Presentation by José Mota,Universidade Aberta, Portugal, at the 2019 European Distance Learning Week's second-day webinar on "What might the future hold for distance education universities?" - 12 November 2019 Recording of the discussion is available: https://eden-online.adobeconnect.com/pbph1w8fe5ec/ & https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jEKjFXUFvFY

1. The Cool Kid on the Block
Pedagogical Innovation as a Competitive Advantage
José Mota

2. The Big Scare
MOOC explosion: threat or opportunity?
• Everyone wants to do online learning
• Distance/Online learning becomes mainstream
• Tough competition from established, well branded
traditional universities
• Who needs Distance Education universities anymore?

3. Online Learning – The New Old
• Ignored decades of experience in DE & OL
• Familiar, traditional methodologies
– Lecture-based
– Videos
– Quizzes
– Discussion forums
– Platform centric

4. It’s a Networked Society
Changes in how knowledge and information are produced,
transmitted or distributed in networks that often escape the
control of organizations and institutions.
The emergence of a participatory culture, in which the locus of
power, control and content production is displaced from the
traditional producers and providers
Solutions that match these new realities in the form of participatory
pedagogies

5. The Opportunity for DE Universities
• Long experience in
pedagogical innovation
and in research in
teaching methodologies
in HE
• Successfully adapted to
different technological
generations
• Stalled regarding innovation
• Struggled with pedagogical
challenges and opportunities offered
by the Internet and social media
• Held back by legacy investments in
print, broadcast technologies, and
centralized (outdated) computer
systems
• Need to retrain teaching staff

6. We need Networked Learning
Strong social dimension
emphasis on a culture of collaboration and of
shared construction of knowledge
Dialogue and interaction with people,
resources, artifacts
Diversified process of encounters,
experiences and reflections
Openness and Transparency – OER/OEP,
open syllabus
Blending of formal, non-formal and
informal learning based on networks that
interact
mathehu.wordpress.com

7. Re-focus on Pedagogical Innovation
Innovative and ever-developing pedagogies
– Connectivism
– Rhyzomatic education
– Existing socio-constructivist approaches common in DE &OL
(COI) updated with the new affordances offered by social
software
Always one or two steps ahead
Recognized as
– Experts in the field
– Specialized in DE & online learning (core business)
– Cool, trending, up-to-date and probing the future

8. Best wishes from
Lisbon
josecmota@gmail.com