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CoMOOCs for Collaborative Professional Learning                     

PROCOL Lebanon is developing sustainable prosperity, urban environments, innovation and entrepreneurship, and the role of universities in building prosperous futures.

The CoMOOC project focuses on the role of universities as critical to achieving all the UN Sustainable Development Goals, through educating the future workforce, through its research on innovation and solutions to the world’s greatest challenges, and by developing access to lifelong learning (part of SDG4).

Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) appear to be a partial solution to inclusive global access to undergraduate education, but their optimal use for this level of education is as a complement to the existing undergraduate population. They do not improve inclusivity significantly.

We are investigating an alternative approach to addressing the massive educational challenges implicit in the UN SDGs. All 17 require improved access to education. The lifelong learning ambitions of SDG4 are required by all the other 16 SDGs as well, because each one requires the professionals working in each area to embrace new research and share good local solutions, to make progress on all counts.

Since 2017 we have been collaborating with communities and universities in Lebanon and elsewhere to create what we call CoMOOCs – Co-designed Massive Open Online Collaborations.

These digital learning experiences are hosted on two free online course platforms, FutureLearn (En) and Edraak (Ar). The content of the CoMOOCs is driven by professionals working in Lebanon, such as citizen scientists and community researchers, renewable energy researchers and engineers, teachers and teacher-educators. The CoMOOCs begin with their needs and experiences.

Our approach is to design social and collaborative learning activities around video case studies of professionals and experts sharing insights from their practice.

Participants are invited to comment on the value and applicability to their own context, and also to share what works for them. The CoMOOC is therefore collaborative from the start, and creates a collaborative learning environment where everyone can learn from each other.

The massive task of innovating to improve inclusive prosperity, across all the SDGs, including the most challenging environments, needs engagement and contributions from the professionals working in those areas. Universities can support and orchestrate that collaboration. We have the technology now. Both FutureLearn and Edraak can serve the 100,000s of enrolments now taking place on their platforms. They could serve millions, with the endorsement of ministries and companies sharing these same goals.

Join our CoMOOCs for Collaborative Professional Learning

You are free to enroll on a CoMOOC (Co-designed Massive Open Online Collaboration) or use a CoMOOC for professional development activities in your community or organisation.

  • Community Based Research: Getting Started

  • Co-designed with citizen scientists and community researchers in Lebanon

  • Introduces the skills needed to carry out research in the community using the 'citizen science' approach of PROCOL Lebanon.

https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/community-based-research

  • Transforming Education in Challenging Environments

  • Co-designed with teachers and teacher-educators in Lebanon.

  • Introduces practical ways teachers can transform the education of children and young people living in conflict-affected contexts, including digital education.

https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/transforming-education

  • Sustainable Energy Access for Communities

  • Co-designed with researchers and professionals in sustainable energy working in the Middle East and Africa.

  • Introduces energy access options to help communities move towards a renewable energy future with examples from Scotland, Lebanon, Kenya and more.

https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/sustainable-energy-access-for-communities

  • Blended and Online Learning Design

  • The New Era of Teaching and Learning (formerly Teaching Online)

  • Co-designed with teachers and students at Lebanese University.

  • Introduces learning design for online and blended learning, focusing on support for learners, teachers and parents.

  • Re-designed to provide ongoing support for teachers since its initial presentation during the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic.