Press release

16 New, online, all-access free courses and 1 do-it-yourself course on designing a digital programme for a large amount of participants including the use of social media for peer review.

These brand new online courses are for you, the teacher and they will help you understand the potential of new technologies for your classroom. 17 Massive Online courses called MOOCs were launched as pilot earlier in 2014 covering various topics and in 6 different languages. But all from the same springboard: the ECO Learning MOOC platform, a pan-European registration point for course participants and those who may want to become digital teachers. The project´s central message Learn. Teach. anywhere, everywhere refers not only to the freely accessible nature of these massive online courses, but also in the social inclusive concept behind the methodology. From April 20^th onwards the second round of the tried, tested and improved MOOCs commences. Each MOOC round last for 8 weeks, guided by a teacher or group of teachers. If you want to discover what distance learning, digital learning and in addition how to design your own digital course, becoming a member of the ECO platform is an excellent way of discovering what a new era of digital learning and teaching has to offer.

The ECO Project Consortium is constituted by 22 universities and companies from Europe and Latin America* and funded by the European Commission.

All MOOCs can be accessed via https://portal.eco-learning.eu, where new users will be prompted to create a login (+3 minutes):

In English:
1.       Videos for teaching, learning and communication

In German:
2.       E-Learning-Projektmanagement an Schulen (E-learning and project management at schools)

In Portugese:
3.       Introdução aos Sistemas de Informação Geográfica (Introduction to basic Geographic Information systems GIS)
4.       Competências digitais para professors ((Digital competences for teachers)
5.       Necessidades Educativas Especiais. Como ensinar, como aprender (Special education needs. How to teach, how to learn).

In Italian:
6.       Introduzione alla matematica per l’università: Pre-Calculus (Preparation course mathematics for university: Pre-Calculus)
7.       M’appare il mondo: dalle carte alla Terra digitale partecipata (Geomatics course)

In Spanish
8.       Sexualidad Amigable y Responsable (Friendly and non-abrasive sexuality)
9.       Flipped Classroom
10.     Comunicación y aprendizaje móvil  (Mobile communication and learning)
11.     Alfabetización Digital para Personas en Riesgo de Exclusión: Estrategias para la Intervención Socioeducativa (Digital literacy for people with high risk of social exclusion. Strategies for digital socioeconomic intervention).
12.   Recursos Educativos Abiertos. Aplicaciones pedagógicas y comunicativas (Open educational resources: pedagogical and communicative applications).
13.   Competencias creativas para el profesorado (Creativity MOOC Camp) (Creative teacher competencies)
14.   Artes y tecnologías para educar (Arts and technologies for education)

In  French:
15.   DIY Education aux médias et à l’information – (DIY Media and information Education)
16.   MPSW : « Ma pédagogie à la sauce web 2.0 » (My pedagogy web 2.0-style)

E il MOOC trasversale per progettare il tuo MOOC in tutte le lingue precedenti:
17. Social sMOOC step-by-step

*European Association of Distance Teaching Universities, FEDRAVE – Fundação para o Estudo e Desenvolvimento da Região de Aveiro, Geographica, Humance, Open Universiteit Nederland, Politecnico Di Milano, Reimer IT, Riverthia, Sünne Eichler Beratung Für Bildungsmanagement, Tabarca Consulting, Telefónica Learning Services, Universidad de Cantabria, Universidad de Oviedo, Universidad de Quilmes, Universidad de Valladolid, Universidad de Zaragoza, Universidad Loyola Andalucía, Universidad Manuela Beltrán, Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia, Universidade Aberta, Université Sorbonne Nouvelle and University of Manchester.

Lisbon, 2nd of July 2014 – After 2 intense days where the ECO MOOC pedagogical model and technological features plus courses outline were presented the overall conclusion is that the ECO platform will offer a set of unique approaches to MOOCs. Both the several innovative developments on the pedagogical methodology as well as the different Massive Open learning modules ´MOOCs´ features were presented and discussed. Moreover all partners joined in to comment on the work ahead as well as that very important launch date in November for the first pilots to be presented to the teachers.

The meetings took place on the 30^th of JUNE and 1^st of July, hosted by the Portuguese open university (Universidade Aberta – UAb) at the Museu das Comunicações (communications museum) in Lisbon. All work package leaders presented their work so far and what they are planning to work on for the coming months.

Sandra Caeiro, Prof. Auxiliar at Universidade Aberta comments: “It was very stimulating to meet all partners face-to-face. In between these consortium meetings we have a communication platform at our disposal where we organise forums and meetings. Nevertheless it is very good to touch base with collaboration partners and align once again our efforts.”

Caeiro comments that during the meetings it became ever so much clearer how diverse and interesting the contents of the different MOOCs wills be. “We were pleasantly surprised. We knew of course from the beginning of the project in February what the content of the MOOCs would be. But to hear in the partners presenting what they plan to launch is quite impressive.”

Variety of course subjects
The content of the MOOCs varies from e-learning methodology, computing and digital skills to creative skills and the classical foundation of our education system such as mathematics. These MOOCs are all content orientated , whereas a Common Course will be developed in which teachers will be offered a training in the basics of MOOC design.

Launch pilots in November
A total of 16 MOOCs will be developed by 12 Universities, not only from Europe but also from North and South America such as Quilmes University an Manuel Beltrán University. The MOOCS serve as examples and best practices for the targeted 4.000 selected teachers. They will be invited to actively participate on the ECO platform and create their own MOOC.

The coming months all consortium partners will input their efforts in finishing the ECO MOOCs and kicking off the promotion campaign to reach out to teachers via the press and relevant associations before meeting again in January 2015 in Manchester.

Press contact details
Marije Nieuwenhuis
communication@eco-learning.eu
Communication officer ECO learning
www.eco-learning.eu

About the ECO consortium
22 partners from 9 different countries work together to create a pan European platform for ubiquitous learning. The overall objective is to improve the quality and cost-efficiency of teaching an learning in Europe. Moreover the term ubiquitous learning in this project has an ideological intent as ECO aims to create an eco system where courses are freely accessible for teachers and students from different levels, backgrounds, age and ability alike. The creators of the platform are focused on creating a digital tool for a target group of 50000 teachers that will expand beyond the horizon of the classroom. The first practical goal is to create an online e-learning course for 4.000 registered teachers. Promotion of the platform and the recruiting of these teachers will commence in the 2 months prior to the launch of the first MOOCs created by the partner. The pilot MOOCs will serve as example for teachers as well as new students.

Consortium partners are:

1. Editrain S.L.
2. Fundação para o Estudo e Desenvolvimento da Região de Aveiro (FEDRAVE)
3. Fundación Universidad Loyola Andalucia
4. Humance AG
5. Vicente Montiel Molina
6. Open Universiteit Nederland
7. Politecnico di Milano
8. Prisma Vist Digital SL
9. Reimer IT Solutions B.V.
10. Sunne Hanna Eichler
11. Telefonica Elearning Services TLS
12. University of Manchester
13. Universidad de Cantabria
14. Universidad de Oviedo
15. Universidad de Valladolid
16. Universidad de Zaragoza
17. Universidad Manuela Beltrán Fundación
18. Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia, UNED
19. Universidad Nacional De Quilmes
20. Universidade Aberta
21. Universidad Paris III Sorbonne Nouvelle
22.  Vereniging van European Distance Teaching Universities