Active learning with the use of MOOCs at Chalmers University of technology – Experiences, challenges and future

Paper in proceeding, 2016

© 2016, University of Minho. All rights reserved. Chalmers University of Technology (Chalmers) has joined the MOOCs movement and is from 2014 a partner of the edX platform. The first MOOC that Chalmers offered (2015) was a course about the material graphene “Graphene science technology”. The second MOOC offered at Chalmers was the MOOC “Sustainability in everyday life” (2015). This year 2016 Chalmers University of Technology is offering a MOOC “Sensing the planet”. This MOOC is an energy and earth science course in two parts which aims at answering questions like What do your senses tell you about planet Earth? and Do we know enough about our planet? The aim of this paper is to report from Chalmers experiences of, and research on MOOCs and to discuss how MOOCs can be used to support active learning in engineering education. If we think of active learning as an approach to instruction in which students engage the material they study through reading, watching, listening, writing, discussing and reflecting it is natural to think of a MOOC as a valuable resource for active learning. Chalmers' research regarding MOOCs is presented and discussed. Chalmers conducts a strategic venture with MOOCs, opening for enhanced cooperation with other universities to achieve high quality in online web-based education, both on campus and at a distance. Chalmers basic assumption is that MOOCs of good quality, pedagogically well-planned and with engaging learning resources should have the potential to support active learning in engineering education. Several other universities in Sweden and the Nordic countries are now offering MOOCs and explore the opportunities and challenges with MOOCs. A conference “MOOCs in Scandinavia" was arranged in Stockholm 11 - 12 June 2015 (Karolinska Institutet, 2015). The 2nd MOOCs in Scandinavia Conference, June 9-10th 2016, is arranged by Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg.