Abstract
(1) Background: Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) are becoming more commonplace in the delivery of free online education and a Dying2Learn MOOC was offered by a team at Palliative and Supportive Services, Flinders University, South Australia; (2) Methods: Working with the OpenLearning platform developer, a research study and MOOC evaluation were embedded in the course, and content was delivered in innovative ways without compromising pedagogical approaches; (3) Results: This MOOC provided the facilitators with the opportunity to view education as an intervention, with testing undertaken, including measuring attitudinal change. Research, clinical and community partnerships were developed or reaffirmed and the value of ongoing partnerships with developers in creating platforms and tools that can expand the options for online learning is highlighted. Opportunities for future health professional and consumer education were also explored; (4) Conclusion: MOOCs can provide innovative opportunities to redesign educational approaches, which can be achieved by working with new technologies and with platform developers, while still adhering to pedagogical principles.
Highlights
Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) have been used to provide free education to large numbers of people in an online environment [1]
The desire to create content in a community context and not deliver a palliative care course was a major driver in the MOOC development, so the course and the modules were framed in a social context rather than a medical one
The MOOCs were hosted on the OpenLearning platform where transformative pedagogy has seen the replacement of conventional teaching skill sets with the further development of creative or social skill sets
Summary
Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) have been used to provide free (open) education to large numbers (massive) of people in an online environment [1]. MOOCs essentially provide opportunities to impart messages and engage participants in important conversations. With these potentials in mind, a free MOOC on death and dying (Dying2Learn) was developed at Flinders University and hosted in June/July 2016. The MOOC provided unanticipated opportunities for learning that have provided unique lessons for the future provision of this type of education for a broad audience. In this discussion paper, we describe the foundations that were laid in the development of the MOOC. Other papers in preparation outline the evaluation findings and the results of an embedded research study
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