This document discusses the mainstreaming of open, online, and flexible learning through MOOCs from an institutional perspective. It addresses three key topics: 1) How the rapid uptake of MOOCs has changed the higher education landscape and led institutions to mainstream online learning. 2) Whether MOOCs are truly disruptive or a continuation of open/online learning legacies. 3) What institutions can expect from scaling up open education through MOOCs, including identifying sustainability models and applying innovations responsibly based on quality standards. The document advocates for institutions to thoughtfully integrate technologies like MOOCs based on existing research and practices to maintain quality while meeting new student and societal needs through open education.

1. MAINSTREAMING OPEN, ONLINE AND
FLEXIBLE LEARNING
HOW WILL MOOCS CONTINUE TO BE UNIQUE FROM
AN INSTITUTIONAL PERSPECTIVE
EDEN Position paper
Assoc. prof. dr. Airina Volungevičienė
EDEN Vice President
(in collaboration with Antonio Teixeira, Ildiko Mazar, EDEN)
Director fo Innovative Studies Institute at Vytautas Magnus University,
LITHUANIA
«Mapping the European MOOC Territory»
HOME conference
Porto, November 27, 2014

2. EDEN position
1. A Changing Landscape: The immediate
uptake of massive open digital learning
2. MOOCs as a Disruptor or a Continuation of
the Open and Online Learning Legacy?
3. The Uniqueness of MOOCs: What can
institutions expect from the mainstreaming
and scaling up of open education?

3. 1. A Changing Landscape: The immediate uptake of massive
open digital learning
DEVELOPMENTS
• Very rapid success and hyper of MOOCs, the impact in the
media has drawn the attention of institutional leadership
which led to mainstreaming online learning provision
• The consolidation of a network society which is becoming
ever more digital, global, mobile, ubiquitous
STATE OF THE ART/ OUTCOME
1. Online forms of education provision are no longer being seen as a curiosity or
a niche market, but a central part of any HE institutional offer
2. Massive open learning emerged and resulted in disruption and
transformation of education
3. HE meets the challenges of industrialization, demography, and globalization,
direct impact of lifelong learning service provision needs
4. Diversification of target groups in HE makes considerable impact upon
institution sustainability models

4. How shall we use MOOC experience to prepare for “Plateau of
Productivity”? (hype cycle)
en.wikipedia.org
IMPORTANT ACTIONS
Institutions have to identify and
apply scalable sustainability models

5. • Innovations radically changing the landscape of
higher education
• Education is opening up through:
– Open Educational Resources
– Open Access
– Open Science
– Open Society
– Open Educational Practices
– MOOCs
2. MOOCs as a Disruptor or a Continuation of the Open
and Online Learning Legacy?
... and why not
MOOCs?
Will it be really massive?

6. • negative side effects
• inadequate theoretical frameworks and established
practices
• Innovations are introduced episodically
• Confusion exists in terms of concepts and phenomena
• Sudden and disruptive development, as well as
segmented integration of innovation in an organization
often lose the desired effect and anticipated impact
• Such instances demonstrate irresponsible decisions,
bring negative effect to strategic planning and may
generate wrong feedback to European discussions on
best practices
DEVELOPMENTS

7. STATE OF THE ART
IMPORTANT ACTIONS
Higher education institutions need to open up their
organization, methods and services in order to be able to
cope with the challenges of an open educational culture
a need for solid research to develop new practice models
built upon appropriate foundations which take into account
the basic principles of open education and take the most out
of the new networked social environments

8. EDENRW8 DEVELOPMENTS
EDEN MEMBER SUGGESTIONS FORMULATED
• TEL concept has significantly changed existing dominant practices, introduced
innovations and continues to change the landscape of learning services at education
institutions
• A broader concept of TEL has emerged implying the value of judgment of improved
learning services for students and new, innovative scenarios in learning and
teaching
• MOOCs – is a form of TEL!
New providers of TEL should try to base their approaches on the legacy of
already existing research and best practices in order to keep the current high
quality standards of practice.
MOOCs have not invented neither TEL nor online learning but the other way
around.
STATE OF THE ART
IMPORTANT ACTIONS

9. EDENRW8 DEVELOPMENTS
Open and flexible education should happen through TEL
curriculum integration in an organization :
– responsively (responding to the needs of all stakeholders of
education services) and
– responsible (based on the quality assurance framework and
identifying and forecasting concrete positive impact
indicators upon education institution activities)
– on all (seven) areas of organization activities (next slide)
– identifying pre-conditions existing on the national and
regional levels of the organization
– establishing a case study to identify strategic actions
necessary for integration of the innovation
– identification and measuring TEL impact upon the areas of
organization activities

10. EDENRW8 DEVELOPMENTS
Airina Volungeviciene, Margarita Tereseviciene, Alan Tait (2014, in press, funded by
Global grant research project, Vytautas Magnus University)

11. 3. The Uniqueness of MOOCs: What can institutions expect from
the mainstreaming and scaling up of open education?
EDENRW8 DEVELOPMENTS
It appears the results of the effort are starting to show:
Tony Bates reported: «From the papers, it seems that a 'European' style of
MOOC is slowly evolving, somewhere between xMOOCs and cMOOCs»
• Can MOOCs be designed to go beyond comprehension or networking to
develop other critical 21st century skills such as critical thinking, analysis
and evaluation?
• Are there better design models for open courses than MOOCs as currently
structured? If so what would they look like?
• Who can decide which case is potentially a better case for institution
development?
IMPORTANT FUTURE RESEARCH QUESTIONS

12. Opening Up Higher Education:
A new social contract for open education
in Europe?
Assoc. prof. dr. Airina Volungevičienė
EDEN Vice President
Director fo Innovative Studies Institute at
Vytautas Magnus University, LITHUANIA