The MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) Programme Team at the University of Southampton is part of the University Digital Learning team, based in the central Information Technology (IT) department. The core team currently comprises an academic MOOC Programme Director (Kate Borthwick), the Team Manager for Digital Learning and operational MOOC lead (Sarah Fielding) and specialist Learning Designer (Tamsyn Smith). Since 2013, the MOOC team has evolved and changed but an excellent working approach has enabled coherence, continuity and impact over time.
Through a network of collaborative relationships with staff and students across the university and with partners and learners in the wider world, the programme achieves significant local and global impact on teaching and learning. Open online courses involve essential contributions from academic staff, learning designers, rights experts, media developers and students in the creation of a shared output. In their delivery, learners become part of a social, collaborative learning experience and exert their own influence on course design and delivery.
The programme has created 21 open online courses reaching nearly one million learners in 233 countries, which has engaged learners who have shared 1.51 million posts with the team, shared research to inform and enhance practice (especially in teacher education), and collaborated with staff across five faculties enabling the development of digital skills and laying foundations for an effective response to remote working during Covid-19. The programme has also empowered postgraduate students in the creation and delivery of content leading to acquisition of digital and research engagement skills, been influential on the development of the Futurelearn platform and explorations of course design and business models around online education. the programme has as been successful both at a national and international level, having developed rich collaborations with national and international partners in creation and delivery of courses, disseminated good practice and experience at national and international conferences and in publications, as well as winning awards and recognition for learning design and media creation.
MOOCs are open, inclusive courses which present no barrier to learning. They enable anyone in the wider global community to learn from the research and education carried out at Southampton and to become active participants in our own learning community.