Presentation at European Commission DG GROW's High-level Conference "Promoting Online Training Opportunities for the Workforce in Europe" (Brussels, 4 June 2019). The presentation argues that a crowd-sourced open education ecosystem, called MOOC Agora, can address employment challenges by implementing an 8-stage MOOC for a realistic employment business circle. In this context, a new, qualification-centered format of MOOCs is presented, the qMOOC.

1. Crowd-sourced Open Education
Strategy for Employment in Europe
Stylianos Mystakidis MSc MA PMP
"Promoting Online Training Opportunities for the Workforce in Europe"
High-level conference (Brussels, 4 June 2019)

2. Stylianos Mystakidis
MSc
Mechanical
Engineering
Project
Management
Professional
(PMP)
MA Education
in Virtual
Worlds
Coordinator,
Open
Education
Europa,
European
Commission
Learning
Manager &
Innovator @
University
of Patras
PhD
University of
Jyväskylä

3. Rationale
• Policy framework proposal
• More, faster & better SMEs workforce online
training
• Online Marketplace Platform
• Qualification-focused open online courses

4. Outline
I. Inspiration
II. Policy Context (why)
III. MOOCs & SMEs Training
IV. Crowd-sourced Open Education Strategy for
Employment: MOOC Agora (how)
V. qMOOCs: MOOCs for Qualifications (what)
VI. Recommendations for Open Education &
SMEs

5. I.
Inspiration + Experience

7. Open Education
Innovation
• 1st Big Open Online Course
(BOOC) in Greece
• Blended eLearning
• 3D VLE: Social Virtual Reality
• 310 participants
• Awards

8. Open Education Europa
• Join us now!
Education in the
Digital Era HLC 2014

9. European Innovation Initiative
Teachers Contest 2015
http://openeducationeuropa.eu/

10. University of Patras
eLearning Courses Project
Smart Certified Life-Long
Learning For All (2015-18)

11. SG1: Learning providers and the challenge of TEL:
Enhancing teachers‘ and trainers‘ skills
(2017-2020)

12. II.
Policy Context

14. Grand Coalition Action Map

15. Policy Recommendation
“Address the e-skills shortage challenge amidst
of record-high European youth unemployment
through open education for flexible mass scale
upskilling”
Digital Agenda Assembly 2012 (Jobs & Skills)

16. Three Challenges for Mass Open
Education for Employment
1. Design and offer more MOOCs in more EU
regions, countries & languages
2. Create new models to accelerate MOOC
production to address e-skills needs
3. Facilitate the design of better MOOCs,
tailored-made for SMEs workforce training

17. III.
MOOCs & SMEs Training

18. MOOC
Massive Open Online Course
An online course designed for large number of
participants that can be accessed by anyone
anywhere, as long as they have an internet
connection, is open to everyone without entry
qualifications and offers a full/complete course
experience online for free”
Brouns et al, 2014

20. MOOC Hype Cycle
Open Praxis, 2016

24. IV.
Crowd-sourced Open
Education Strategy for
Employment: MOOC Agora

25. Ancient Athens Agora

26. MOOC Agora
• Participative marketspace for a crowd-sourced open
education ecosystem
• Actors: governments, industries, professional
associations, educational institutions, eLearning /
software vendors, certification providers
• Forming ad hoc alliances to address skill gaps through
open education (qMOOCs)
• Includes mechanism for regulated offer and demand of
MOOCs for employment (auction, bids)
• Based on open innovation and online Communities of
Practice (CoPs)

27. MOOC Agora Processes
1. Job Market Monitoring (e.g. Skills Panorama)
2. Skills Shortage Identification
3. Define Qualification Aims & qMOOC parameters
4. Action Decision (tender, alliances bids)
5. qMOOC Design
6. qMOOC Provision
7. Qualifications Certification
8. Job Market Impact (Evaluation)
Mystakidis et al., 2015

28. Policy Framework: MOOC Agora
Employment Business Circle
Mystakidis et al., 2015

29. MOOC Agora Coalition Actors
• Vendors
• Institutions
• Certificatio
n
• Providers
• Professional
• Associations
• Industry
SMEs
• Chambers
Identify
Verify
Context
Content
Design
Produce
Certify

30. Example: ICT & Tourism
1. CEDEFOP Skills Panorama, National Chambers of
Tourism, Hotel Associations, DG GROW
2. Multi-channel reservation management skills for
10,000 tourism employees in BE, IT, GR, ES
3. Budget allocation for a 4-week, 28-hour qMOOC
production (call for tender with learning outcomes)
4. Forming of multi-partner alliances & bids
5. qMOOC Design (simulations on pilot platform)
6. qMOOC Implementation (4 iterations)
7. Qualifications Certification
8. Job Market Impact & Evaluation (hiring, growth)

31. V.
qMOOCs: MOOCs for
Qualifications

32. qMOOCs:
Qualification MOOCs
• Learner-centered: Empirical construction of
specific qualifications and skills, achieving
visible and verified learning outcomes
• Graduates: employable, qualified, manifold
thinkers
• Pathway to recruitment
• Modifiable, localizable, reusable
• Microcredentials (e.g. badges)

33. qMOOC
Instructional Design Approaches
• Problem-Focused Education (PFE/PBL)
• Gamification – MOOC structured as a game
where the learner “levels up” as s/he completes
learning activities
• Social Virtual Reality for virtual learning
communities
• Evidence-Centered Design (e.g. Simulations)
• Digital Storytelling - MOOC as a unfolding story
in episodes
• Quest-based Learning - MOOC as the structured
completion of learning quests of various nature

34. VI.
Recommendations for
Open Education & SMEs

35. Design Recommendations
for SMEs qMOOCs
• Empower SMEs & workforce
• Intrinsic vs. extrinsic motivation
• Learner-centered focus
• Importance of self-regulation for eLearning
• Social aspect: facilitate learning communities
BizMOOC, 2016

36. Synopsis
1. Use Open Education for more, faster & better
SMEs workforce e-training
– Cost effective solution
– Open & free service & resource for all European citizens
2. Online Marketplace (MOOC Agora)
– Demand- & Outcome-driven
– Multi-partner alliances
3. Qualification-focused MOOC (qMOOC)
– Problem-based | Gamified | Motivation-enhanced
– Modifiable | Localized | Contextualized | Reusable
– Virtual (Online) Communities of Practice for Learners

37. Stylianos Mystakidis
Learning Innovator
linkedin.com/in/stylianosm
@stylianosm2
slideshare.net/stylianosm