For our DelftX MOOC Solar Energy we have created an introduction video to promote the course. In this animation the importance of Solar Energy as a sustainable and renewable energy source is explained. This free online education course (start September 2013) will teach you to design a complete photovoltaic system. You will learn how solar energy is converted into electricity, heat and solar fuels and will understand the working principle of a solar cell. You will learn about the advantages, limitations and challenges of different solar cell technologies, such as crystalline silicon solar cell technology, thin film solar cell technologies and the latest novel solar cell concepts as studied on lab-scale. Register now at Edx.org.
My collegau Martijn Ouwehand did a presentation at the OCWC Global Conference about bringing OER into the classroom. This presentation is based on the project STUMBLE which is focused on adding OER materials to basic courses that have a low pass rate. The idea is that with the additional materials students have more options to understand the concepts and will do better in the course.
In our powerpoint you can see the results:
Inside Higher Ed has released a free compilation of articles about massive open online courses, or MOOCs. The articles aren't today's breaking news, but reflect long-term trends and some of the forward-looking thinking of experts on how MOOCs may change higher education. The idea is to provide these materials (both news articles and opinion essays) in one easy-to-read place.
You can download the compilation here
.
The enrollment for the first two DelftX MOOCs have started on the Edx platform. The courses being offered are Solar Energy and Introduction to Water Treatment, both of which start on 16 September. These courses provide free online access to the knowledge of TU Delft for anyone, anywhere in the world. Anyone may attend the courses, without prior education or entrance tests.
According to Anka Mulder, a member of the TU Delft Executive Board whose responsibilities include Educational Affairs, “I am very proud that we are launching our first two MOOCs. We have a standing commitment is to expand the number of MOOCs even further. Online education will be gaining worldwide importance quickly”.
Introduction to Water Treatment
The first two MOOCs offered by TU Delft are introductory courses: Solar Energy and Introduction to Water Treatment. The latter course is designed as an introduction to water treatment technology. These technologies clearly play an essential role in providing adequate supplies of good water for drinking and other purposes. Topics addressed in the course will include urban water services, with a focus on basic techniques for drinking water and wastewater. Professor of Water Management Jules van Lier explains, “Water treatment is of vital importance throughout the world. This makes the course very interesting for participants from developing countries as well”.
Solar Energy
The other MOOC that will start at TU Delft this autumn is Solar Energy. This course teaches how a complete solar cell system can be designed. The course provides an introduction to the technology through which solar energy is converted into electricity, heat and fuels, with a focus on electricity production. The course will emphasise the principles of the solar cell, as well as the production of solar cells, modules and complete PV systems. Other topics that will be addressed include the advantages and limitations of various solar cell technologies.
Open license
Both courses will be published with an open license. The license we use is Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Netherlands License (CC-BY-NC-SA). This is the same license we use for our OpenCourseWare courses.
Delft University of Technology is the first university that offers their courses on the EdX platform with an open license. I hope that other universities will follow our initiative, so we really respect the first O in MOOCs and we don't have to use the suggestion of David Wiley.
At the OCWC Global Conference two courses of TU Delft OpenCourseWare have received a OCWC CourseWare award. These awards recognize outstanding course materials in two categories, Video & Multimedia and Text & Illustrations. Five awards will be given in each category.
Delft Design Guide received the award in the Text & Illustrations category. Introduction to Aerospace Engineering I received the award in the category Video & Multimedia.
The credits go to the responsible teachers. For Delft Design Guide that are Annemiek van Boeijen en Jaap Daalhuizen en for Aerospace Engineering it is Jacco Hoekstra.
Today I got elected as board member of OCW Consortium on behave of Delft University of Technology. It is a great honour to be board member for the Consortium. I have attended many board meeting since 2008, but now I'm also allowed to vote.
The Consortium is the only international un-biased organisation on open education. Especially in times that a lot of people are talking about open education (they call them moocs), it is important that there is an organisation that keeps emphasizing OPENNESS.
MOOCs without openness are just education and this won't bring us much further in our mission to increase the access to education worldwide.
Anka Mulder is officially stepping down as President and board member of the Consortium. After 5 years her 3 terms have ended. She will stay involved with Open Education at Delft University of Technology.
This year the OCWC Global conference is in Bali, one of the many islands of Indonesia. Yesterday there was the official launch of OER Indonesia. Today the keynotes give a good insight in the developments of OER in Indonesia.
And I'm impressed. OER is really helping education to get to the next level, from universities to the government. In this article by Prof. Richardus Eko Indrajit he gives a good overview of the activities in Indonesia.
Via: Steve CarsonAn interesting journal article of David Glance, Martin Forsey and Myles Riley of the University of Western Australia (UWA):
In 2011, the respective roles of higher education institutions and students worldwide were brought into question by the rise of the massive open online course (MOOC). MOOCs are defined by signature characteristics that include: lectures formatted as short videos combined with formative quizzes; automated assessment and/or peer and self–assessment and an online forum for peer support and discussion. Although not specifically designed to optimise learning, claims have been made that MOOCs are based on sound pedagogical foundations that are at the very least comparable with courses offered by universities in face–to–face mode. To validate this, we examined the literature for empirical evidence substantiating such claims. Although empirical evidence directly related to MOOCs was difficult to find, the evidence suggests that there is no reason to believe that MOOCs are any less effective a learning experience than their face–to–face counterparts. Indeed, in some aspects, they may actually improve learning outcomes.
Their conclusions is that MOOCs have a sound pedagogical basis for their formats. What they have not addressed however are the larger questions around whether taking a collection of MOOCs could replace obtaining an education on campus at a university in all of its facets of personal development and education.
Reference
The pedagogical foundations of massive open online courses
by David George Glance, Martin Forsey, and Myles Riley.
First Monday, Volume 18, Number 5 - 6 May 2013
http://firstmonday.org/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/4350/3673
doi:10.5210/fm.v18i5.
The Chronicle has created an Who's who and how are they connected. Although it only US-focused, it gives good insight how the MOOC universe is organised.
