MOOCS IN ITALY: AN OPEN AND FRAGMENTED LANDSCAPE
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Jun 7, 2021
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Abstract
If we look at the short but widely analyzed history of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), it is evident that these courses, which were created and are still often acclaimed as ‘open’, have been progressively losing most of their openness. A substantial – and probably increasing – number of MOOCs are in fact not based on Open Educational Resources. Moreover, they are not continuously available for access. Recognizing that many openness declinations exist in the MOOC panorama, this article seeks to expand global knowledge about such variances by focusing on the characteristics of MOOCs in Italy. It claims that even if the Italian MOOC ecosystem has some similarities with those of other European countries, it is distinctive for two reasons: first, MOOCs produced by Italian universities seem to be more open than those in comparable countries in terms of both content licenses and accessibility; second, the Italian MOOC ecosystem seems to suffer from a rather high degree of fragmentation. By combining a literature review with a set of interviews with key stakeholders in the Italian MOOC panorama, the article provides insights on the factors and mechanisms that have generated such a particular configuration of the Italian MOOC landscape.
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Articles - General topics
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References
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Wiley, D. (2015). The MOOC Misstep and the Open Education Infrastructure. In C. J. Bonk, M. M. Lee, T. C. Reeves, & T. H. Reynolds (Eds.), MOOCs and Open Education Around the World (1st ed., pp. 3–11). London, UK: Routledge. doi: 10.4324/9781315751108-2
Zawacki-Richter, O., Bozkurt, A., Alturki, U., & Aldraiweesh, A. (2018). What Research Says About MOOCs – An Explorative Content Analysis. The International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, 19(1). doi: 10.19173/irrodl.v19i1.3356
Zuboff, S. (2019). The age of surveillance capitalism: The fight for a human future at the new frontier of power (First edition). New York, NY, US: PublicAffairs.
Bulfin, S., Pangrazio, L., & Selwyn, N. (2014). Making ‘MOOCs’: The construction of a new digital higher education within news media discourse. The International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, 15(5). doi: 10.19173/irrodl.v15i5.1856
Cardano, M. (2003). Tecniche di ricerca qualitativa: Percorsi di ricerca nelle scienze sociali. Roma, IT: Carocci.
Carfagna, L. ‘Luka’ (2018). Learning to share: Pedagogy, open learning, and the sharing economy. The Sociological Review, 66(2), 447–465. doi: 10.1177/0038026118758551
Castaño Muñoz, J., Punie, Y., Inamorato dos Santos, A., Mitic, M., Morais, R., & Institute for Prospective Technological Studies (2016). How are higher education institutions dealing with openness?: A survey of practices, beliefs, and strategies in five European countries. Luxembourg, LU: Publications Office. Retrieved from http://bookshop.europa.eu/uri?target=EUB:NOTICE:LFNA27750:EN:HTML
Cesareni, D., Micale, F., Cosmelli, C., Fiore, F. P., & Nicolò, R. (2014). MOOCs e interazioni collaborative: L’esperienza in «Sapienza». ECPS - Educational, Cultural and Psychological Studies, 10(2014), 153–176. doi: 10.7358/ecps-2014-010-cesa
Cinque, M. (2015). Open Education: OER e MOOC. Universitas Quaderni, 6(30), 5–26.
Cronin, C. (2017). Openness and Praxis: Exploring the Use of Open Educational Practices in Higher Education. The International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, 18(5). doi: 10.19173/irrodl.v18i5.3096
CRUI. (2015). Massive Open On-Line Courses. Prospettive e Opportunità per l’Università italiana (No. 2a edizione). Roma: Fondazione CRUI. Retrieved from https://www.crui.it/images/demo/crui_web/pubblicazioni/crui_mooc_2015.pdf
CRUI. (2017). Progetto MOOCs Italia—Linee guida nazionali per la predisposizione di MOOCs di qualità erogati dalle Università italiane. CRUI. Retrieved from https://www.crui.it/images/1-_LineeGuidaMOOCsItalia_aprile2017.pdf
De Notaris, D., Melchionna, T., & Reda, V. (2020). Didattica digitale: Chi, come e perché. Roma, IT: Salerno Editrice.
De Rosa, R., & Reda, V. (2013). La rivoluzione dei MOOCs: Un’analisi di policy framework su scala europea. LEA - Lingue e Letterature d’Oriente e d’Occidente, 2, 272–311.
Deimann, M. (2015). The dark side of the MOOC - A critical inquiry on their claims and realities. Current Issues in Emerging ELearning, 2(1). Retrieved from https://scholarworks.umb.edu/ciee/vol2/iss1/3
Emanuel, E. J. (2013). Online education: MOOCs taken by educated few. Nature, 503(7476), 342–342. doi: 10.1038/503342a
Fontanin, M., & Pantò, E. (2019). I MOOCs, opportunità per la formazione di base e l’apprendimento continuo: Una storia (anche) italiana. DigItaliaweb, 1(2019), 76–99. Retrieved from http://digitalia.sbn.it/article/download/2276/1547
Glaser, B. (1978). Theoretical sensitivity: Advances in the methodology of grounded theory. Mill Valley, CA, US: Sociology Press.
Hansen, J. D., & Reich, J. (2015). Democratizing education? Examining access and usage patterns in massive open online courses. Science, 350(6265), 1245–1248. doi: 10.1126/science.aab3782
Havemann, L. (2020). Open in the Evening: Openings and Closures in an Ecology of Practices. In D. Conrad & P. Prinsloo (Eds.), Open(ing) Education (pp. 329–344). Leiden, NL: Brill. doi: 10.1163/9789004422988_015
Head, K. J. (2017). Disrupt this! MOOCs and the promises of technology. Lebanon, NH, US: University Press of New England.
Hodge, C., Moore, S., Lockee, B., Trust, T., & Bond, A. (2020, March 27). The Difference Between Emergency Remote Teaching and Online Learning. Retrieved from https://er.educause.edu/articles/2020/3/the-difference-between-emergency-remote-teaching-and-online-learning
Il Sole 24 ore. (2020). Smart Education. I MOOC delle università. Tutti i corsi online gratuiti. Milano, IT: Il Sole 24 Ore.
Kent, M., & Bennett, R. (2017). What was all that about? Peak MOOC hype and post-MOOC legacies. In Massive open online courses and higher education: What went right, what went wrong and where to next? (pp. 1–8). London, UK and New York, NY, US: Routledge.
Kerr, R., & Eradze, M. (2016). MOOCs: A multi-faceted phenomenon. Italian Journal of Educational Technology, 24(2). doi: 10.17471/2499-4324/897
Kovanović, V., Joksimović, S., Gašević, D., Siemens, G., & Hatala, M. (2015). What public media reveals about MOOCs: A systematic analysis of news reports: What public media reveals about MOOCs. British Journal of Educational Technology, 46(3), 510–527. doi: 10.1111/bjet.12277
Loeffler, E. (2021). Distinguishing types and levels of co-production: Concepts and definitions. In E. Loeffler (Ed.), Co-Production of Public Services and Outcomes (pp. 23–73). Cham, CH: Springer. doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-55509-2_2
Losh, E. (Ed.). (2017). MOOCs and Their Afterlives. Chicago, IL, US: University of Chicago Press. Retrieved from http://www.press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/M/bo26175939.html
Nascimbeni, F. (2020). Open education: OER, MOOC e pratiche didattiche aperte verso l’inclusione digitale educativa. Milano, IT: Franco Angeli. Retrieved from https://ojs.francoangeli.it/_omp/index.php/oa/catalog/book/575
Pappano, L. (2012, November 2). Massive Open Online Courses Are Multiplying at a Rapid Pace. The New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/04/education/edlife/massive-open-online-courses-are-multiplying-at-a-rapid-pace.html
Pickard, L., Shah, D., & De Simone, J. J. (2018). Mapping Microcredentials Across MOOC Platforms. Proceedings of Learning with MOOCS 2018, 17–21. Madrid, SP: IEEE.
Pozzi, F., & Conole, G. (2014). Quale futuro per i MOOC in Italia? Italian Journal of Educational Technology, 22(3). doi: 10.17471/2499-4324/187
Reda, V., & Kerr, R. (2020, March 31). Moocs have helped Italy keep teaching during the pandemic | Times Higher Education (THE). Retrieved from https://www.timeshighereducation.com/blog/moocs-have-helped-italy-keep-teaching-during-pandemic?fbclid=IwAR2D17rscLWOH_D8ylD7e-uQse2jxEKo_1dnlUQJCzQXyqQofzlXvhq4vtw
Reich, J., & Ruipérez-Valiente, J. A. (2019). The MOOC pivot. Science, 363(6423), 130–131. doi: 10.1126/science.aav7958
Shah, D. (2013, December 22). MOOCs in 2013: Breaking down the numbers - EdSurge News. Retrieved from https://www.edsurge.com/news/2013-12-22-moocs-in-2013-breaking-down-the-numbers
Shah, D. (2018, December 17). EdX puts up a paywall for graded assignments. Retrieved from https://www.classcentral.com/report/edx-paywall-graded-assignments/
Shah, D. (2019, January 7). Year of MOOC-based degrees: A review of MOOC stats and trends in 2018 — Class Central [Report]. Retrieved from https://www.classcentral.com/report/moocs-stats-and-trends-2018/
Shah, D. (2020a, August 17). By the Numbers: MOOCs During the Pandemic. Retrieved from https://www.classcentral.com/report/mooc-stats-pandemic/
Shah, D. (2020b, November 30). By The Numbers: MOOCs in 2020 — Class Central [Class Central]. Retrieved from https://www.classcentral.com/report/mooc-stats-2020/
Siemens, G. (2013). Massive open online courses: Innovation in education? In R. McGreal, W. Kinuthia, & S. Marshall (Eds.), Open Educational Resources: Innovation, Research and Practice (pp. 5–15). Vancouver, CA, US: Commonwealth of Learning and Athabasca University. Retrieved from https://auspace.athabascau.ca/bitstream/handle/2149/3472/pub_PS_OER-IRP_web.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y#page=31
Stracke, C. M., Downes, S., Conole, G., Burgos, D., & Nascimbeni, F. (2019). Are MOOCs Open Educational Resources? A literature review on history, definitions and typologies of OER and MOOCs. Open Praxis, 11(4), 331. doi: 10.5944/openpraxis.11.4.1010
Tammaro, A. M., Ciancio, L., De Rosa, R., Pantò, E., & Nascimbeni, F. (2017). Digital libraries in open education: The Italy case. In C. Grana, & L. Baraldi (Eds.), Digital Libraries and Archives: 13th Italian Research Conference on Digital Libraries. Modena, IT: IRCDL.
UNESCO. (2017, July 20). Open Educational Resources (OER). Retrieved from https://en.unesco.org/themes/building-knowledge-societies/oer
UNESCO. (2019, October 8). Draft Recommendation on Open Educational Resources—UNESCO Digital Library. UNESCO. Retrieved from https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000370936.locale=en
Weller, M. (2015). MOOCs and the Silicon Valley narrative. Journal of Interactive Media in Education, 2015(1), Art. 5. doi: 10.5334/jime.am
Wiley, D. (2015). The MOOC Misstep and the Open Education Infrastructure. In C. J. Bonk, M. M. Lee, T. C. Reeves, & T. H. Reynolds (Eds.), MOOCs and Open Education Around the World (1st ed., pp. 3–11). London, UK: Routledge. doi: 10.4324/9781315751108-2
Zawacki-Richter, O., Bozkurt, A., Alturki, U., & Aldraiweesh, A. (2018). What Research Says About MOOCs – An Explorative Content Analysis. The International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, 19(1). doi: 10.19173/irrodl.v19i1.3356
Zuboff, S. (2019). The age of surveillance capitalism: The fight for a human future at the new frontier of power (First edition). New York, NY, US: PublicAffairs.