MOOCs – Massive Open Online Courses

Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) bezeichnen Kurse, die online stattfinden und auf Grund fehlender Zugangsbeschränkungen und kostenfreien Zugangs sehr hohe Teilnehmerzahlen erreichen. Der erste MOOC wurde 2011 durch Sebastian Thrun, Professor für Informatik an der Stanford University, zum Thema der Künstlichen Intelligenz angeboten und hatte 160.000 Teilnehmende. In der Folge wurden MOOCs als die revolutionäre Lehr-/Lerninnovation gepriesen, immer mehr Unternehmen gründeten MOOCs-Plattformen. Seit Ende 2012 bieten auch in Deutschland erste Institutionen eigene Plattformen mit MOOCs an. Man unterscheidet im Wesentlichen zwei Varianten – xMoocs und cMOOCs: xMoocs bieten auf Video aufgezeichnete Vorlesungen, die durch Tests und Fragen unterbrochen und zu denen Aufgaben ausgeteilt werden. Sie werden ergänzt durch Foren. cMOOCs orientieren sich eher an der Form eines Seminars oder Workshops, in ihnen können die Teilnehmenden die Inhalte selbst miterarbeiten und -gestalten. Um die Potenziale, aber auch die Schwächen der MOOCs bewerten zu können, bedarf es aber einer differenzierten Betrachtung, als sie bisher stattgefunden hat. Dieser Band stellt Erfahrungsberichte und Beispiele aus deutschen Hochschulen oder mit deutscher Beteiligung vor und reflektiert das Phänomen der MOOCs unter didaktischen, historischen und bildungspolitischen Aspekten.

Digital Systems for Open Access to Formal and Informal Learning

Today, Digital Systems and Services for Technology Supported Learning and Education are recognized as the key drivers to transform the way that individuals, groups and organizations “learn” and the way to “assess learning” in 21st Century. These transformations influence: Objectives - moving from acquiring new “knowledge” to developing new and relevant “competences”; Methods – moving from “classroom” based teaching to “context-aware” personalized learning; and Assessment – moving from “life-long” degrees and certifications to “on-demand” and “in-context” accreditation of qualifications. Within this context, promoting Open Access to Formal and Informal Learning, is currently a key issue in the public discourse and the global dialogue on Education, including Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) and Flipped School Classrooms. This volume on Digital Systems for Open Access to Formal and Informal Learning contributes to the international dialogue between researchers, technologists, practitioners and policy makers in Technology Supported Education and Learning. It addresses emerging issues related with both theory and practice, as well as, methods and technologies that can support Open Access to Formal and Informal Learning. In the twenty chapters contributed by international experts who are actively shaping the future of Educational Technology around the world, topics such as: - The evolution of University Open Courses in Transforming Learning - Supporting Open Access to Teaching and Learning of People with Disabilities - Assessing Student Learning in Online Courses - Digital Game-based Learning for School Education - Open Access to Virtual and Remote Labs for STEM Education - Teachers’ and Schools’ ICT Competence Profiling - Web-Based Education and Innovative Leadership in a K-12 International School Setting are presented. An in-depth blueprint of the promise, potential, and imminent future of the field, Digital Systems for Open Access to Formal and Informal Learning is necessary reading for researchers and practitioners, as well as, undergraduate and postgraduate students, in educational technology.

Plattform Musikalische Bildung

Bei der Plattform Musikalische Bildung handelt es sich um ein Projekt der Hochschule für Musik Detmold. Die Plattform vereinigt in sich Ideen zum vernetzten Musiklernen, neu entwickelten Online-Musiklern-Tools sowie den Austausch und die Modifizierung dieser erstellten Kurse durch andere Dozenten und Lehrenden. Die Plattform steht allen Dozenten und Lehrern, Studierenden und Schülern an Hochschulen, aber auch Musikschulen und allgemein bildenden Schulen kostenlos zur Verfügung. Auf die Einblendung von Werbebannern wird verzichtet. Die Inbetriebnahme einer Betaversion ist im Oktober 2014 erfolgt. Weitere Ausbaustufen sind in Planung aber noch nicht gegenfinanziert.

Effectiveness of an Online Social Constructivist Mathematical Problem Solving Course for Malaysian Pre-Service Teachers

This study assessed the effectiveness of an online mathematical problem solving course designed using a social constructivist approach for pre-service teachers. Thirty-seven pre-service teachers at the Batu Lintang Teacher Institute, Sarawak, Malaysia were randomly selected to participate in the study. The participants were required to complete the course online without the typical face-to-face classes and they were also required to solve authentic mathematical problems in small groups of 4-5 participants based on the Polya’s Problem Solving Model via asynchronous online discussions. Quantitative and qualitative methods such as questionnaires and interviews were used to evaluate the effects of the online learning course. Findings showed that a majority of the participants were satisfied with their learning experiences in the course. There were no significant changes in the participants’ attitudes toward mathematics, while the participants’ skills in problem solving for “understand the problem” and “devise a plan” steps based on the Polya’s Model were significantly enhanced, though no improvement was apparent for “carry out the plan” and “review”. The results also showed that there were significant improvements in the participants’ critical thinking skills. Furthermore, participants with higher initial computer skills were also found to show higher performance in mathematical problem solving as compared to those with lower computer skills. However, there were no significant differences in the participants’ achievements in the course based on gender. Generally, the online social constructivist mathematical problem solving course is beneficial to the participants and ought to be given the attention it deserves as an alternative to traditional classes. Nonetheless, careful considerations need to be made in the designing and implementing of online courses to minimize problems that participants might encounter while participating in such courses.

Liferay, Lecture2Go, Hochschulapps, OERs-MOOCs, Open IDM, e-Identity, CampusSource White Paper Award

Vorträge und Präsentationen von der CampusSource Tagung am 25.04.2013 bei der FernUniversität in Hagen zu den Themen:Liferay, Lecture2Go, Hochschulapps, OERs-MOOCs, Open IDM, e-Identity, CampusSource White Paper Award

Emergence and Innovation in Digital Learning: Foundations and Applications

Educational systems worldwide are facing an enormous shift as a result of sociocultural, political, economic, and technological changes. The technologies and practices that have developed over the last decade have been heralded as opportunities to transform both online and traditional education systems. While proponents of these new ideas often postulate that they have the potential to address the educational problems facing both students and institutions and that they could provide an opportunity to rethink the ways that education is organized and enacted, there is little evidence of emerging technologies and practices in use in online education. Because researchers and practitioners interested in these possibilities often reside in various disciplines and academic departments the sharing and dissemination of their work across often rigid boundaries is a formidable task. Contributors to Emergence and Innovation in Digital Learning include individuals who are shaping the future of online learning with their innovative applications and investigations on the impact of issues such as openness, analytics, MOOCs, and social media. Building on work first published in Emerging Technologies in Distance Education, the contributors to this collection harness the dispersed knowledge in online education to provide a one-stop locale for work on emergent approaches in the field. Their conclusions will influence the adoption and success of these approaches to education and will enable researchers and practitioners to conceptualize, critique, and enhance their understanding of the foundations and applications of new technologies.

Learning Software Engineering via Internet

In recent years, education authorities worldwide, including the German Federal Government, have invested heavily in the development of e-learning and multimedia materials for institutions of higher learning. While for some subject matters the benefits of e-learning seem obvious, there are subjects, often consisting of a number of tenuously connected topics or requiring a balance of learning and training, for which it is a valid question whether appropriate learning materials can be presented via the Internet. Software Engineering belongs to this second group, both for its broad collection of topics and, particularly, for the required emphasis on teamwork and communication training.

The Future of Ubiquitous Learning

This book explores emerging pedagogical perspectives based on the design of new learning spaces supported by digital technologies and brings together some of the best research in this field. The book is divided into three themes: foundations of emerging pedagogies, learning designs for emerging pedagogies and, adaptive and personalized learning. The chapters provide up-to-date information about new pedagogical proposals, and examples for acquiring the requisite skills to both design and support learning opportunities that improve the potential of available technologies.

Informelles Lernen Studierender mit Social Software unterstützen

E-Learning-Aktivitäten von Hochschulen haben häufig eine einseitige Ausrichtung auf die Unterstützung von Lehrveranstaltungen durch Technologien, insbesondere Lernmanagementsysteme. Dabei geraten die Studierenden als Zielgruppe nur mittelbar in den Blick. Diese Beobachtung nehmen die Autorinnen und Autoren des Bandes zum Anlass, das Lern-Erleben und die unterschiedlichen Phasen des Studiums aus Perspektive der Studierenden zu betrachten. Untersucht wird zudem, welche Unterstützungsangebote Hochschulen in welchen Phasen idealerweise bereitstellen. Die Autorinnen und Autoren formulieren detailliert, wie Hochschulen das studentische Lernen mit Hilfe von Social Software unterstützen können. Diese Empfehlungen basieren auf den Ergebnissen empirischer Untersuchungen sowie auf Fallstudien nationaler und internationaler Beispiele guter Praxis, die ausführlich präsentiert werden. Mit diesem Band möchten die Autorinnen und Autoren denjenigen, die in Bildungseinrichtungen des tertiären Sektors (aber auch in anderen Sektoren) tätig sind, konkrete Anregungen liefern, Unterstützungsangebote für das informelle Lernen von Studierenden mit Social Software stärker in den Blick zu nehmen und geeignete Angebote zu entwickeln. Die Publikation basiert auf Ergebnissen des Projekts „Learner Communities of Practice“, das zwischen 2009 und 2012 als Verbundprojekt sächsischer Hochschulen mit Förderung durch das SMWK unter Leitung des Medienzentrums der TU Dresden bearbeitet wurde.

Governance of Massive Multiauthor Collaboration – Linux, Wikipedia, and Other Networks: Governed by Bilateral Contracts, Partnerships, or Something in Between?

Open collaborative projects are moving to the foreground of knowledge production. Some online user communities develop into longterm projects that generate a highly valuable and at the same time freely accessible output. Traditional copyright law that is organized around the idea of a single creative entity is not well equipped to accommodate the needs of these forms of collaboration. In order to enable a peculiar network-type of interaction participants instead draw on public licensing models that determine the freedoms to use individual contributions. With the help of these access rules the operational logic of the project can be implemented successfully. However, as the case of the Wikipedia GFDL-CC license transition demonstrates, the adaptation of access rules in networks to new circumstances raises collective action problems and suffers from pitfalls caused by the fact that public licensing is grounded in individual copyright. Legal governance of open collaboration projects is a largely unexplored field. The article argues that the license steward of a public license assumes the position of a fiduciary of the knowledge commons generated under the license regime. Ultimately, the governance of decentralized networks translates into a composite of organizational and contractual elements. It is concluded that the production of global knowledge commons relies on rules of transnational private law.

Matching Software and Context in Open Learning Scenarios

We describe the use of log file analysis to investigate whether the use of CSCL applications corresponds to its didactical purposes. Exemplarily we examine the use of the web-based system CommSy as software support for project-oriented university courses. We present two findings: (1) We suggest measures to shape the context of CSCL applications and support their initial and continuous use. (2) We show how log files can be used to analyze how, when and by whom a CSCL system is used and thus help to validate further empirical findings. However, log file analyses can only be interpreted reasonably when additional data concerning the context of use is available.

Online Distance Education: Towards a Research Agenda

Online Distance Education: Towards a Research Agenda offers a systematic overview of the major issues, trends, and areas of priority in online distance education research. In each chapter, an international expert or team of experts provides an overview of one timely issue in online distance education, summarizing major research on the topic, discussing theoretical insights that guide the research, posing questions and directions for future research, and discussing the implications for distance education practice as a whole. Intended as a primary reference and guide for distance educators, researchers, and policymakers, Online Distance Education addresses aspects of distance education practice that have often been marginalized, including issues of cost and economics, concerns surrounding social justice, cultural bias, the need for faculty professional development, and the management and growth of learner communities. At once soundly empirical and thoughtfully reflective, yet also forward-looking and open to new approaches to online and distance teaching, this text is a solid resource for researchers in a rapidly expanding discipline.

Over two decades of blended and online physics courses at Michigan State University

In Fall 1992, our first physics course offered online homework. Over two decades later, we have seven physics courses online, spanning the whole range of introductory course offerings, with a total of over 1600 students in 2014. We found that several of the the purely online courses had better learning success than traditional lecture courses, as measured by exam scores. Particularly successful were online materials with embedded assessment. This result can be interpreted in different ways, but may serve as an indicator that during in-class lectures, we are oftentimes not taking advantage of the fact that we have the students on-site.