In our last blog we told you about the three H2020 INTEGRITY SPOCs (Small Private Online Course) that have gone live. We are excited to announce that we are currently designing another online course called a MOOC (Massive Open Online Course). This blog will explain why a new MOOC is a useful addition to the SPOCs and take you along the design process.

First things first, what is a MOOC exactly and how does it differ from a SPOC? A MOOC is a free open access course with no limit to the number of participants. MOOCs are an accessible way for thousands of people from all over the world to follow a course simultaneously. The learning activities in a MOOC are specifically designed to be suitable for a large number of participants, for example by including built-in feedback. The main difference between a MOOC and a SPOC is that a MOOC is aimed at a much wider audience. In addition, unlike a SPOC, a MOOC does not require intensive guidance from an instructor.

The decision to develop a MOOC for the H2020 INTEGRITY project was easily made due to the large audience we could reach with this format. Our aim for this MOOC is to empower PhD-students from all over the world when it comes to issues of integrity in supervision and mentoring. Students will not only learn about authorship, power relations and intellectual property, but most importantly they will learn how to handle difficult situations surrounding these topics. In educational design, it is crucial to think about the application of your course to the real situation of the learner. What can we do to ensure the learner uses the knowledge from the course in real life? In educational science, the application of learned materials in real life is called transfer.

There are many inspirational quotes on transfer, and I do not know who said them first, but Takeda Shingen (Japan, 1521-1573) has a chance of being at least one of the first when he said the following:

“Knowledge is not power, it is only potential. Applying that knowledge is power. Understanding why and when to apply that knowledge is wisdom.”

This connection between knowledge and power is exactly what our new MOOC will be about. While designing a course, we always ask ourselves what the learner needs from us to be able to apply new knowledge to their lives. That is why, in this new MOOC, we consciously help the learner make the connection to their own experience. Students who participate in the MOOC will start with a little reflection on who they are, what kind of person their supervisor is and how empowered they already feel to recognize and react to integrity issues. During the course they will watch -staged- videos of conversations between PhD-candidates and their supervisor, and reflect on the integrity issues being raised. They will learn how an expert would react to the situations and compare this to their own initial analysis. This way, they learn to recognize integrity issues in their own work environment and practice their reactions to these kinds of issues.

In short, the knowledge on integrity PhD-candidates gain from the course is aimed to empower them in real life.

We are not there yet, though. The designing process is not something we rush through. Apart from thinking about educational transfer, we formulate learning objectives, choose the optimal corresponding learning activities and we take our time to outline the course and make sure the order of the learning activities makes sense. A high-quality, well-thought-out design is at the root of a course; it is the frame for the content you write, the videos you record and the visuals you develop.

We are looking forward to developing this MOOC further and opening it up to the world once it’s finished!