MOOCs and OER: Developments and Contributions for Open Education and Open Science

Abstract

The open educational movement has provided opportunities for the advancement of higher education. This chapter is framed in the development of 12 open mass courses (MOOCs) and more than 5000 open educational resources (OER) that were produced in a macro project focused on training for energy sustainability. The MOOCs integrated innovative strategies and emerging technologies (such as gamification, challenges, biometrics, virtual reality, augmented reality, virtual and remote laboratories) and the OER were produced with scalable and accessibility properties (such as reusability, atomicity, interoperability and durability). The question that guides the chapter is: What contributions can arise from formative instances such as MOOCs and OER for open education and open science? The project method was collaborative with multidisciplinary teams of energy, production and educational innovation, who designed and implemented 12 MOOCs through the MexicoX and EdX platforms, where more than 200,000 participants enrolled in the MOOCs. Similarly, the production of more than 5000 OER is available in an open-access repository. The results show contributions to open education in the areas of open innovation, open research and open science. Findings can contribute to academic communities (students, teachers, researchers, administrators), social communities, government, business and decision makers interested in learning environments and open educational practices.