The Open Education Consortium (OEC) launched a pilot in 2014 to demonstrate the power of re-using openly licensed course content to develop Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) and revitalize and update existing OER/OCW in the process. Converting existing OCW into MOOCs offers OEC member institutions opportunities to gather information about how learners interact with the content and offers learners greater opportunities for interactivity with instructors, peers, and the content. Partnering with edX, OEC has offered member institutions the opportunity to develop MOOCs on a leading technology platform that provides different options for how learners engage in a course. Learners may choose to audit a course or sign-up for a verified certificate for a modest fee that can be used for academic or career enrichment.
Using their existing open courseware and open educational resources (OER), members have launched MOOCs that offer high-quality learning experiences with the option of a verified (fee-based) certificate available to learners throughout the world. Participating members in the pilot include the National Chiao Tung University, Tufts University, University Polytechnic of Madrid, Open University’s TESS India project, Anne Arundel Community College, and the University of Hokkaido. The courses that range from the technology of energy, biology of water and health, introduction to helicopters, corporate social responsibility, teacher education, introduction to business, and the effects of radiation.
Panelist from the MOOC development team at Open University, University Polytechnic of Madrid, and University of Hokkaido will share best practices for developing and running openly licensed MOOCs. Lesson learned about developing MOOCs with OER and strategies for enhancing student engagement and interactivity will be shared.
The Open Education Consortium is a worldwide community of hundreds of higher education institutions and associated organizations committed to advancing open education and its impact on global education. We seek to instill openness as a feature of education around the world, allowing greatly expanded access to education while providing a shared body of knowledge upon which innovative and effective approaches to today’s social problems can be built.
EdX, a not-for-profit enterprise founded by Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2012, was created for students and institutions that seek to transform themselves through cutting-edge technologies, innovative pedagogy, and rigorous courses. Through our institutional partners, the xConsortium, along with other leading global members, we present the best of higher education online, offering opportunity to anyone who wants to achieve, thrive, and grow.
