Troubles like Specific Learning Disabilities affect about 15 % of the general population. And yet, teachers are scarcely aware of the impact of such disabilities on school life. Families are unprepared to cope with the specific needs and obstacles of their children with SLD. The response to such troubles varies in each country of the European Union. Only a few documents about dyslexia are available and some of them are not reliable or accessible to the general public. Online training is hardly accessible and only in English about dyslexia. To provide a better answer to that problematic situation, we plan to create “MOOC Dys”, an international and multilingual MOOC which can provide : - formal online training for teachers - reliable information on how to cope in the daily life and school obstacles - free and usable resources for families as well as for teachers - space of expression for all the persons involved in those subjects - testimony of people who succeeded in inventing strategies to cope with those conditions Number and profile of participants We expect to attract about 1500 participants to this MOOC. They are of 4 different types: - youngsters with SLD - parents of children and teenagers with SLD - teachers who face students with SLD - general public interested in those subjects Activities The activities will be proposed 100 % online, but participants will be encouraged to use the provided material to meet and organize live events in their schools or associations. This MOOC will comprise different online modules corresponding to different - a common body for all the participants - a specific set of modules for teachers - a specific set of modules for parents This MOOC will be collaborative and we will invite the learners to contribute to the content through portfolios and testimony (text, pictures,video, audio files) about the problems they face at home and in the classroom and the solutions and strategies they implemented to overcome their situation. We will provide two types of certification for our learners : a daily life certification for parents and children, and a learning certification for teachers. Those certificate will be worth 1 ECVT each. We will also organize dissemination activities like an international conference gathering about 80 persons in Mons and workshops like an interactive seminar for teachers in Paris. The MOOC will also propose an online platform with a library of OER (Open Educational Resources) for parents and youngsters. Those OER aim to help them face family life and school life. We’ll also propose OER for the teachers who want to better integrate students with SLD in their classroom. Methodology The methodology we will use for this project is a mix of the ADDIE method and the Design Thinking. We will - first identify the learners’ needs, - empathize with them and their condition - brainstorm about the best solutions to meet those needs and challenges - create a prototype and test it with a panel of learners with the end users’ profile - distribute the content of the MOOC through a collaborative virtual learning environment We will use online collaborative tools and live meetings to coordinate the project and structure the work of each partner according to the general plan. Long term impacts The long term impact of the project will involve not only the learners, but the partner organizations of the project themselves : The learners: - the participants will use online and on site tools to experience a better life at home as well as in the classroom; - the provided material and resources will be delivered under the Creative Commons Licence 4.0, so everybody can use and modify those contents according to their specific needs - the learners can also disseminate this newly acquired knowledge in their own environment and network, even years after the MOOC - we will create a downloadable book about how to design, create and animate a MOOC or a massive online course: this will help other persons or institutions to create their own project of the same kind The partner organizations: - the partners organizations are quite different and complement each other very well : we’ll all learn from each other’s experience and specific skills - the experience gathered during this project will be reusable by each partner for new projects, internationally as well as at home - the partner organizations will form a European network of experts and professionals which can last long after this particular project
Specific Learning Disabilities affect about 15 % of the general population, unfortunately teachers are scarcely aware of the impact of such disabilities on school life. Additionally, families are unprepared to cope with the specific needs and obstacles of their children with SLD. The ways of support vary in each country of the EU but all share similar challenges with a lack of open and reliable material for the general public. For example: online training about dyslexia is hardly accessible and only in English. To provide a better answer to that problematic reality, we have created the project “MOOC Dys”, an international and multilingual MOOC. Its 1st edition has provided: - online training for teachers - reliable information on how to cope in the daily life and school obstacles - free and usable resources for families and teachers - space for expression for all involved - testimony of coping strategies Mooc participants We have attracted 12.373 users in 3 categories: - Parents of children and teenagers with SLD - Teachers and professionals who face students with SLD - Paramedical professionals (speech therapists, occupation therapists, etc.) Activities The MOOCDys was organize around 7 weeks of classes: - Introduction to the course itself (week 0) - Common body for all the participants (4 weeks) - Specific set of modules for teachers and professionals (2 weeks) - Specific set of modules for parents (2 weeks) The collaborative aspect of this MOOC was very important, and we have therefore made it mandatory. In order to obtain a certification, learners had to discuss, exchange and contribute to the content through testimony about the SLD challenges they face and the solutions and strategies they implemented to overcome their situation. In addition, 7 webinars have been organised in French (the largest learning community), one each week, to deepen some topics by inviting expert to interview. There were 2 types of certification: one for the parents’ module and one for the teachers and professional module. The delivery of those certificates was based on the full completion of the course (all modules and exercises) but also on a set a participation criteria. In addition to the MOOC itself, several other activities and OER have been made: - Conferences in all the partner countries gathering over 301 participants - 42 workshops with parents and specialists to go over the content of the MOOC and beyond - 1 syllabus gathering all the resources of the online course to ensure the sustainability of the content and its transferability - 2 toolboxes, one for each module, with a total of 60 tools to help learners with SLD Methodology The methodology we have used for this project is a mix of the ADDIE method and the Design Thinking: - first identified the learners’ needs via surveys in SLD social media groups, - empathized with them and their condition - brainstormed during the M2 with experts about the best solutions to meet those expressed needs - created a prototype and test it with a panel of learners with the end users’ profile - distributed the content of the MOOC through a collaborative virtual learning environment - engaged a group of 106 ambassadors (active parents and professionals) that supported the community around the MOOC. All along during the project, we have used online collaborative tools (SLACK and ZOOM) and live meetings to coordinate and structure the partnership work according to the general plan. Long term impacts On the learners: - the participants who have used and who will use the online and on-site tools will be able to support better the learning of pupils with SLD, at home and in the classroom; - the provided material delivered under the Creative Commons Licence 4.0, allows everybody to use and modify those contents according to their specific needs - the learners have and will continue to disseminate acquired knowledge in their own environment and network, even years after the MOOC, thanks to materials on the website - participating in the discussion on the multilingual MOOC forum allowed learners to create a sense of community and mutual support while sharing their experience with SLD and their methods to cope with the challenges On the partner organizations: - the partners organizations are quite different and complement each other very well: we have all learned from each other’s experience and specific skills - the experience gathered during this project has already proven and will continue to be reusable by each partner for new projects, internationally as well as at home. - the partner organizations and several experts form an informal European network of experts and professionals which is lasting after this particular project - collaborative work during the content creation phase for MOOC allowed partners to acquire new digital skills like: creating videos with multilingual subtitles, animated content and infographics