Formation Continue du Supérieur

MERLOT Journal of Online Learning and Teaching, Vol. 10, No. 1, March 2014. Abstracts of papers in this issue. SPECIAL SECTION ON MASSIVE OPEN ONLINE COURSES (See also Vol. 9, No. 2, which is a full special issue on MOOCs.)
  Participants' Perceptions of Learning and Networking in Connectivist MOOCs - Abstract
By Mohsen Saadatmand and Kristiina Kumpulainen. Massive open online cou rses (MOOCs) are growing exponentially in higher education. They have attracted the attention of higher education institutions, course designers, and policy makers. They challenge the mainstream of higher education and provide global learning opportunities to a huge number of students so they can learn anytime and anywhere. The value and applicability of the MOOC model in the current era of higher education and the nature of learning in such an open online format need to be investigated. This study focused on participants' experiences and perceived value of participation in connectivist MOOCs (cMOOCs) in terms of dealing with an abundance of resources and tools, learning activities, and network engagement. The results suggest a high extent of technology depl oyment for learning and interactions by the participants in cMOOCs. Creating networks and developing professional connections through networking technologies are advantages of participating in cMOOCs. The study's findings contribute to a better understanding of the nature of learning and participation in MOOCs from the perspective of students, who are the main stakeholders of such new learning experiences. See more...

MERLOT Journal of Online Learning and Teaching, Vol. 10, No. 1, March 2014. Abstracts of papers in this issue. SPECIAL SECTION ON MASSIVE OPEN ONLINE COURSES (See also Vol. 9, No. 2, which is a full special issue on MOOCs.)
Challenges to Research in MOOCs - Abstract
By Helene Fournier, Rita Kop, and Guillaume Durand. Over the past five years, the emergence of interactive social media has influenced the development of learning environments. Learning management systems have come to maturity, but because they are controlled by educational institutions and are subsequently used to support institutional learning, have been seen by learning technologists as not capturing the spirit and possibilitie s that new media have to offer for learning. Academics and researchers are currently investigating a different learning environment, more open and networked, while the underpinning learning theory is moving from social constructivism towards connectivism. Research in open learning environments is only in its infancy and researchers have only started to become interested in massive open online courses (MOOCs) as a topic of investigation. Recent research and development efforts have focused on generating tech nologies that might facilitate learning within a self - directed information and communication stream. In this paper, the authors report on an exploratory case study of PLENK, a connectivist - style MOOC, and highlight some of the challenges in the research an d analysis process, especially as significant amounts of both quantitative and qualitative data were involved. Important findings related to activity levels and important dimensions of self - directed learning in an open learning environment are presented. See more...

MERLOT Journal of Online Learning and Teaching, Vol. 10, No. 1, March 2014
CONTENTS
Abstracts of papers in this issue.
SPECIAL SECTION ON MASSIVE OPEN ONLINE COURSES (See also Vol. 9, No. 2, which is a full special issue on MOOCs.)

REGULAR PAPERS

The latest issue of the MERLOT Journal of Online Learning and Teaching (JOLT) includes a special section on MOOCs, which is now openly available online.
The MERLOT Journal of Online Learning and Teaching (JOLT) is a peer-reviewed, open-access, online publication that aims to promote scholarship in the use of the Internet and web-based multimedia resources in higher education. More...

GroupMooc is a free mobile app that helps users to create and manage course schedule with MOOCs from various providers.
The app creates a study planner based on the MOOCs you have registered for to help you keep track of your assignments and deadlines. More...

On the first day of its annual conference, the OpenCourseWare Consortium announced its new name: the Open Education Consortium. The change reflects the organisation’s commitment to “expand access to education and promote open sharing of knowledge.”
The Open Education Consortium is one of the foremost actors in the field of Open Educational Resources (OER). More...

Leaders from the higher education, learning analytics, and open source fields met at the Open Learning Analytics (OLA) Summit last week to discuss the emerging possibilities of learning analytics combined with open learning/technologies/research.
The summit focused on open system architectures and how teachers and learners can benefit from learning analytics tools to improve the learning experience. More...

Europe’s image in the world could be better: when it comes to economic issues, it has been labelled as the crisis-stricken continent. It is the world’s problem child in terms of growth and development – one of the most affluent regions on the planet, yet it lacks of the ability to reinvent itself. One of the key problems: while hundreds of thousands of well-paid positions in the ICT field remain unfilled, millions of young people grow up without job prospects. There is a clear mismatch between the skills that people have and the ones that are needed in the labor market. With the “MOOCs For Web Talent” initiative, Europe is finally taking action to overcome this gap with new and open educational resources. More...

Well apparently not… According to a survey conducted by the Northeastern University  the three most valuable skills for graduate students to possess are communication skills, interpersonal skills, and adaptability however, only 14% of employers agree that recent graduates possess these skills. More...

On January, 24, 2014, eLearning Industry’s Network launched eLearning Feeds to help eLearning Professionals answer the question, “What’s happening in the eLearning field based on the Top eLearning Blogs”.
Our goal is to provide you with the Top eLearning News on a daily basis based on the Top eLearning Blogs. Today we are thrilled to announce that eLearning Feeds reached the 200 Top eLearning Blogs. Our eLearning Community has grown tremendously over the past 2 months, with over 300 submissions from 25 countries, bringing us to this epic milestone. More...