1. Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) as a
disruptive innovation in United States and
European higher education and Beyond:
Case Study:“The experience of unX: a community for
entrepreneurship and Lifelong Learning in Latinamerica”
Marta Cáceres-Piñuel
GO-GN Meeting
Cape Town (10-12-2013)

2. CONTEXT: Center for Higher Virtual Education (CSEV)
Private Foundation
Public goals.
Private funding.
Common effort.
Open innovation in eLearning.
Latin-American
scope
Avant-garde methodologies, technologies and contents for virtual
education.
Agile approach to innovative eLearning projects in collaboration with
universities, public institutions and enterprises.
ICTs in education and innovation to fight social exclusion.
Since 2012: Focus on MOOCs and Mobile Learning projects

3. CSEV PROJECTS: some indicators
MOOCs
certificates
More than
300,000
students enrolled
in more than 25
courses.
(Technical and
methodological
support)
More than 3,700
official
certificates in
MOOCs.(UNED Pilot)
unx
Almost 30,000
members in the
Latinmerican
Entrepreneurshi
p community and
lifelong
learning(7Moocs
) Red Emprendia
Mobile Learning
New dynamics
for advanced
mobile learning.
Educational
apps and
learning
activities100%
mobile.

4. CSEV tools for life-long learning: 2 examples of Communities
of Knowledge (MOOCs + Community)
Fostering LatinAmerican (and global)
entrepreneurship in the
Digital Economy
Fostering
Young, Innovative
and Mobile
Entrepreneurship

5. Questions in my day-to-day work:
How to explain MOOC revolution to our
stakeholders?: International Framework
Lack of empirical evidences of the results of the
MOOCs (Main changes for teachers/students)?
How to improve innovative e-learning
experiences using MOOCs?
Are MOOCs and communities of knowledge a
powerful tool for Lifelong Learning? Ensuring
equality and access to education for acquire
flexibly key competences needed in the
interconnected world especially for disadvantaged
groups needing particular support to fullfil their
educational potential.

6. PhD: GOAL
Main Goal:
• To Analize Massive Open On-Line Courses
(MOOCs) as disruptive innovation in higher
education and as a powerfull tool for Life Long
Learning.Overview about present and future of
fenomenum in Europe and United States
Case analysis:
• UNX project , from open education about
entrepreneurship for Latinamerica to Open
community of knowledge and Life Long Learning
6

7. PhD: Research Questions
Main Research Question:
•
Are Massive Open On-Line Courses (MOOCs) as disruptive innovation in
higher education and could they be used as a powerfull tool for Lifelong
Learning?
Sub-questions
•
•
•
•
•
What is the international framework of MOOCs?
Are there sustantive differences between United States MOOC
experiences and European MOOC experiences?
Are there any empirical evidence about the impact of MOOCs in new
ways of Teaching and Learning?
How to improve innovative e-learning experiences using MOOCs and
how to use them for Lifelong Learning?
Case study: Unx as an Open Community of entrepreneurship knowledge in
Latinamerca
7

8. PhD: Reseach Design and
Methodologycal Framework
Qualitative Methods:
•
Open Interviews to Open Education Strategies Responsibles in Europe
and United States (Overwiew of OE strategie/ Strenghts and Weakness of
MOOCs/evolution of MOOCs in the near future)
•
Focus Group /Semistructured Interviews to teachers envolved in
MOOCs (Sample: professor participants in CSEV MOOCs . Questions
about new pedagogical frameworks and new rol of professor/curator in
MOOCs)
Quantitative Methods
•
MOOCs Students Survey in Unx (Sociodemogragrafic profile, motivations,
expectations, achivements)
•
Learning Analytics in Unx (Big Data analysis: MOOCs learning Dinamics)
8

9. PhD: Literature Revision
•
Innovative disruption. New paradigms in science. (Thomas Khun)
•
Collaborative Learning. Theories of Cognition in Collaborative
Learning. Seminal theoretical works influential within collaborative-learning
research suggest a post-cognitive approach to group cognition as a
complement to analyzing cognition of individuals or of communities of
practice, For collaborative learning research, theory must take into account
interaction in online environments, knowledge building in small groups and
cognition at multiple units of analysis. (Stahl, Koschmann & Suthers 2006)
•
Computer-supported Collaborative Learning: it combines concerns with
computer technology, collaborative socialinteraction and learning or
education— with very diferent disciplines combined (Stahl 2009)
•
Communities of knowledge. Networking Analysis Theories (Requena
1989, Radcliffe Brown 1940, J.A, Barnes 1954)
9

10. PhD: Research Calendar
2013
Definición
PHD
y marco
definition
Teórico
&
Literature
revision
2014
Diseño
Research
Metodológico
Entrevista y
Phase 1:
encuesta
Interviews
OE Respo
Reseach
Phase 2
Survey
MOOC
students
2015
Research
Phase 3
Focus
Groups
teachers
Conclusion
s
PhD
(PHASE 1: Main Results and Preliminary Findings)
10

11. PHASE I : Interviews to Open Education Strategies
Responsibles
INTERVIEWEES LIST: OPEN EDUCATION STRATEGIES AND THE FUTURE OF MOOCS.
UNITED STATES
–
–
–
–
–
MIT-Media Lab
• Hal Abelson: Director MIT
• Eric Klopfer. Professor and Director Education Arcade, MIT- Media Lab
• Mitchell Resnick. Director of Lego Project
Edx-MITx
• Sanjay Sarma, Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Director of Digital Learning MIT (MITx – Edx)
• Piotr Mirtros. Edx developper
Edx-Harvardx
• Justin Reich (Researcher Harvardx).
-MIT.- OCW
• Steve Carson, MIT OCW Director of Communications and External Relations.
NEW MEDIA CORSORTIUM
• Larry Jonhson. Director Horizon Report
EUROPE
–
-
OUNL and OpenEdup.• Fred Mudler. Former Rector OUNL and Chair of UNESCO OERs
OUUK. Open Learn/Future Learn
• Michael Swann. Former Rector OUUK president of EADTU
European Comission. Opening up Education Strtategy
• Yves Punie. Main ICT and Education Researcher at IPTS.
P2PU
• Philipp Schmidt. Co-founder.P2PUniversity (Visiting Researcher at Media Lab)
UNED.UNED Abierta
11

12. OUTLINE: From Open Educational Resources (OERs) to
MOOCs and Beyod:The UnX case study
• Brief History of Open Education (OE): from
OERs to MOOCs
• MOOCs: An Overview in Europe and EEUU
• UNX project: Latin American Online
Community for Entrepreneurship and Life
Long Learning
• MOOCs and beyond? The future
– UNX next steps
12

13. Brief History of Open Education (OE)
: From Open Educational Resources (OERs) to MOOCs
1994-95:Free/Libre open source software: FLOSS, (Wiley, 1994)
2001.-MIT Open Course Ware. (OCW )
2002.UNESCO. I International OER Forum. Definition of ―Open Education (OE)
and Open Educational Resources (OER)‖
2005-2007.-OECD: International Forum about OE and OERs. Report ―Giving
education for Free. The Emergence of OER(2007)‖.
2008.- Cape Town Open Education Declaration (OSI y Fundación
Shuttleworth)
2008.- First MOOC Experience (Siemens and Downes .- Conectivist branch
cMOOC.)
13

14. 2011.-The year of Massive Open On-line Courses:
Disruptive Innovation in USA and Europe
What are MOOCs?
A massive open online course (MOOC) is a type of online course aimed at large-scale participation and open access via
the web. MOOCs are a recent development in the area of distance education, and a progression of open education ideals
suggested by open educational resources.
Common features:
•
Open access.
•
Scalability
•
cModel/xModel
Predominantely in US and
then expanded massively…
Some European Universities have joint
US initiatives but there are other
national inititives and international
European MOOC
Platform
10 countries
OU Nederland
Future Learn UK
(20 Universities)
Spain
14

15. Case Study: What is unX?
An On-line Community for Entrepreneurship in the Digital Economy
that promotes Open Education and Online Collaboration for entrepreneurs in
Spain, Portugal and Ibero America.
• unX is a learning and entrepreneurship platform for the Ibero-American
community in Spanish and Portuguese languages.
• Explicit focus on the needs of students, the under-employed and the
unemployed from our countries.
• unX is not just for already-existing entrepreneurs; it's rather a platform to
help people become more active and entrepreneurial regarding their
professional lives
15

16. unX Learning Pathway: Latin American Online
Community for Entrepreneurship and Long Life Learning
This experience will stimulate entrepreneurship activities, including formation of
start-up companies, and part of the activity will focus on mentoring aspiring
entrepreneurs and nurturing their efforts.
Phase 1 Learning
with on-line
MOOCs
Phase 2. Building up an
open community of
knowledge
Phase 3Getting
certifications and
credentials
Certification: Badges and
official certification in the
near future
Phase 5. Building up a
community of
Phase 4. Creating
enterpreneurs and
new
local partners
Entrepriseses
(face to face events)
.
Massive open
online courses
Towards
employment and
new Entreprises
Every member of the community will feel motivated to stay in it, contribute and create new
oportunities.
(Employment, Experience, Feedback, Crowd-Learning)
16

17. unX Objetive & Pedagogical Pillars
Objective
Raise awareness and enhance entrepreneurship skills in the digital economy
through an innovative education model. Online teeming-learning
(distributed/decentralized/peer-to-peer learning) for a more human education
with the support of technology.
Pedagogical pillars
• Education
is
a
mean
for
the
development
of
a
more
creative, entrepreneurial, participatory, fun and fair society for all.
• Our mission is to identify and develop tools and methodologies to facilitate this
process and taking into account the needs and opportunities of the people.
• Reach students wherever they are in terms of aspirations and local realities in
tune with the opportunities available to them.
• unX has been created to foster the participatory development of an
entrepreneurship community of practice. unX is an open e-learning
enviroment to foster learning and entrepreneurship in the community, with a
massive participation.
17

18. Methodology: MOOCs + an active and
engaging social community of practice
Challenges & Social Tools
• The methodology is based on practical case studies, designed by a tutor, named curator, and
•
•
•
moderated and dynamised by a facilitator, promoting the generation of knowledge in the Community. The
students have social tools in order to solve challenges (Fora, wikis, Peer to peer dynamics).
Promotes collective learning. Participants share knowledge through forums and social networks.
Learning is continuous and the knowledge community may remain after the course.
The learning challenges are the key point in the process of acquiring new knowledge.
Challenges provide a simple way to solve a complex problem through the videos and suggested
activities.
Assessment: Badge and Karma
• A badge is a valid accreditation in the digital environment attesting the accomplishment of a task, participation in a
•
competition or attendance to an online or offline event. It is a visual standard to show on the network that someone has
certain skills and competences.
The badges respond to the challenge of accreditation within the open educational process and are used to
recognise a person who has followed a reading, debate, working group, virtual event or has acquired certain skills in an
online learning environment.
 It is about overcoming challenges and achieving badges, visible symbols in the digital world that accredit
acquired competences and skills and define the professional profile.
 Students can reach reputation levels (karma), within the community of students based on their participation and
relevance in the areas of interaction between students (forum)
 Near Future: Official Certification and academic credits by universities.
18

19. unX is not only a MOOC platform but also a
Community of Knowledge for Entrepreneurship
in Latinamerica
What can entrepreneurs
find in UNX?
More info: http://www.redunx.org
19

28. Thank
you !!!
mcaceres@csev.org