Presentation for OEW 2017

1. MOOC initiatives in Romania
Carmen Holotescu
„Ioan Slavici” University of Timisoara, Romania
Workshop "Open Education from theory to practice. OERs and MOOCs experiences“
March 31, 2017 - Timisoara Romania

2. Contents
1. Open Education
2. OERs and MOOCs
3. Romanian MOOC Initiatives
4. Drivers and Barriers
5. Conclusions and Invitation

3. Open Education Definition
Core and Transversal Dimensions
Open education is a mode of realising
education, enabled by digital technologies
aiming to widen access and participation to
everyone.
It offers multiple ways of teaching and learning,
building and sharing knowledge, as well as a
variety of access routes to formal and non-
formal education, bridging them.
Open education means access to content,
courses, support, assessment and certification
in ways that are flexible, and accommodate
diverse needs. Barriers, as regards for example
entry or cost, are reduced or eliminated.
Source: OpenEdu JRC IPTS Report “Opening up
Education: a support framework for HE
institutions”, 2016
ec.europa.eu/jrc/en/open-education

4. „ICT tools, Open Educational
Resources (OERs), and open
educational practices (OEPs)
allow for an increase in the
effectiveness of education,
allowing for more personalised
learning, a better learning
experience.
Ultimately, opening up
education may lead to a
situation where all individuals
may learn anytime, anywhere,
with the support of anyone,
using any device.”
Open Education Europa
Opening up education through new technologies Initiative
openeducationeuropa.eu
ec.europa.eu/education/policy/strategic-framework/education-
technology_en.htm (Sept 2013)

5. OER Definition
[…] „the open provision of
educational resources,
enabled by information and
communication
technologies, for
consultation, use and
adaptation by a community
of users for non-commercial
purposes.”
unesco.org/new/en/communication-and-information/access-to-knowledge/open-educational-resources
UNESCO (2002)

6. unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0021/002136/213605e.pdf
What are OERs? Open Educational Resources
„are any type of educational
materials that are in the public
domain or introduced with an open
license.
The nature of these open materials
means that anyone can legally and
freely copy, use, adapt and re-share
them. OERs range from textbooks to
curricula, syllabi, lecture notes,
assignments, tests, projects, audio,
video
and animation.”
Big and Little OERs
(Weller, 2010)
Massive OERs = OpenMOOCs
(ECO Project, OE Consortium + EdX)

7. flickr.com/photos/mathplourde/8620174342/
2008 - 1st cMOOC: George Siemens and Stephen Downes co-taught “Connectivism and
Connective Knowledge” - 25 tuition-paying students at the University of Manitoba, Canada plus
~2300 participants worldwide.
web.archive.org/web/20080629220943/http://ltc.umanitoba.ca:83/connectivism/

8. class-central.com
mooc-list.com
MOOC platforms and directories
Adapted from
slideshare.net/ggrosseck/miniatelier-de-initiere-in-mooc
edx.org/verified-certificate
edx.org/xseries
edx.org/micromasters
udacity.com/nanodegree
coursera.org/specializations
futurelearn.com/programs
In May 2015 - the largest MOOC ever:
440,000 participants in English Language
Learning MOOC
http://tinyurl.com/largestMOOC

9. openuped.eu
home.eadtu.eu
Higher Education Online: MOOCs the European way
Fostering international Higher Education
collaboration though ICT and open education
menon.org/projects/emundus
The European Multiple MOOC Aggregator
platform.europeanmoocs.eu
home.eadtu.eu
The European Association of Distance
Teaching Universities
ecolearning.eu
bizmooc.eu
movemeproject.eu
Adapted from
slideshare.net/ggrosseck/miniatelier-de-initiere-in-mooc
European Projects related to MOOCs
“MOOCs are online courses designed for large
numbers of participants (>148, Dunbar
number), that can be accessed by anyone
anywhere as long as they have an internet
connection, are open to everyone without
entry qualifications, and offer a full/complete
course experience online for free”.
eadtu.eu/documents/Publications/OEenM/Institutional
_MOOC_strategies_in_Europe.pdf
langmooc.com

10. openeducationeuropa.eu/en/news/european-moocs-scoreboard-out

11. OE Initiatives in Romania
educatiedeschisa.ro
poerup.referata.com/wiki/Romania

12. CCR was launched in
September 2, 2008, with
the help of ApTI
(The Association for
Technology and Internet)
http://ro.creativecommons.org/
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ro/
http://wiki.creativecommons.org/Romania

13. National OE initiatives
1. Knowledge based Economy Project (2005-2013)
• OER educational policies (recommendations in 2007)
• OE Resources and Practices: in the schools participating in the project
2. OER in the Government Programme
• National Strategy on Digital Agenda for Romania 2020 (Feb 2015):
Strategic Lines of Development for ICT in Education: using OER and Web
2.0 in formal and LLL education - imdd.ro/sites/default/files/library (ro);
• Implement an e-learning platform and online repositories -
gov.ro/ro/obiective/programul-de-guvernare
• Digital textbooks - manuale.edu.ro; don’t use open licences / format
3. Romanian Coalition for OER
Launced in October 2013, gathering persons and organizations that
support and promote the concepts of open access and OER -
educatiedeschisa.ro; guides/workshops; organized 3 National
Conferences for Open Education in 2014-6; four proposals for open
education for the government inovarepublica.ro/educatie-deschisa-
romania/; OER repository was planned (spring 2016), proposal renewed
for OUG (Nov 2016)
4. The Educated Romania (2016-2018)
Project of the Romanian Presidency; a broad public debate on education
and research for a set clear policies presidency.ro/ro/romania-educata

14. MOOC platforms
- UniCampus unicampus.ro: started in April
2014 under the initiative of Politehnica
University of Timisoara and Association of
Technical Universities from Romania (rouni.ro );
offers cMOOCs on a platform based on
Moodle;
- NOVAMOOC novamooc.uvt.ro: development
and innovative implementation of MOOCs in
Higher Education, West University Timisoara
(2015-17);
- MOOC.ro mooc.ro: developed by Moodle.ro,
currently offers 2 MOOCs about Moodle and
Articulate;
- Drivers:
- researchers and teaching staff, seldom the policy makers and managers of the institutions;
- companies and associations;
- eStudent estudent.ro: MOOCs on
psychology, communication,
business, geography and Romanian
language (APIO, CTRL-D, experts);
- Startarium startarium.ro: platform
nurturing an entrepreneurship
ecosystem; a group of organizations
and experts offer MOOCs, mentoring
and crowdfunding for around 8,000
potential entrepreneurs who design
and develop their start-up plans
using the platform features;
- MOOCs for students and teachers, for
companies/start-ups

15. MOOC projects
- UniBuc Virtual unibuc-virtual.net: Credis,
Department of Distance Learning of University
of Bucharest, offered 3 MOOCs for Teachers
Training on a platform based on Google Apps;
- University "Vasile Goldis" Arad plans to offer
MOOCs in partnership with Fédération
Européenne des Écoles;
- University „Babes Bolyai” Cluj Napoca –
eLIADA eliada.ubbcluj.ro/proiect - materials for
4 MOOCs;
- MOOCs on Udemy – NGO Management,
Association Young Initiative
udemy.com/management-ong;
- Critical Thinking MOOC was developed
and run in 2014 by Maastricht School of
Management Romania on Iversity
(msmromania.org/content/msmro-
produces-first-mooc-eastern-europe);
- MOOC in medical education –
Romanian Angel Appeal Foundation –
raa.ro;
- MOOCBuddy – the 1st Messenger
chatbot for MOOCs -
facebook.com/MyMOOCBuddy;
- Drivers:
- researchers and teaching staff, seldom the policy makers and managers of the institutions
- NGOs;

16. MOOC integration in formal education
- For the next future:
- Virtual mobilities through MOOCs;
- Pilot for credit transfer system allowing
students’ participation in MOOCs to count
towards their degrees; at this moment for
some courses the participation in MOOCs
can contribute to the activity/project mark;
- Developing MOOCs together with
companies assuring a better integration in
the labour market.
- MOOCs integration in blended academic
courses at Politehnica University of
Timisoara (Web Programming,
Instructional Technologies, Embedded
Systems courses), University “Ioan
Slavici” of Timisoara (Multimedia, OOP
and Parallel Algorithms courses);
- MOOC accreditation at UPT - Digital
Marketing -
http://atelieruldigital.jaromania.org/
- Teacher continuing professional
development using MOOCS at University
“Ioan Slavici” of Timisoara - participation
in MOOCs related to OE, but also to
topics of taught courses and research
directions;
- Drivers:
- researchers and teaching staff;
- policy makers and managers of the institutions;

17. Variants of blending MOOCs in university courses
from Carmen Holotescu, Gabriela Grosseck, Vladimir-Ioan Cretu, Antoanela Naaji. (2014). Integrating
MOOCs in Blended Courses. 10th International Scientific Conference eLearning and Software for
Education, Bucharest, Romania –
researchgate.net/publication/260987116_Integrating_MOOCs_in_Blended_Courses

18. - For teachers:
- new skills and tasks:
- complex course design/management
- OERs and MOOCs curation
- evaluation of distributed/collaborative
activities of students,
- facilitation of the local learning
community and nurture of its
integration in the global communities of
MOOCs
- improving knowledge in their own area
of expertise
- improving their competencies/skills for
adopting new models of OEP
- For students:
- autonomy in assessing their own
learning needs for choosing the
MOOCs in which to participate
- exposing to:
- high quality materials created with
top educational technologies
- collaboration in global learning
communities
- a broader range of experiences
Benefits/Challenges of MOOCs integration in blended
courses/flipped classrooms
make xMOOCs more close to cMOOCs

19. MOOC events and studies
- Studies, PhD thesis
- search MOOC Romania on GS;
- Check also:
- Opening Up Education in Romania”
scribd.com/doc/264227758/Opening-up-
education-in-Romania
- OER in Romania
- poerup.referata.com/wiki/Romania
- Workshops (OEW) and national /
international conferences (Open
Education / eLSE, SMART) related to
open education and MOOCs organized
by members of the Romanian Coalition
for OER

20. Strengths in Romanian OE initiatives
Romania is active in the OE movement:
• trainings/courses related to OER and OEP organized for both pre-
university and university sectors
• (formal documents at governamental level related to OER and
Web2.0)
• national events related to open resources produced by pre-university
teachers; national guides were published too
• directories with open resources (more numerous for pre-university
level)
• projects in development for MOOCs at university level and for
continuing education
• strong communities/events for open source, open access, open data,
open licences.

21. Barriers in the OERs/MOOCs development
and adoption
• rigid policies in formal education related to curricular systems and
assessment practices;
• the lack of possibility to officially accredit online courses, in spite of
an impressive number of projects related to online courses in the last
15 years, and of the policy proposals coming from different
organizations. Such courses can only be used in a blended approach
in formal education;
• the lack of strategies at national level related to MOOCs in formal and
continuing education;
• teachers lack of time and interest to explore, understand, evaluate
and use new technologies, OERs and MOOCs in teaching-learning
process;
• a reduced number of training programs for adopting open
educational practices;
• lack of incentives, official recognition and promotion for teachers
implementing open educational practices.

22. • Does your institution have an open
education strategy?
If so, what is it?
If not, why is this so?
• How do the OE dimensions fit your
existing/future open education
scenarios?
• How do you integrate OER/MOOC in
your teaching and learning practices?
OEE Good Practices - ~200 scenarios, top locations:
Greece, Romania, Spain, UK, Lithuania, Italy
openeducationeuropa.eu/en/good-practices (WaybackMachine)
OpenCases: catalogue of mini cases on OE in Europe
ec.europa.eu/jrc/en/publication/opencases-catalogue-mini-
cases-open-education-europe
Open questions:
OE Core Dimensions
access content pedagogy
collaboration recognition
research
OE Transversal Dimensions
technology strategy quality
leadership

23. Thank you!
Carmen Holotescu
Twitter: @cami13
tinyurl.com/cholotescu
Invitation
Romanian Coalition for OER - educatiedeschisa.ro
SMART Conferences (5th edition in 2017) – academia.edusoft.ro
eLSE Workshops on Open Education (4th edition - 27-28 April, 2017, Bucharest) – elseconference.eu
This work was supported by a grant of the Romanian National Authority for Scientific Research
and Innovation, CNCS – UEFISCDI, project number PN-II-RU-TE-2014-4-2040: NOVAMOOC –
Development and innovative implementation of MOOCs in Higher Education.