Conferences – Page 23 – Digital Learning Dispatches

The 2016 European MOOC Conference (eMooc summit) took place this year from February 22^nd – 24^th. MOOC’s (Massive Open Online Course) are mostly free online courses available for an unlimited number of people, and cover a wide array of courses across all disciplines. The eMooc event was jointly organised by University of Graz and Graz University of Technology, taking place in University of Graz. As a common project, the two universities established the first Austrian MOOC-platform iMooX. The conference brought together many of the top academics and researchers in the area from Universities all across Europe.

eMOOCs

NIDL’s Prof. Mark Brown and Dr. Eamon Costello both presented two collaboratively authored papers at the conference on the final day of proceedings. The presentation ‘Classifying the Irish 101 LMOOC’, discussed in detail the ‘Irish 101’ course available through the NIDL. The LMOOC is a small but slowly growing area in the MOOC field. English and Spanish have proven to be two of the most popular to date, with multiple Chinese language course soon to be developed also. Discussing the different learning techniques of LMOOC’S, the talk went on to suggest a more action-orientated approach in the language learning process. This excellently frames the Irish 101 LMOOC, and the goals it wants to achieve. Aimed at the Irish diaspora, the course is part of the Irish State’s Commemorative Programme 2016, partly funded by the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht.

Classifying the Irish 101 LMOOC from Mark Brown

The second presentation, ‘What Questions are MOOCs asking? An evidence based investigation’, focused on the future of MOOCs, and the potential they possess to become an educational tool to rival that of any established form of education. The research was carried out using Tarrant et. al’s tools which analyse multiple choice questions in MOOC’s systematically (2006). From the research, it was found that there was at least 1 error in 112 questions (54.9%), while more than 2 errors existed in 57 questions (27.9%). These findings, which are examined in more detail in the slides below, highlight that more rigid peer review structures and analysis must be used in the construction of MCQ’s for MOOCs.

What questions are MOOCs asking? An evidence based investigation from Eamon Costello

November proved to be a busy and fruitful month for NIDL, with many members being involved in multiple activities throughout the duration of the month. The number of MOOC leaners and courses continues to rise at an impressive rate across Europe, and this was recognised in the organisation of the second MOOC conference as part of the HOME project in Rome on November 30th. The event, which proved to be a big success, consisted of a ten member programme committee, two of which were NIDL members, Director Mark Brown and the programme chair for the BSc programmes, Dr Eamon Costello. The event featured numerous speakers across the day, covering a wide array of topics related to the field of MOOC’s.

Hold the Front Page: The Story of MOOCs in the Irish Media from Mark Brown

Two of the topic areas were chaired by Eamon and Mark. Eamon oversaw the section ‘Role media exposure on MOOC development’. This section featured two fifteen minute presentations, the second of which was presented by Mark. Mark’s presentation, Hold the Front Page: The Story of MOOCs in the Irish Media, proved to be one of the more interesting presentations of the day. Examining the traditional media coverage of MOOC’s since 2011, the information and data analysis clearly highlights their growing influence, with news coverage rising sharply in 2014. Following this section of the event, the following section, titled ‘Supporting the Selection of MOOC platforms’, was chaired by Mark.