Suchergebnisse

Since Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) became a global phenomenon in 2012, there has been constant evolution in the way Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) make sense of them. HEIs embracing MOOCs have dedicated a variety of human resource to this venture. Only in a minority of cases, staff have been appointed exclusively to this role. In all other cases, MOOC related tasks have been allocated to professionals who were already performing other educational tasks. This article contains a study that captures the experiences of these professionals in a Spanish university and a British university, as relates to their involvement in MOOCs. Interviews and group sessions were conducted to ascertain the influence of MOOCs in their practice, and in their opinions about the role of MOOCs in their institutions. The results seem to suggest that participants have positive attitudes towards incorporating MOOCs at the university, although they demand a serious bet for this educational approach from the strategic decision makers in the institutions. ; Desde que los Cursos Masivos Abiertos Online (conocidos por sus siglas en inglés, MOOC) se convirtieron en un fenómeno global en 2012, ha habido una evolución constante en la forma en que les dan sentido las Instituciones de Enseñanza Superior (IES). Las IES que optan por los MOOC han dedicado diversos recursos humanos a esta iniciativa. Sólo en un reducido número de casos se ha designado a personal exclusivamente para esta función. En el resto de casos, las tareas relacionadas con los MOOC se han asignado a profesionales que ya estaban realizando otras tareas educativas. Este artículo contiene un estudio que reúne las experiencias de estos profesionales en una universidad española y en otra británica, por lo que respecta a su participación en los MOOC. Se llevaron a cabo entrevistas y sesiones grupales para determinar la influencia que tenían los MOOC en su práctica profesional y en sus opiniones acerca del papel que desempeñan los MOOC en sus instituciones. Los resultados parecen sugerir que los participantes tienen actitudes positivas hacia los MOOC en la universidad, si bien exigen una apuesta seria por este planteamiento educativo por parte de quienes adoptan las decisiones estratégicas en las instituciones. ; Work partially funded by the Madrid Regional Government from grant no. S2013/ICE-2715, the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness project Flexor (TIN2014-52129-R). This research work was made possible thanks to Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Spain and the University of Southampton, U.K.

Since Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) became a global phenomenon in 2012, there has been constant evolution in the way Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) make sense of them. HEIs embracing MOOCs have dedicated a variety of human resource to this venture. Only in a minority of cases, staff have been appointed exclusively to this role. In all other cases, MOOC related tasks have been allocated to professionals who were already performing other educational tasks. This article contains a study that captures the experiences of these professionals in a Spanish university and a British university, as relates to their involvement in MOOCs. Interviews and group sessions were conducted to ascertain the influence of MOOCs in their practice, and in their opinions about the role of MOOCs in their institutions. The results seem to suggest that participants have positive attitudes towards incorporating MOOCs at the university, although they demand a serious bet for this educational approach from the strategic decision makers in the institutions. ; Work partially funded by the Madrid Regional Government from grant no. S2013/ICE-2715, the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness project Flexor (TIN2014-52129-R)

Since 2012, the vision of MOOCs in universities has been evolving rapidly. Universities that have decided to place a serious bet for including this kind of courses in their portfolio have involved a diverse set of staff roles within the institution. In most cases, with the exception of fully dedicated staff members hired for the sole purpose of MOOC development, MOOC related tasks are assigned to staff that already performs other roles in the institution. This is the case, among others, for lecturers, learning designers, multimedia producers, and PhD students who have dedicated part of their professional time to this new form of online education delivery. This study aims to capture the reflection of such professionals in two European universities, around their involvement in MOOC production and implementation. A series of interviews, both individual and in group, have been conducted to determine how MOOCs have influenced their practice, and what their vision is with regards of the role of MOOCs within their institutions. A preliminary analysis of the results suggests that those engaged in the production of MOOCs see these courses as beneficial to the institution, and more support and incentives to this end would be desirable ; Work partially funded by the Madrid Regional Government with grant No. S2013/ICE- 2715, the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness project Flexor (TIN2014- 52129-R). Special thanks are due to the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid and the University of Southampton for their support in this cross-institutional collaboration, and to their staff for their participation in this study