Monday 29 February 2016

eMOOCs2016 proceedings and a call of papers #CfP #MOOC

The eMOOCs2016 conference in Graz, Austria just finished. Looking at the research and MOOC experiences that were shared, it is clear that MOOCs are beginning to be understood more in-depth. The organizers turned everything into a wonderful experience (feedback from some colleagues, I could not make it this year due to a number of unfortunate reasons).

The conference proceedings (which can be downloaded here) are a wonderful, inspiring read for anyone with an interest in MOOCs, either as a researcher or as a practitioner. Just adding a few examples of what you can find in the papers:


  • Learning in MOOCs: A Comparison Study by Colin Milligan, Allison Littlejohn & Nina Hood 
  • Exploring learning objectives at scale through concept mapping of MOOC learner discussions by Silvia Elena Gallagher & Timothy Savage 
  • A Conceptual Business Model for MOOCs Sustainability in Higher Education by Nor Fadzleen Sa Don, Rose Alinda Alias & Naoki Ohshima
  • eMOOCs for Personalised Online Learning: A Diversity Perspective by Tanja Jadin & Martina Gaisch 
  • Driving Learner Engagement and Completion within MOOCs: A Case for Structured Learning Support by Syed Munib Hadi & Rebecca Rawson
  • How to integrate and automatically issue Open Badges in MOOC platforms by Mario Wüster & Martin Ebner “Clinical Supervision with Confidence”: 
  • Exploring the potential of MOOCs for faculty development by Veena Rodrigues & Sam Leinster 
  • Bringing together MOOCs and e-books: theoretical considerations and a concrete educational scenario by Michael Raunig & Elke Lackner 
  • Distributed teaching: Engaging learners in MOOCs by Ann-Kathrin Watolla 
  • Interactive activities: the key to learning programming with MOOCs by Carlos Alario-Hoyos, Carlos Delgado Kloos, Iria Estévez-Ayres, Carmen Fernández-Panadero, Jorge Blasco, Sergio Pastrana, Guillero Suárez-Tangil & Julio Villena-Román
  • MOOCS as an Opportunity to Foster International Collaboration between Universities: MOOCs for Teachers by Paola Corti, Manuela Milani & Susanna Sancassani

In addition to the conference proceedings, there is also a call for papers for a special issue focus on Open Education (for the journal of computing in higher education) from the eMOOCs2016. The full call can be found here. A brief description is added below:

Special issue focus Open Education is currently at the crossroads of becoming either an integral part of the higher education landscape or a sellout for venture-capital driven companies who use openness as a means to increase their customer base. At the same time research on open education is developing into two different directions, namely open educational resources (OER) and open educational practices (OEP). For both directions, an underlying vision is formulated to increase accessibility to (higher) education on a global scale. While OER research has focused for a long time on production and publication of learning resources under open licenses, little attention has been given to actual research about adaptation and embedding of OER in new contexts including psycho-social factors influencing OER reuse. For MOOCs and open courses, the most prominent research challenges are related to scalability of feedback and support, educational design of open courses, and also on the integration of new technologies into open learning environments. These challenges also lead to many unresolved questions about interfaces between formal and informal learning, certification and recognition, and also the wider societal responsibilities for higher education. This special issue titled “Advancing Research on Open Education” will focus on empirical research dealing with the advancement of the field of open education for postsecondary and adult learners.