This chapter will describe the first experience MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) performed in a Portuguese tertiary institution. The “MOOC bullying in schools: characterization and intervention” was conceived, promoted and evaluated as a pedagogical experience by the ICT Competence Center, School of Education, Polytechnic Institute of Santarém (CC ICT ESE / IPS). It will focus on: a) the classification of readers in origin and typology concept; b) the construction of the course in its pedagogical aspect, connectivist exploration and inspiration; c) the presentation and discussion of the results of the evaluation performed by the participants; d) strengths and weaknesses that allow taking important lessons to be applied in future MOOCs.
TopIntroduction
The ICT Competency Centers (CC ICTs) comprise nine institutions that have origin in protocols established between the Ministry of Education and Science from Portugal and the entities in which they are integrated, the majority being institutions of higher education.
In terms of mission, CC ICT, operate along the clustered and not clustered Schools of all levels of education, in close collaboration with Team Resources and Educational Technologies (Erte), the Directorate General of Education (DGE).
The mission of CC ICT is to support schools, regarding the educational use of information and communication technologies (ICT) and, ultimately, the promotion of an innovative teaching leading to improved processes of teaching and learning. The most striking features of CC ICT are thus support proximity, speed up the actual response to the specific needs of each school and, last but not least, support the initiatives of national flavor, launched by the schools under the umbrella of the Ministry of Education and Science.
The CC ICT belonging to the Education School (ESE) of the Polytechnic Institute of Santarém (IPS) was established in 1997 and its main objectives are as follows:
- a)
Design and implement workshops / courses training for teachers.
- b)
Conduct session’s dissemination of ICT tools and innovative practices in the context of educational areas.
- c)
Conduct information sessions for teachers, students and parents about safety issues in the use of Internet, digital footprint and e-skills.
- d)
Provide support directly, or at distance, to the schools involved in projects and developed in collaboration with the CC ICT, or other projects concerning the use of ICT in schools.
- e)
Participate in meetings and conferences as a means of sharing knowledge, experiences, and practical tools and as a way to encourage the improvement of educational strategies promoting the advancement of research into the use of ICT in educational context.
- f)
Ensuring the creation, organization and dissemination of regular resources, and the sharing of activities and experiences, through websites and social networks CC ICT.
- g)
Collaborate with various partners (municipalities, institutions, teachers' associations, municipalities and school libraries) promoting the dissemination of knowledge, experiences, tools and educational practices within the educational community extended.
It was within the framework of these objectives that the CC ICT ESE/IPS created an organizational structure for research and development - The FormLab - that carries out its activities in the area of eLearning in its broadest sense - teaching and learning that uses electronic means, encompassing not only the distance learning but also blended learning and classroom learning that values ICT and multimedia resources.
The FormLab is intended primarily to teachers, researchers and trainers, and assumed as a framework for experimental and laboratorial character where new models, activities and resources on open learning are developed and tested by teachers, researchers and trainers. These offers are explored in the FormLab portal and their results are distributed in different ways to the school community.
Teachers at all levels of education and trainers are invited to collaborate with FormLab not only by participating on their free training but also for teach in courses that they have designed and that meet the principles set out in FormLab goals.
Taking into consideration these principles some researchers of FormLab team decided to create a MOOC in which participants were the center of learning, teaching, reflection and sharing, using resources such as videos, texts, podcasts, and discussion forums.
The thematic of Bullying in School was chosen because is a thematic that is on the agenda and is a general concern both for teachers, parents and teenagers. Participants of the training activities previously performed in FormLab, when asked about which issues they wanted to see worked into future training activities, revealed that Bulling was an issue that should be addressed.
This MOOC proposes the use of a large variety of tools to establish an interaction between course participants, to encourage a debate around the content, collaboratively further questioning and reflecting on the themes versed.