SCORE2020 is building on a project consortium of regional players in the field of open, online and flexible education. The partnership is building regional expertise centres on open education and MOOCs (Massive Open On-line Courses) with the support of the European platform of OpenupEd experts. 1. The regional expertise centres will promote, stimulate and activate the development and the delivery of MOOCs and other modes of open education as well as use of MOOCs in their region. 2. The regional expertise centres constitute together a European strategic partnership, which is supported by the European OpenupEd MOOCs platform. This will valorise the MOOCs developed in different regions in a broader European and global context. It also will strengthen each of the regional centres by sharing and developing transnational expertise of which each can benefit. Together, the regional expertise centres form a European partnership to exchange and jointly expertise and to develop a common approach to quality in MOOCS. WHY? Because, Europe needs to invest in flexible educational solutions. MOOCs is an important tool to enable these changes. MOOCs in essence combines the driver of new technology with the opportunities of Open Education and the open development movements. This is also embraced by the EC in their OER agenda; “Digital learning and recent trends in (OER) are enabling fundamental changes in the education world, expanding the educational offer beyond its traditional formats and borders. … Europe should exploit the potential of OER much more than is currently the case.” SCORE2020 aims to support this by enabling regional expertise centres to promote quality European MOOCs within a national and European strategic partnership. The partnership consists of experts in the field of open education and MOOCs are coming from a combination of Open Universities and conventional universities that are exploring the opportunities of open education and MOOCs for some time now like the Open Universiteit Nederland (NL), UNED (E), the Norway Opening University (NOU, Norgesuniversitetet), Univerza v Ljublijana (SI), DCU – Dublin City University (IR), UNINETTUNO - UTIU(IT) and FIED – Fédération Interuniversitaire de l’Enseignent à Distance – (FR). Within the SCORE2020 project, these universities will work together on a European level to strengthen their European cooperation within OpenupEd as well as their national cooperation within new to be established regional centres of expertise. The project will enhance European collaboration between these regional centres in a strategic partnership that is coordinated by EADTU. These regional centres will be focussing on open education and will create synergetic connections to existing initiatives (e.g. on OER, e-learning, quality assessment, etc.). As such, it will incorporate previous projects and stimulate regional support centres. Partners in SCORE2020 believe that strong (regional) collaboration between all actors and stakeholders is needed such that professionals (academic, teachers, tutors, etc) and their institutions will become leading in the changes and new opportunities created by MOOCs and open education. This will include the role of governments as they are increasingly becoming aware of the drivers and of the possibilities of online and open education. The strategic partnership of these regional centres at the European level will generate a strong platform of exchange of expertise and experience that strengthens both levels. The approach is based on partners that are frontrunners with an imbedded position in the existing infrastructure to support others in the region. As such the project continues to build on the existing activities of each partner in their respective regions. The methodology aims to strengthen the efficiency, impact and quality of each regional centre, and moreover to increase the support in the innovative field of MOOCs and other forms of Open Education. To this end SCORE2020 partnership will focus on the following four themes organised in four respective work packages: - Support by awareness- and training materials - Instructional design models for MOOCs - Evidence based practices and quality of use - Organisation and business models for Regional Centre in European partnership In all, the project will create more innovative universities through the development and delivery of MOOCs and online/blended and open learning formats; will contribute to knowledge regions by MOOCs and open education; will create regional support centers for MOOCs, based on existing expert structures like Norgesuniversitetet, the OUNl, the Irish National Centre for Digital Higher Education and others. They will form a strategic partnership, which will result in synergies for the dissemination of MOOCs at the International level, QA of MOOCs and the development of expertise on the design and delivery of MOOCs, new pedagogies and subject- related aspects of MOOCs.
The MOOC hype in the media might be over, but investment in and uptake of MOOCs are increasing significantly worldwide. By the end of 2015, approximately 4,200 courses were offered by 500+ universities to 35 million students. This has increased by 2016 to 6,850 courses by over 700 universities to 58 million students (Class Central, 2016). However, these figures exclude many European MOOC offering as Class Central mainly lists MOOC offering of the big (commercial) MOOC platforms. Many European universities have built an own platform or use a regional platform with a limited visibility. MOOCs are becoming mainstream in Europe. Already four independent European studies show a strong MOOC involvement of higher education institutions (HEIs). At least about 45% of HEIs in Europe are having MOOCs or planning to develop MOOCs soon against 12% in the US. Although some differences are observed between countries, it seems that a strong European involvement is widespread. These surveys show that the uptake in Eastern Europe is catching up. However, strongest involvement is seen in those regions with supportive policies and structures. Most European universities are not accepted by the big MOOC platforms in the US by lacking the reputation (in ranking) and finances to become a partner. Consequently, many HEIs in Europe that want to be involved in MOOCs cannot connect to big MOOC players and are potentially left behind or need to invest in platform, tools and services themselves. As MOOCs are for massive audiences and relate to economy of scale – regional support structures and European strategic partnerships are essential. To this end the SCORE2020 project builds a European consortium of regional players in offering support of MOOCs and open education. The partnership will stimulate the set-up of regional support centres for the development and use of MOOCs and open education. These regional support centres promote, stimulate and activate the development and the delivery of MOOCs and other modes of open education as well as use of MOOCs in their region. SCORE2020 partners are: • EADTU • Open Universiteit Nederland • UNED – Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia • Università Telematica Internazionale UNINETTUNO • Dublin City University • Fédération Interuniversitaire de l'Enseignement à Distance (FIED) • Norwegian Agency for Digital Learning in Higher Education / Universitetet i Tromsø • Univerza v Ljubljani The partnership is representative for the diversity in Europe and has strong collaborations with other regions in Europe to ensure European-wide connections to SCORE2020. The added value of this partnership is that it represents institutions that already have a position in their respective regions in open and online education, and as institution is connected to the supportive infrastructure in their country. They constitute together a European strategic partnership, which is supported by the European OpenupEd MOOC initiative. They valorised the MOOCs developed in different regions in a broader European and global context. It also strengthens each of the regional centres by sharing and developing transnational expertise of which each can benefit. Specific objectives of the SCORE2020 project are - determining the needs of different support structures and create awareness of existing support materials for different target groups - exchange and jointly develop expertise on the design and development of MOOCs - develop a common approach to quality in MOOCs - provide various support to stakeholders (material, events, training weeks, train-the-trainer mOOC) - stimulate policy awareness of the role of MOOCs and on role governments in MOOC support structure - examine various possible regional support structures including possible business models in MOOC provision - create a European partnership of regional support structure in the field of MOOC and open education. In total 13 Intellections outputs were realised tailored to the identified needs of various target groups. Next five Multiplier Events and two training events were organised. Quality assurance frameworks, the different support scenario’s, the financial models on MOOCs and the Business Canvas Models developed in the SCORE2020 project are already re-used and applied by various institutions and even used in the setup of support regions like in Slovenia and Czech Republic. SCORE2020 partners will continue to strengthen the operations of each partners and beyond as part of OpenupEd. They will continue to promote local initiatives such that all are keeping their own identity and where possible strengthen the uptake of MOOCs at European level. Moreover, new partnerships are initiated and a European MOOC Consortium is under development.