Understanding the faculty perspectives influencing their innovative practices in MOOCs/SPOCs: a case study

Learning in environments such as Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) and its variations have become a turning point in the design and range of university courses offered, although there is some difficulty in transforming their pedagogical discourse. Additionally, flexible and skillful faculty are required to respond to the diversity and continuous social changes to ensure quality teaching. Understanding the transformations that emerge from the innovative experiences supported by these new learning environments requires an understanding of the faculty who perform them as well as their previous experiences, because it is they who interpret, filter and redefine the proposed changes. Using a pedagogical discourse-based approach, this paper analyzes the backgrounds of the faculty who participate in MOOCs, Small Private Online Courses (SPOCs) or other projects, and interprets the factors that influence their understanding of the practices in these environments. We have found that despite the ignorance of the pedagogical issues of the MOOC phenomenon, faculty with traditional beliefs are compelled to transform their practices using this kind of course design. However, their interests are more focused on the social value of learning by promoting their research areas in an entertaining way, than on the pedagogical value of online education through innovating their practices.

International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education