Group Admins
Description
This paper details the experience of designing and implementing a pilot sMOOC (Short Massive Open Online Course) on an all Wales collaborative basis working in partnership with student participants as co-creators.
The pilot is a key deliverable from an initiative stemming from the signing of the Wales Open Education Declaration of Intent in September 2013. The sMOOC is a four week, online course, aimed at a global audience and provides a ‘Student Survival Guide’ to help with settling into university life in the first few weeks. It covers the key areas students should think about in the period between applying for university and arriving on the first day. The course was developed on a Moodle Platform using an adapted bilingual language customisation and piloted with existing students acting as co-creators in terms of design and content.
The presentation will summarise key aspects of collaboration, focussing directly on the student experience of open educational resources and the perceived benefits of the co-creator design aspects of the course. It will examine how barriers to collaboration were overcome and the importance of maintaining effective communication channels across a wide and diverse team.
An overview of the difficulties and challenges experienced during the development phase will be given, together with examples of the practical solutions that were adopted to resolve issues, as they became apparent, in real time. It will also discuss the creation and issue of open digital badges within the course and provision of additional badges for the Co-Creator Contribution element.
Finally the presentation will conclude with highlights of the successes of the sMOOC and a suggested way forward for future iterations of the course and possible adaptations for other target audiences.
