MOOC – Massive Open Online Courses
MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) are free online courses open to everyone, designed for distance learning for a large number of participants from different cultural and geographical backgrounds.
They are often university-level courses, made accessible to a broad and not necessarily specialized audience.
A MOOC consists of a structured sequence of teaching materials (articles, short videos, podcasts, etc.) and interactive activities, including self-assessment tests such as quizzes and peer assessment activities.
MOOC Production
For the development of MOOCs, the University makes specific funding available every year through the calls for proposals for teaching improvement.
MOOC Publication
The MOOCs of the University of Padua are published on online platforms affiliated with the University, all freely accessible to anyone, not only to Unipd students.
Design and production phases
The development process of a MOOC is divided into the following phases:
- Concept development, design, and micro-design (3–6 weeks)
- Content production (8–10 weeks)
- Platform publication and review (4 weeks)
Professional roles involved
The development of a MOOC involves various professional skills:
- Teaching staff: responsible for the scientific and educational content of the course
- Project Manager: coordinates the project, the work phases, and relations with teaching staff and facilities
- Learning Designer: supports instructional design and the structuring of content
- Instructional Technologist: manages platform implementation and the organization of multimedia materials
- Audio/video operator: manages setup, equipment, and filming
- Video editor: handles the editing of audiovisual content (slides, subtitles, opening titles)
Support
The Digital Learning and Multimedia Office ( supporto.elearning@unipd.it) coordinates all phases of MOOC production, from design to publication on the chosen platform.
