In the field of distance learning (ODL), MOOCs, or more precisely COCs for companies, are in fashion.
But what is it about?
MOOCs: Massive Open Online Courses. They were born in the major American and English universities with the development of Web 2.0. Very quickly these universities understood the advantage they could draw from the interactive web (blogs, forums, wikis, social networks, etc.) to disseminate their content and allow a greater number of people to learn and therefore to graduate.
Two years ago, I had the chance to be invited by W4, a company specialised in BPM and process dematerialisation, to a presentation of the research work of a European call for projects on the contextual ergonomics of interfaces.
I met the head of theOpen University which already had several hundred thousand students. When I asked him about it, he told me that, to his knowledge, there was no project of this scale in France; in the United States yes, in the Netherlands and in Germany too, but in France, no.
MOOCs seem to have managed to cross the Channel, since this acronym has been particularly fashionable for several months, both in newspapers and on the Internet. Today, 60 MOOCs are accessible on the France Université Numérique (FUN) platform
But what is a MOOC? According to a recent study, 70% of French people know nothing about MOOCs and the current off- and one-line literature is not about to enlighten those who want to know more.
MOOCs, like other educational devices, aim to train (course) a large number of people (Massive) online (One-line) and in a way open to all (Open). Like all educational devices, the MOOC meets a training objective (e.g. obtaining diploma x or y) and requires registration in order to obtain the content during a given period. In the end, the learning must be sanctioned by a diploma or a certificate.
New technologies and the progress made in recent years by telecoms in terms of data transmission facilitate the development of MOOCs. They would allow millions of people to be trained who did not have the opportunity to be trained before, if they could access a connected digital terminal.
This is a point on which UNESCO has high hopes, as was recalled at the 4th World Forum on Lifelong Learning of 5 and 6 February 2015.
MOOCs, as long as they meet this definition, can take many forms:
- online videos,
- e-learning and rapidlearning not constrained by the use of a secure access platform,
- tutorials,
- tutorials,
- slide shows,
- documentary resources,
- ebook...
Interactivity can be a plus, but it is not absolutely necessary, nor is it very often present. The success of MOOCs depends mainly on the motivation of the learners. "If I don't pay attention, if I don't work, I don't learn and I won't pass my exam.
Why talk about MOOCs in business?
If the objective is to offer employees the possibility of registering for a MOOC, in order to train, obtain a diploma and better adapt to the job market, these measures are fully justified. However, will the motivation be sufficient for an employee who has to work the legal 35 hours at the same time?
If the objective is to provide its customers with content enabling them to learn more about the company, its products and services, the term MOOC cannot be used. Instead, we will speak of tutorials or tutorials that should not exceed 2 minutes.
If the objective is to train its customers in its products and services with a view to delivering a diploma, a qualification or a certificate, this is not a MOOC either. In this case, it is not an "Open" course. They are called COCs or Corporate One-line Courses (without the "Open" qualifier). These COCs must be treated like any other educational device and answer the following questions:
- What is the target (qualitatively and quantitatively)?
- What is the objective? At the end of the course, what should the learner know? What should they be able to do?
- What are the educational sub-objectives?
- What is the pedagogical sequence, the sequences, the timing of each part?
- What are the teaching media and methods?
- What interactivity should be provided?
- What integration should the course have with other teaching methods (classroom, virtual classes, e-learning, blended learning, mobile learning, gaming, social learning, management support, tutoring, etc.)
- Which hardware aspects need to be addressed (broadcast terminals, computers, tablets, smartphones, servers...)
- What safety issues must be respected?
Place of Social Learning in the COC?
Theuse of a platform such as a Collaborative Enterprise Network is, in my opinion, essential. It is the platform that will enable the creation of interactivity facilitating learning by developing informal learner-learner and learner-trainer learning. During his speech at UNESCO on 5 February 2015, Yves ATTOU, President of the CMA, estimated that 80% of learning is informal. How can we understand that vocational training is not interested in this?
How to manage a COC project? It is clear from the points to be addressed in order to carry out a COC that the preparatory work can be quite extensive. The best approach is to set up an initial small working group (10 people maximum) representing all the company's departments:
- commercial
- marketing
- internal/external training
- computer science
- security
- production
- AFTER-SALES SERVICE
- but also resellers, distributors or partners.
This working group will have to meet about ten times to collaboratively elaborate the framework note of the envisaged COC project. The technical and financial issues and constraints should also be addressed in this document. The work should be completed in a few days and should lead to the development of a prototype. A first version (alpha) will be submitted to an initial test population, including a few clients for initial feedback. A second prototype or beta version, based on the first feedback, will then be distributed to a larger number of participants. This approach is based on the creation of POCs (Proof of Concept). It is quicker, more efficient and allows the project to be sized according to the acceptable investments in relation to the challenges and expectations.
