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ECO MOOC

Social Learning Environments for MOOC Learning

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On the 15th of June, representatives of the ECO project organised a workshop on social learning at one of the most relevant MOOC conferences in Europe, the EDEN Conference in Budapest:

ECO to host workshop at EDEN

ECO hosting a workshop at EDEN on Social Learning

The ECO-workshop was entitled “Social environments for Learning: Using commercial networks versus internal platform functionalities in the ECO project.”

and was prepared and conducted by:

  • Convenors: Divina Frau Meigs, Adeline Bossu, Sorbonne Nouvelle
  • Moderator: Sünne Eicher, SE, ECO Project

Social Learning as an accelerator
MOOCs are an essential part of open education and highly effective tool for social inclusion. The very nature of the massive, open learning modules such as proposed by ECO and other MOOC providers creates a socially inclusive platform. In addition, the ECO MOOC designers created modules that derive their learning models based on peer reviews and learning by sharing knowledge. In this workshop, social learning within the ECO Project is being used actively in the global MOOC Step by Step, which teaches the participants and future eTeachers how to create their own MOOC module. Knowledge sharing between is an essential part of the social learning premise of this MOOC.

ECO Workshop Content at EDEN MOOC Conference

In this workshop ECO discussed the controversial use of commercial social networks within learning environments, where privacy and traceability, are an issue in proposing this format.

Understanding the dynamics of such participatory tools is crucial to social MOOCs. They are a vital part of the 34 ECO MOOCs.

Participants were invited to share, compare, and comment on their own practices and ideas. Questions that were asked the workshop participants:

  • How to keep the potential of social networks while building learning and educational competences?
  • What is the right balance between commercial and non-commercial uses in sMOOC pedagogical design?
  • Are social networks valid tools that contribute to constructivist forms of knowledge?
  • What new learning strategies can emerge from such network effects?…

The presented went on to comment on the democratic foundings of the ECO MOOC design and the importance of ubiquitous and social learning in this context.

The workshop was very well received and attended.

Best poster on LAK16 conference in Edinburgh

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During the 6th International Conference Learning Analytics & Knowledge in Edinburgh (LAK16) researchers of the Welten Institute won the award for the best poster. Maren Scheffel was awarded the price for her poster on The Dutch xAPI Experience that was partly based on ECO’s learning analytics model developed in WP2 and implemented in WP3.

The online version of the poster is available here.

LAK16

Image taken from LAK16 website

Author: Francis Brouns (Open Universiteit)

ECO attends Policy Forum on European MOOCs

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Tomorrow, 28th of June, our partner Universidad de Oviedo, represented by Santiago Fano, is taking part in the Policy Forum on European MOOCs, organized by EADTU and HOME (Brussels, Dutch House of Provinces). As stated on the project’s website: “The forum will contribute to better position decision makers to understand the “MOOC phenomenon” and capitalise on the advantages of these large-scale courses and use them as a strategic opportunity to help meet local needs and develop related capacities.”

Santi Fano will take part in the panel “Shared MOOC services: regional, European or global level?” along with other project’s representatives, such as the French MOOC service provider, FUN. His policy paper “MOOC Development Policies: The ECO Project in the European and Spanish Context” is available (p. 78) at the full publication “European Policy Response on MOOC opportunities“.

310518_Events_website_ECO-policy forum

Image taken from http://home.eadtu.eu/news/109-policy-forum-on-european-moocs