(1) The document discusses findings from the BizMOOC research project on the awareness, perceptions and use of MOOCs among businesses in Europe. It finds that while familiarity with MOOCs is still low, businesses see benefits for training and recruitment. There is interest in collaborating with universities but also unresolved issues around costs, quality and data security. (2) Key benefits identified are saving costs on training, networking opportunities, and keeping employees' skills up to date. However, businesses also have questions around legal limitations, confidentiality, and measuring learning. (3) The document recommends targeted awareness raising on MOOCs, addressing quality assurance, and collaborative approaches between businesses, universities and other

2. The MOOC Potential to
address European
Challenges in CPD and
Continuous Education
The Online, Open and Flexible Higher Eduation
Conference 2017, EADTU, Milton Keynes, 2017
25-27 October 2017
Beck Pitt, The Open University (UK)
Christian Friedl, FH Joanneum, Graz, Austria
Darco Jansen EADTU, Maastricht, Netherlands
Oana Driha. University of Alicante, Alicante, Spain

3. What is
BizMOOC?
Open University (UK), University de Alicante (ES), Burgas Free
University (BG), University of Economics Krakow (PL), AVL List
GmbH (AT), Hasso-Plattner-Institute (DE), DIDA srl (IT), Košice IT
Valley (SK), The National Unions of Students in Europe (BE), EADTU
(European Association)
ByMadman2001(talk·contribs)(Ownwork,basedonImage:BlankMap-Europe-v5.png)[GFDL
(http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html),CC-BY-SA-3.0(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/)orCCBY-SA2.5-2.0-
1.0(https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5-2.0-1.0)],viaWikimediaCommons

4. The Aims of BizMOOC
• Raise awareness of MOOC and their
potential in Universities, businesses
and society across Europe;
• Provide tools and resources to
empower the use of MOOC for CPD,
increase employability and develop
entrepreneurship.
RandomnetworkbyscreenpunkislicensedCCBY-NC2.0andisavailableviahttps://www.flickr.com/photos/screenpunk/6871382961/

5. OPENLY LICENSED, COMMUNITY
RESOURCE DEDICATED TO MOOC FOR
BUSINESS, WORKFORCE AND
UNIVERSITIES
WWW.MOOC-BOOK.EU
THE MOOC BOOK
BIZMOOC CORE RESULT

6. Can MOOCs be used as a recruitment tool?
Are MOOCs really free for my
employees? What are potential
additional costs?
What topics are offered? Where can I find
MOOCs for certain topics?
How do I measure the quality of the MOOC on offer?
…and what about data security?
Will I get a better job? Do companies know about MOOCs?

7. 1. Learning with MOOC for Professional Development
2. How to generate innovative ideas and how to make them
work
3. Intrapreneurship: Make your Business Great Again
Pilot MOOCs
http://bizmooc.eu/pilot-
moocs/

8. MOOC: The
Business
Perspective
Business by Christophe Benoit is licensed CC BY 2.0 and is availablevia
https://www.flickr.com/photos/christophebenoit/21666276190 /College of DuPage Celebrates 50th
Commencement2017 12 by COD newsroom is licensed CC BY 2.0 and available via
https://www.flickr.com/photos/codnewsroom/34822121715/

9. Collaboration between HEI’s and business
re: CPD/training currently limited
Potential role of MOOC in training
perceived as not necessarily suitable for
all contexts
Employees or potential employees who
undertake study via MOOC perceived by
as indicative of “motivation and desire for
continued learning than about
demonstrating specific knowledge”
(Radford et al, 2014)
MOOC currently utilised by certain groups
of learners
What we know so far…
Research Now! by Beck Pitt is licensed CC BY
https://www.flickr.com/photos/40959105@N00/28738266343/in/dateposted-public/

10. 1. Awareness and perception of
MOOCs
2. Involvement in online and
MOOC activities
3. Expectations, reasons, benefits
and barriers to engaging with or
creating MOOCs
4. Opportunities and interest for
collaboration with other
institutions
BizMOOC Research Focus
Moocopoly by Alan Devine is licensed CC BY 2.0 and is available via
https://www.flickr.com/photos/cogdog/14097867845/

11. (1) Awareness and Perceptions of MOOCs

12. “MOOCs are courses designed for large numbers of participants, that can be accessed by
anyone anywhere as long as they have an internet connection; they are open to everyone
without entry qualifications, and offer a full/complete course experience online for free”.
(Jansen & Schuwer 2015)
(1) Awareness and Perceptions of MOOCs

13. (2) Involvement in online and MOOC activities

14. Become a way of training employees on very specific and concrete topics
Facilitate rapid and efficient lifelong learning
Complement employee existing experiencee
Support personal educational interests
Promote interaction through online forums etc.
Educate new employees
Contribute to the continued modernisation of education
Promote corporative involvement in offering/producing MOOCs
Adapt higher education course material and training to the workplace at low cost
(3a) Expectations of online learning/training courses

15. (3b) Benefits regarding MOOC
Boost employee productivity and profits
Improves employee retention rates
Addresses real world challenges to improve on-the-job performance
Organisations can identify motivated employees
Enlarge skill sets
Increase the confidence of employees
Support team spirit and cooperation
Promote intercultural competences
Ensure that employees are up-to-date with skills and professional knowledge
Free training
Possibility of enlarging employee and employers networks
Introductory training MOOCs can cover the basics or part of the introduction/new employee
processes (onboarding)
A variety of levels of training can be integrated into employee development plans
MOOCs provide flexibility in time and in knowledge to acquire

16. (3c) Current Use of MOOC

17. (3d) Reasons (not) to be involved in MOOCs

18. “From the company’s point
of view, MOOCs cannot be
accessible for all as soon as
company specific
knowledge is transferred…”
(Business based in Western Europe)
“As an employer,
unfortunately, there is still
little verification possible if an
employee is really studying
and if the learning is effective
enough for the individual”
(Business based in Western Europe)
“In our organization MOOC looks
particularly useful in supporting
communities (e.g., developers, project
managers or cloud dev ops), where there
is a need to increase skill, to learn while
depending on personal interactions
among the participants.”
(Business based in Eastern Europe)

19. (4) Opportunities and interest in collaboration with othe
institutions
Branding
Attracting the best future employees
Enriching knowledge in specific areas and updating existing knowledge
Sharing knowledge on specific areas
Marketing
Capacity to contribute to MOOC content
Improved strategic positioning of the organisation in the market
Networking
Bringing theoretical and practical knowledge together
Training on basic and general knowledge
Stimulate good use of ICT
Taking advantage of the existing networks with HEIs and reinforce these through
collaboration

20. “We have good relations with
different universities in xxxx. I
visit them to recruit new
interns. I can imagine using
them [MOOC] to make our
company attractive to future
interns and employees. We
can also help universities
deliver something [based on]
practice. We can also reuse
content which saves time.”
(Business based in Eastern Europe)
“Our organisation has no resources
to develop MOOCs but we could
provide information for the
development of MOOCs connected
with standards and standardization
processes and procedures. It would
be helpful for the organisations and
for the individuals as well.”
(Business based in Eastern Europe)
“We might be interested, but it is [a]
top management decision”
(Business based in Eastern Europe)

21. Some key findings… (comprehensive reports
and findings available on mooc-book.eu)
The level of familiarity of EU companies with the MOOC concept is still rather low.
The main benefits of MOOCs are in relation to their application within Human
Resource Development (incl. on-boarding) and as a customer training, marketing
and recruitment tool.
High expectations in the fields of saving costs, better networking opportunities,
modernization of education, providing up-to-date knowledge, learning new
competencies & offering high quality in a flexible way
Huge interest in using MOOCs as complement to existing resources and materials
/ as a complementary education tool
Many unsolved questions with regards to legal limitations, unawareness, lack of
experience, confidentiality issues etc.

22. Opportunity for targeted awareness raising regarding MOOC
Foreground detail on quality processes and alignment with
professional standards
Recognise that businesses and HEIs bring different strengths and
possibilities with regard to CPD provision and collaboration
Building trust, addressing perceptions of “graduate employability”
etc. become possible through collaboration
To broaden access to MOOC a collaborative, strategic approach
involving a wide range of stakeholders beyond HEIs and business
is needed
Recommendations

23. Thank you for listening!
www.bizmooc.eu
www.mooc-book.eu
facebook.com/Bizmooc
@Bizmoocbook
The European Commission support for the production of this publication does not constitute an endorsement of the
contents which reflects the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which
may be made of the information contained therein.