From a small liberal arts college to the world: Our blended courses, SPOC, and MOOCs in Italian studies

Abstract

In this contribution I focus on the structure and contents of an online course in the Italian language and culture offered through different venues and formats, i.e. as a summer SPOC (Small Private Online Course); as a blended course on our campus and at MIT, and as a MOOC on the edX platform. I present and analyze some data on students’ perception of the effectiveness of different online learning tools from a survey sent to all learners (MOOC and campus). Finally, I propose some concrete steps to advance our Italian language academic programs: these include the creation of a platform to share our best practices, evaluate our programs and assess learning outcomes.