Moscow (RU), November 2013 - Dr Maria A. Pannatier is Head of the Chair of ICTs in Education at the Moscow State University of Economics, Statistics and Informatics. Under her leadership the professional education programme on Instructional Design and Distance Education was introduced in Russia. At ONLINE EDUCA Berlin, she will present the Mesi MOOC Initiative.

Can you please describe the initiative?

Maria Pannatier: The MESI initiative is part of the OpenupEd project launched by the European Association of Distance Teaching Universities (EADTU). All the partners, as well as MESI, operate in the same framework and with common principles based on a not-for-profit model. The project aims at creating a free European-brand partnership platform for sharing, providing, and ensuring open and quality higher education with two main features: “openness to learners” and “digital openness”. The European Commission has welcomed this initiative by EADTU, as the objectives of OpenupEd are “a key part of the Opening up Education” strategy recently launched by the EC.

At the moment, OpenupEd provides eighty MOOCs free of charge and in twelve languages. This does not mean, however, that every MOOC is available in twelve languages; these are different MOOCs provided by institutions in the partnership.

According to Darco Jansen, Programme Manager at EADTU and OpenupEd Coordinator, “... for the moment, OpenupEd is using a decentralized model for the operation of MOOCs, which means that each institution is fully responsible for its own MOOCs operation, including its quality assurance. As a consequence, OpenupEd is not offering any LMS/CMS system for MOOCs at this moment. Most OpenupEd partners already have a stable learning environment that supports students with online education on a massive scale. For new OpenupEd partners, we have to open up the possibility for them to use a dedicated LMS/CMS of other OpenupEd partners. The centralized efforts are related to the quality branding, in addition to marketing and website“.

At the moment, the project is open for new public and private partners. Eleven partners joined OpenupEd from the start. So far, ten institutions have confirmed that they will probably join the initiative in the near future. Further information and conditions for partnership can be found at http://www.openuped.eu.

How long has it existed? Who are the organizers? What is the content like?

Maria Pannatier: The initiative started more than a year ago, when EADTU partners started to discuss the next project to undertake in the area of research and development about “opening” education. MESI, as an EADTU member, responded positively to these joint efforts and became a third partner among representatives of 21 other countries.

Our partnership in the EADTU OpenupEd initiative, and later the joint application for the EU-funded HOME project (which is going to start in January 2014), pushed us to develop MESI MOOCs. The project was launched in April 2013, and the work started soon thereafter. Our contribution has been implemented and coordinated by the Research Center of Open and Distant Education of Institute of Computer Technologies, but other departments are also involved in its development. Course authors from education departments provide and develop the content under the guidance and coordination of the Research Center’s instructional designer and expert. The IT Department ensures quality of the project’s technical component. The Marketing Department is involved in promotion of the project.

So far, we have decided to start with three subject areas in which MESI specializes and which are very popular among international students today: Economics, Computer Science, and Russian as a Foreign Language. We offer now two courses on our portal in each category: Basics of Economics, Taxes and Taxation in Russia, Business Russian, Let us Speak Russian, Basics of Distance Education, and ICT Competence at the elementary, advanced, and professional levels. The key objective, of course, is not quantity, but the quality and accessibility of the online courses for those who really need education on demand.

Each course presents a structured pool of learning resources with some varieties: recorded video lectures with demonstrations and PowerPoint presentations combined with audio. There are assignments after each module, as well as links to supplementary online resources for further study. Cooperation with peers in each course is provided by small group tasks and discussion forums. Teachers support and assessment are available upon request for each course. Though the courses are designed for self-paced studies, we offer students information about recommended deadlines and the number of academic weeks foreseen for each course. In some courses, an individual final project must be presented to get the certificate.

All courses are open as OER under Creative Commons after onsite registration.

Which target groups do the MOOCs address?

Maria Pannatier : Our courses are offered for informal and formal leaning. The target audience is university Bachelor and Master Degree students, working specialists and teachers, those who are interested in university level education and LLL and professional development programmes.

What experience has already been evaluated?

Maria Pannatier: Of course, first we studied the demands of our portal users and developed a poll of needs for open education. From April till October 2013, the number of students increased constantly, and at present it has 400 users. So far, 73% of the users have preferred to study in English and 27% in Russian. A total of 63% became interested in the courses offered in general and 26% searched for a specific course. Statistics show that 39% were interested in the course of Russian as a Foreign Language, 27% in Economics and Finance, and 14% in Distance Education, and 89% of the participants reported that they are to complete the courses.

Secondly, we monitor the attendance and involvement with the course materials. As mentioned above, 89% of the students said they are going to complete the course. Furthermore, 46% are interested in having the full offer, including learning, teachers’ support and consultancy, and accreditation and certification. Another 26% are doing self-studies with accreditation, and 11% are undertaking self-studies only. We’ve been told that 68% are interested in lectures and resources, 26% in tasks and tests, and only 5% in communication with peers.

We now monitor the engagement and percentage of retention and hope by the end of the academic year to be able to measure and analyse some results. We also hope that some students will be able to complete the courses and will order the final assessment and certificate, for which there is a 25-euro certification fee. The postal costs depend on the country.

For further information, you can visit the MESI initiative website and the site of EADTU umbrella initiative. By the way, the European Commission recently approved an application for the HOME project, which aims "to develop and strengthen an open network for European cooperation on open education in general and MOOCs in particular". The HOME project will start in January 2014, and one of the partners is going to present it at this year’s ONLINE EDUCA during the EACEA session.