This document discusses how open online education through MOOCs can be made more inclusive and accessible. It notes that MOOCs currently favor those with strong study skills, digital literacy, a university background, and who speak English as their native language. The document proposes several ways to scaffold openness, such as opening course platforms to regional adaptations, providing translation tools, and creating local study groups and special interest communities to support learners. Building skills in areas like network literacy, collaboration, and creating inclusive digital spaces can also help more learners benefit from open education opportunities.

1. Open and closed
Can closed facilitate openness?
Alastair Creelman
Linnaeus University, Sweden
alastair.creelman@lnu.se
@alacre
EADL 2017 conference, Copenhagen

2. Where I started
Map: Public Domain http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:2008_Europe_Political_Map_EN.jpg on Wikimedia Commons
Where I am now
I also work for …

3. CC BY-NC-ND Some rights reserved by Cat Burton on Flickr
The promise of open

4. CC BY Some rights reserved by Tim Green aka atoach
Those who most need
open education don’t
know it exists

5. Open education:
crowded, intimidating,
confusing
CC BY Some rights reserved by Alessandro Vasaturo

6. CC BY Some rights reserved by Marc_Smith
Too much freedom?

7. CC BY-NC-ND Some rights reserved by inheritancemag
MOOC barriers
MOOCs favour those with
• Study skills
• Digital literacy
• English as native language
• University degree/academic
background
• Good internet access
• Good income
Read:
Socioeconomic Status and MOOC Enrollment: Enriching Demographic
Information with External Datasets.
John Hansen & Justin Reich (Harvard university)

8. Building network literacy
CC0 Public domain on Pixabay

9. Collaborative literacy
CC0 Public domain on Pexels

10. Inclusive digital spaces
CC0 Public domain on Pixabay

11. Linguistic diversity
CC BY-SA Some rights reserved by quinn.anya

12. Safe bubbles in a sea of
openness
CC BY-NC-SA Some rights reserved by Jez Page

13. Building communities
CC BY Some rights reserved by wildxplorer
Empathy Security Peer support Privacy

14. MOOC ecosystems
Special interest groupsEnglish language
support
Translation
Local study
groups
For-credit spin-offs
CC BY-NC Some rights reserved by Nick Hobgood
Study skills
Webinars

15. Opening up MOOCs
• Open course platforms to
enable regional adaptations
• Tools to allow smaller
languages to exploit MOOC
movement
• Commonwealth of learning
MOOC4D
• MOOC clubs
MOOC meetups
CC BY-NC-ND Some rights reserved by ReSurge International

16. Translation – a community approach
• Google Translator Toolkit
• TED Open translation
project
• Khan Academy translation
• Coursera translator
community
• Open EdX
• Amara subtitle editor
CC BY-NC Some rights reserved by nofrills

17. Scaffolding
openness …
CC BY Some rights reserved by Official U.S. Navy Imagery

18. Read more
• Making MOOCs meaningful and locally relevant? Investigating
IDCourserians—an independent, collaborative, community hub in
Indonesia.
Manda Firmansyah and Sue Timmis (2015)
• Exploring linguistic diversity of MOOCS: Implications for international
development.
Carloine Stratton, Rob Grace (2016)
• The Advancing MOOCs for Development Initiative: An examination of
MOOC usage for professional workforce development outcomes in
Colombia, the Philippines, & South Africa.
Garrido et al (2016)
• Using MOOCs at Learning Centers in Northern Sweden.
Anders Norberg, Åsa Händel, Per Ödling (2015)
• The secret life of face-to-face learning in MOOCs (part 1 and part 2).
Gabi Witthaus (2016)

19. My digital footprints ...
Blogs
• Corridor of Uncertainty (Eng)
• Flexspan (Swe)
Twitter
http://twitter.com/alacre
Scoopit
http://www.scoop.it/t/corridor-of-
learning
Bookmarks
http://www.diigo.com/user/alacre
CC0 Public domain on Pexels

20. Questions?
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