The document outlines steps for opening up education at Ioan Slavici University of Timisoara. It begins by defining open education and initiatives in Europe and Romania. It then discusses the university's strategy, which includes ongoing innovation of blended courses through the integration of open educational resources and MOOCs. The strategy also focuses on continuing teacher training, strengthening research projects on open education, and participating in the Coalition for Open Educational Resources. The university aims to blend MOOCs into existing courses by having students discover, participate in, and evaluate MOOCs to supplement their learning.

1. Steps for opening up education at
„Ioan Slavici” University of Timisoara
Carmen Holotescu
Professor PhD
„Ioan Slavici” University of Timisoara, Romania
International Symposium "Ioan Slavici in the 3rd millennium"
May 23, 2016, Timisoara Romania

2. Contents
Open Education Definition
Initiatives in Europe and Romania
Our university strategy

3. Open education is a mode of
realising education enabled by digital
technologies aiming to widen access
and participation to everyone.
It offers multiple ways of teaching and
learning, building and sharing
knowledge, as well as a variety of
access routes to formal and non-
formal education, bridging them.
Source: OpenEdu IPTS, 2015 – work in
progress
is.jrc.ec.europa.eu/pages/EAP/OpenEdu.html
slideshare.net/inamor/opening-up-higher-education-in-europe-
56009940
Open Education Definition
Core Dimensions
access content pedagogy
collaboration recognition
research
Transversal Dimensions
technology strategy quality
leadership

4. „ICT tools, Open Educational
Resources, and open practices
allow for an increase in the
effectiveness of education,
allowing for more personalised
learning, a better learning
experience.
Ultimately, opening up
education may lead to a
situation where all individuals
may learn anytime, anywhere,
with the support of anyone,
using any device.”
Open Education Europa
Opening up education through new technologies Initiative
openeducationeuropa.eu
ec.europa.eu/education/policy/strategic-framework/education-
technology_en.htm (Sept 2013)

5. OER Definition
[…] „the open provision of
educational resources,
enabled by information and
communication
technologies, for
consultation, use and
adaptation by a community
of users for non-commercial
purposes.”
unesco.org/new/en/communication-and-information/access-to-knowledge/open-educational-resources
UNESCO (2002)

6. unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0021/002136/213605e.pdf
What are OERs? Open Educational Resources
„are any type of educational
materials that are in the public
domain or introduced with an open
license.
The nature of these open materials
means that anyone can legally and
freely copy, use, adapt and re-share
them. OERs range from textbooks to
curricula, syllabi, lecture notes,
assignments, tests, projects, audio,
video
and animation.”
Big and Little OERs
(Weller, 2010)

7. OER/OEP Initiatives in Romania
educatiedeschisa.ro
poerup.referata.com/wiki/Romania

8. CCR was launched in
September 2, 2008, with
the help of ApTI
(The Association for
Technology and Internet)
http://ro.creativecommons.org/
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ro/
http://wiki.creativecommons.org/Romania

9. National OER initiatives
1. Knowledge based Economy Project (2005-2013)
• OER educational policies (recommendations in 2007)
• OE Resources and Practices: in the schools participating in the project
2. OER in the Government Programme
• Previous Government Programme for 2013-2016 (Dec 2012): Ministry of
Ministry for Information Society and Ministry of Education to collaborate
in supporting the innovative integration of Web2.0 and OER in education;
• National Strategy on Digital Agenda for Romania 2020 (Feb 2015):
Strategic Lines of Development for ICT in Education: using OER and Web
2.0 in formal and LLL education
3. Romanian Coalition for OER
Launced in October 2013, gathering persons and organizations that
support and promote the concepts of open access and OER -
educatiedeschisa.ro; guides/workshops; organized 3 National
Conferences for Open Education in 2014-6; four proposals for open
education for the new government inovarepublica.ro/educatie-deschisa-
romania/
4. The Educated Romania (2016-2018)
Project of the Romanian Presidency; a broad public debate on education
and research for a set clear policies presidency.ro/ro/romania-educata

10. Regional and institutional OER initiatives
Related to FLOSS (Free / Libre / Open
Source Software):
• Groups
• Conferences/Events
• Courses / Trainings / Research
• Linux distributions and Open
Source projects development
Related to OER, OEP and Open
Content/Access:
• Courses / Trainings / Programs
• Open Content / Open Access /
Communities for OER and OEP
• Studies

11. Open Educational Resources / Practices (1)
- "OER Awareness Activities for Librarians and
Academics in Romania", funded by CC Affiliate
Project, implemented in 2013-2014 by ApTI
Association for Technology and Internet, Soros
Foundation Romania and National Association of
Libraries and Librarians in Romania:
workshops/events related to OER/MOOC, two
guides
- Projects and sites that offer
information/workshops about copyright issues,
open licenses and OER: Open Educational
Resources Policy in Europe
http://oerpolicy.eu/?s=romania,
http://kosson.ro, http://acces-deschis,
http://oerup.eu, http://copy-me.org,
http://www.ordu.ro,
http://dreptuldeautor.noisieu.ro/creative-
commons , http://culturaineducatie.ro
- Different products developed under CC licenses
http://ro.creativecommons.org
- Digital resources on the KEP portal created
by teachers and pupils in the pre-university
system, by using different Web2.0
technologies, guide “OER for different
disciplines” http://tinyurl.com/KEPOERguide
- KEP launched two guides in 2012, having as
central topics the OER and collaborative
technologies (Web2.0) in education:
"Integration of new technologies in
education" and "Using ICT for educational
activities"
- Open journals related to open education are
http://iteach.ro/experientedidactice,
http://www.elearning.ro
- Open materials and discussions around them:
http://forum.portal.edu.ro, http://didactic.ro,
http://e-scoala.ro, http://www.dascali.ro,
http://educatie.inmures.ro

12. - Teachers training in KEP, Didatec project
(http://ctmtc.utcluj.ro/sites/didatec_ )
received certificates, acknowledging also their
skills in using/creating OER
- Training/courses related to open educational
pedagogies are offered by Moodle Romania,
Didatec, iTeach, Sloop2desc, ActiveWatch
Media Monitoring, UPT Technology Enhanced
Learning hosted by Cirip.eu, Compendiu.ro -
links at
http://poerup.referata.com/wiki/Romania#Re
gional_OER_initiatives
- Projects under CC licenses for Informal
Learning / Serendipity: Romanian Encyclopedia
http://enciclopediaromaniei.ro , Veioza Arte
http://veiozaarte.ro - a video sharing platform
acting as an open source production house for
the Romanian cultural scene, Local Records
http://www.localrec.ro are collections of audio
products, Brașov Creative Commons Film
Festival http://bvccfilmfest.tumblr.com
- City Projects http://cityprojects.ro - community
proposing/working on software projects for
local communities/ smart cities, based on open
data
- Most of the national projects related to OER
are designed / implemented for the pre-
university level, while in academia they are
implemented by a single university or a group
of universities
Open Educational Resources / Practices (2)

13. Projects related to MOOCs
- UniCampus unicampus.ro: Started in April 2014
under the initiative of University Politehnica
Timisoara and Association of Technical Universities
from Romania (rouni.ro ); will offer cMOOCs on a
platform based on Moodle;
- NOVAMOOC novamooc.uvt.ro: Development and
innovative implementation of MOOCs in Higher
Education, West University Timisoara (2015-17);
- MOOC.ro mooc.ro: Developed by Moodle.ro,
currently offers a MOOC about Moodle courses ;
- UniBuc Virtual unibuc-virtual.net: Credis,
Department of Distance Learning of University of
Bucharest, offered 3 MOOCs for Teachers Training on
a platform based on Google Apps;
- University "Vasile Goldis" Arad will offer MOOCs in
partnership with Fédération Européenne des Écoles;
- University „Babes Bolyai” Cluj Napoca – eLIADA
eliada.ubbcluj.ro/proiect - materials for 4 MOOCs;
- Studies, PhD thesis – search MOOC Romania on GS;
- MOOCs on Udemy – ONG Management,
Association Young Initiative
udemy.com/management-ong;
- Experiments for integrating MOOCs in blended
academic courses can be found at University
Politehnica Timisoara (Web Programming and
Instructional Technologies courses), University
Ioan Slavici Timisoara (Multimedia course);
- MOOCBuddy – the 1st Messenger chatbot for
MOOCs - facebook.com/MyMOOCBuddy
- Critical Thinking MOOC was developed and run
in 2014 by Maastricht School of Management
Romania on Iversity
(msmromania.org/content/msmro-produces-
first-mooc-eastern-europe);
- eStudent.ro – vlogging platform for courses;
- Workshops (eLSE) and national conferences
related to opening education organized by the
Romanian Coalition for OER.
- Check also:
- Opening Up Education in Romania”
scribd.com/doc/264227758/Opening-up-education-in-Romania
- OER in Romania
- poerup.referata.com/wiki/Romania

14. Strengths in Romanian OER initiatives
Romania is active in the OER movement:
• trainings/courses related to OER and OEP organized for both pre-
university and university sectors
• formal documents at governamental level related to OER and Web2.0
• national events related to open resources produced by pre-university
teachers; national guides were published too
• directories with open resources (more numerous for pre-university
level)
• projects in development for MOOCs at university level and for
continuing education
• strong communities/events for open source, open access, open data,
open licences.

15. From POERUP elevator pitch (march 2013): 26 countries in 26 minutes, slide 11
http://www.slideshare.net/witthaus/poerup-elevator-pitch

16. Strategy of the University Center for Open Education (1)
1. Ongoing innovation of the blended courses,
integration of OERs and MOOCs:
• Use / expansion of the university's eLearning platform,
Learning Analytics integration
• upgrading courses, adapting curricula to the needs of
local and national IT market - study, collaboration with
partner companies / business partners
• nanodegrees - strengthening training / MOOCs
integration to prepare specializations required by IT
market
• course / practical activity recognition for participating in
MOOCs
• creation of common blended courses with other
universities in the country and abroad.

17. Strategy of the University Center for Open Education (2)
2. Continuing training of teachers:
• organizing blended workshops
• participation in MOOCs related to open education, but
also topics of courses and research directions
• community of practice for teachers to exchange good
practice, peer-mentoring.
3. Strengthening research and projects on OE:
- MOOCs developing on NOVAMOOC, Unicampus
- Holotescu, Slavici et al. (2016). Entrepreneurship Learning
Ecosystem through MOOCs for Smart Cities, SLERD.
- UEFISCDI 2016 Mobility Project for researchers from
Diaspora: Dr.Gabriela Avram, University of Limerick Ireland
4. Active participation in the Coalition for
Open Educational Resources.
5. Organization as partner conferences and
workshops related to open education:
OEE Tour 2015, OEW Tm 2016, eLSE 2016

18. islavici.ro/softstudenti
Student Management and eLearning Platform

19. Blending MOOCs in university courses - EdX
„We are taking what we are learning and the technologies we are developing in
the large and applying them in the small to create a blended model of
education to really reinvent and reimagine the classroom.”
We need to go from lectures on the blackboard to online exercises, online
videos. We have to go to interactive virtual laboratories and
gamification. To go to completely online grading and peer
interaction and discussion boards.
Everything really has to change.”
Anant Agarwal, 2013. Why massive open online courses (still) matter.
A TED presentation,
ted.com/talks/anant_agarwal_why_massively_open_online_courses_still_matter.html

20. Variants of blending MOOCs in university courses

21. Multimedia and POO Courses, II-III TI – Ioan Slavici University

22. Mobile learning features
• Allow students to become familiar (aware) with the MOOC phenomenon and
trends:
•the most important players/platforms/offers, types of learning,
interaction and specific pedagogies
•to be able to search and evaluate useful and quality MOOCs;
• To enlarge knowledge/topics of the course: to obtain an auxiliary support for
students’ group project development; for personal/professional development
• Allow students to have concrete views, opinions and proposals on MOOCs
and to critically evaluate their usefulness for personal development and for
different ways of integration in formal higher education courses.
Aims of integrating MOOCs

23. Steps for MOOCs Integration
• 1.MOOCs discovery and selection - #mooc:
•openeducationeuropa.eu
•mooc-list.com
•futurelearn.com
•class-central.com
• 2.Participation in MOOCs –requirement: at least 10%/50% of the activities
• 3.Learning Experience as Digital Story
• 4.MOOCs participation evaluation

24. A Model for MOOCs Integration

25. - For teachers:
- new skills and tasks:
- complex course design/management
- OERs and MOOCs curation
- evaluation of distributed/collaborative
activities of students,
- facilitation of the local learning
community and nurture of its
integration in the global communities of
MOOCs
- improving knowledge in their own area
of expertise
- improving their competencies/skills for
adopting new models of OEP
- For students:
- autonomy in assessing their own
learning needs for choosing the
MOOCs in which to participate
- exposing to:
- high quality materials created with
top educational technologies
- collaboration in global learning
communities
- a broader range of experiences
Benefits/Challenges of MOOCs integration in blended
courses/flipped classrooms
make xMOOCs more close to cMOOCs

26. Thank you!
Carmen Holotescu
Twitter: @cami13
tinyurl.com/cholotescu