A professional development MOOC for learners in low

and middle income countriesPascal Launois1, Pascale Allotey2, Daniel Reidpath3, Dermot Maher1, Bella Ross3

1 UNICEF/UNDP/World bank/WHO Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases (TDR), 2 United Nations University, 3 Monash University

This presentation:• outlines lessons learnt from the pilot of a professional development

MOOC for a culturally and linguistically diverse cohort across low and middle income countries• seeks to address the gap in the literature of how linguistically and

culturally diverse learners engage in online MOOC forums

Background

• Massive open online courses (MOOCs) have increasingly gained in popularity since their inception approximately 10 years ago (Cormier 2008)

• MOOCs widely used for professional development worldwide (Christensen et al. 2013; Czerniewicz et al. 2014; Milligan & Littlejohn 2017; Salmon et al. 2015)

• MOOC participants are largely well-educated, employed and from developed countries (Christensen et al. 2013; Escher et al. 2014; van de Oudeweetering & Agirdag 2018)

• Most MOOCs are offered in English (Brouns et al. 2015; Colas et al. 2016; Hollands & Tirthali 2014)

• Most MOOCs come from an American or western perspective (Altbach 2014)

• MOOCs increasingly used for student cohorts from different cultures and language groups (Fitzgerald, Wu & Witten 2014)

• Much research into and discussion of MOOCs based on the U.S. context (Jansen et al. 2015)

Culturally and linguistically diverse learners

• Much research into learner engagement and interaction in MOOCs (Coffrinet al. 2014; Crosslin et al. 2017; Joksimović et al. 2018)

• Limited research into learner engagement and interaction within culturally and linguistically diverse learner cohorts

• Few studies address how best to serve learners who are not fluent in the language of instruction (most often English)• Learners may be reluctant to join online discussions in a language that

they do not feel comfortable using (Garreta-Domingo, Hernández-Leo, Mor, and Sloep 2015)

• In multilingual MOOCs, providing multilingual facilitation may benefit participation (Colas et al. 2016)

The Implementation Research MOOC

• The MOOC focused on implementation research (IR) into infectious diseases in developing nations• The aim: to educate participants about what IR is and how it can be

used in practice when working with infectious diseases• Developed by the Special Programme for Research and Training in

Tropical Diseases (TDR) hosted by the World Health Organisation, in collaboration with the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne

• Hosted on the edX platform and offered by TDR• The MOOC opened in October 2017• The pilot offering had a total of 123 participants from 29 countries

across 6 continents. • Course participants were a mix of managers, researchers and local

health workers.• 25 participants submitted the final assignment• 20 participants passed the course

• Designed as a resource for WHO health workers in regional training centres worldwide in the six WHO regions, including South America, Africa and Asia• Any professional with an interest in IR would benefit from the MOOC• On successful completion of the MOOC and all of its assessments,

participants receive a certificate of completion• Assessment will be used to map IR research questions in the

respective regions

The structure of the MOOC

• 5 modules completed over approx. 5 weeks• Approx. 1 week per module at participants’ own pace• No synchronous teaching

- partly due to the geographical locations of participants spanning several continents and time zones making this difficult to coordinate to include all participants

• Each module consists of: • information videos with linked English captions (French and Spanish)• readings• a discussion forum focusing on a new topic for each module• assessment task

• Quiz assessment tasks in modules 1 and 2• Peer assessment tasks in modules 3, 4 and 5

MOOC participants

• 123 participants took part in the pilot. Participants came from 3 groups:• Group 1: Regional training centres (RTCs) • Group 2: WHO Country Offices• Group 3: WHO HQ (including TDR)

• Group 1: researchers and programme managers at the regional training centres from the African, Americas, Eastern Mediterranean, European, South-East Asian and Western Pacific regions.

Data

The data for this study comprises: • online anonymous survey responses collected upon completion of each

of the five modules of the MOOC• a focus group with participants from the Americas region participating

in the MOOC pilot

Survey findings

• Most participants felt that there was a strong improvement (45.8 to 69.2 percent) or some improvement (30.8 to 54.2 percent) of their understanding of IR as a result of the MOOC• Most participants felt that they had a weak (35.3%) to moderate

(41.2%) understanding of IR before commencing the MOOC• On completion of the MOOC, most participants felt that they had a

strong understanding of IR (73.5%)

Focus group findings

• Focus group with participants from Latin American region• Participants felt that the MOOC had improved their understanding of

the topic considerably • Participants viewed the MOOC as useful as a professional learning

tool• Commonly cited areas for improvement focused on:• discussion forum participation• assessment timing and format• time allocation for modules

Focus group findings: Language use

Focus group discussions revealed:• Participants were translating English captions into Spanish• Participants experienced issues writing in English in discussion forums• Preference for use of Spanish in discussion forums• Issues with translation of concepts – e.g. “implementation research”• Participants would like a list of terms and abbreviations translated into

Spanish. A MOOC is currently being offered in Spanish for the Latin American region• Participants would like examples reflective of the region – Latin

America, Asia, and even the Eastern Mediterranean regions

Modifications

• To accommodate participants’ language needs, the MOOC is currently offered in Spanish • The MOOC will be offered in French in 2019• A video in Spanish of the control of dengue has been included in the

MOOC• A full list of terms and abbreviations provided in Spanish and French

in future iterations of the MOOC

Future work

• A blended learning version of the MOOC offered in late 2018• Over 100 participants currently enrolled

• Continued research into participants’ experiences of the MOOC• Further information:

http://www.who.int/tdr/capacity/strengthening/mooc/en/

Questions

?Bella Ross: bella.ross@monash.edu

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