-to-face session will be held in Anadolu University, Eskisehir, Turkiye between 10-12 January 2024. During the three days long event, the leader will go over and summarize the main messages in the previous modules, give a lecture on integrating MOOCs or MOOC-based pedagogies into formal curricula, and lead a discussion about how to use MOOCs as micro-credentials. Additionally, the participants will have chance to share their experiences with the training and share their project ideas to be designed and developed during the next modules of the training.   

During the 8^th and 9^th modules, the participants will be required to complete their project.

Project: The project consists of design and development of a MOOC or a MOOC-based course for formal learning on any topic the participants choose. The participants from each institution must work as a team or teams to design and develop at least one MOOC. Each team should have 3-5 members. So, some institutions should have more than one team. The MOOCs must be short courses. So that you can complete the design and development in the given time frame (2 weeks). The courses will be hosted in each institutions’ local learning management system, if there is any, or in the local servers. However, some other alternatives may be created during the process. 

After completing the design and development of the MOOCs, each institution will present their MOOC to all the project partners and collect feedback for improvement. 

• As a summary, the participants of the training are expected to;
  
• Complete all the modules in the “MOOC Design and Delivery” course on Iversity during envisioned weeks
  
• Compete the first module of the course “Online Proctoring Manager” on the prowide web site during the third week of the training
  
• Participate the weekly synchronous sessions with the local facilitators to discuss the content of the modules and to provide feedback about the course
  
• Work as a team or teams in each institution to design and develop a short MOOC during the first half of January 2024
  
• Participate the face-to-face meeting that will be held in Eskisehir, Turkiye during 10-12 January 2024
  
• Present their final MOOC design project during the closing session of the training

Assessment

The participant teachers are required to complete all the asynchronous activities including quizzes and model tests as well as attend all synchronous sessions with the local facilitators. Log data and the facilitators’ report will be used to identify the completion levels. 

The participants also must complete the “Evaluation Form” at the end of the training. 

Those who complete all the requirements will receive a “certificate of completion” signed by the coordinator of the project leader institution (FHM) and the Anadolu University.