mooc, digital learning... an opportunity for egypt

Y. Epelboin UPMC-Sorbonne Universités 3rd Int. Conf. Achieving sustainable development in Egypt 2020 Genève 13/09/2014

MOOC, digital learning…:an opportunity for Egypt!

Yves EpelboinProfessor Emeritus

UPMC-Sorbonne Universités, ParisPast CIO for teaching and Learning

[email protected]


Agenda

• The context• The tools• A new era

•A chance for Egypt•It already started


Information technology

• Irreversible impact on all societies and countries– Unlimited access to a huge amount of information (true

or false)– A turmoil in the process of delivering knowledge and

information– A revolution in the acts of learning and teaching

• Mandatory to acquire new skills for the next generation– For the daily work– Public and private lifes


Information technology and Internet


Learning, teaching and the digital world

• Learning: acquisition of knowledge and skills through experience and study

• Teaching: act of showing and explaining how to do, how to understand

• Digital world: tools, media & methods to learn and to teach

• Started in the 90’s with the web (hypertext) and the PC


VirtualVirtualofficeoffice

GuidanceGuidanceTeachers Teachers exchangeexchange

StudentsStudentsexchangeexchange

Learning Management System

Tool able to provide the functions of a classroom.

CoursewareCourseware


LMS in the world

LMS % world

Moodle 44.1 Open source

Blackboard 37.3

Desire2Learn 7.9

Sakai 6.1 Open source

Source: ListEdTech.com http://listedtech.com/tags/lms


A new eraA new era


Massive Open Online Course

• Massive: large number of participants– Definition of large?

• Depending on the subject• Lurkers, true participants and certification

• Open:– No prerequisite but must register– Not Open Source

• Online– More than contents: self contained


Massive distance teaching: a short history

• 1972: Open University (UK) • 2000: Learning Management Systems (LMS)• 2002: Open Educational Resources (OER)• 2008: George Siemens “all learners, all teachers”

The connectivist MOOC, cMOOC• 2011: S. Thrun, Stanford

xMOOC and transmissive MOOC• 2012: Coursera, edX…


Growth of MOOCs

https://www.edsurge.com/n/2013-12-22-moocs-in-2013-breaking-down-the-numbers


Provider distribution

https://www.edsurge.com/n/2013-12-22-moocs-in-2013-breaking-down-the-numbers


Mass education: a priority for the 21st century

• In Africa and Asia one shouldopen one university every day!


Internet accessibility

Mobile devices are becoming available everywhere


MOOC: a chance for Egypt

• In Egypt a young population to educate– + 2%/year– Median age: 24 years

• The only solution: massive teaching

BUT…


A concept to be adapted to Egypt

• Mix face-to-face & distance learning

• Distance learning and local tutors

• Face-to-face interchanges among students: local “houses of MOOCs”


Ensure the quality of teaching

• Control of pre-requisites for students• Educate educators and tutors• Train teachers in the use of modern technology• Examinations and grades


A concept to adapt: education & culture

• Need to adapt to the national culture– The way to learn, the method to teach must be adapted

to the nation culture and history– International standardization is a danger

MOOCs must be build with the participation of Egyptian Academics

The organization must be adapted to the Egyptian life and culture


An important investment

• Course scenario renewed• New documents and OER• Massive use of short videos (chunks 5-7 up to 15

mn)• Need of a local organization

to sustain the MOOCs

A MOOC is a complex team project

A MOOC is a complex team project


Cost of a MOOC

• 8 weeks course : 500 h of skilled staff– Teachers– Pedagogical support staff– Technical support staff

• Video studios• A network of servers to deliver the courses• Houses of MOOCshttp://www.slideshare.net/YvesEpelboin/mooc-a-european-perspective

http://www.eunis.org/download/2014/papers/eunis2014_submission_3.pdf


What to do?

• Adapted MOOCs and distance learning are the only solution to solve the need to educate masses of young people

Solutions must be adapted to the

Egyptian society and culture


It already started

• November 2013:Edraak, an education initiative of the Queen Rania Foundation for Education and Development (QRF)

• July 2014: Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Labor announced the launch of an open-platform Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) portal designed to bridge the gap between education and employment in Saudi Arabia and throughout the Arab world


What next

• Work together to build a project for Egypt– Available forces (academics,

support…)– Cost estimates– Teaching priorities

• Funding?


Discussion

[email protected]

mooc, digital learning... an opportunity for egypt

Education

sustainable development

digital learning

massive distance teaching

certification open

open sourcesource

open sourceblackboard

digital world learning

acts of learning