Systemic Tensions in the MOOC Design Cycle: An Activity Systems Analysis upon Implementing edX for Latin America and the Caribbean

Fabián Freire

doi:10.5944/openpraxis.13.3.138

Abstract

This report presents the activity systems analysis of the general MOOC design process adopted by a multidisciplinary team for delivering edX courses to Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). This report builds on Freire’s (2020) exploratory case study, which applied work-based learning theory and activity systems theory to determine whether and how 20 participants selected from the Hemispheric Development Fund’s MOOC design team (HDFx) experienced work-based learning through their collaboration during the MOOC program’s initial professionalization period. Activity systems models are developed to identify systemic tensions for each of the five phases in the MOOC design cycle: Needs Assessment, Instructional Design, Production, Implementation, and Evaluation. Such contradictions are further analyzed to formulate three main system-wide tensions that acted as triggers for the work-based learning reported by participants: 1) skill gaps for implementing the edX platform, 2) edX’s limited techno-pedagogical affordances, and 3) organizational structures inhibiting multidisciplinary collaboration among participants and limiting the professionalization of the HDFx MOOC program. The report concludes by integrating the theoretical underpinnings of the case study with its four primary findings.

Highlights

Freire Open PraxisThis analysis expands on Freire’s (2020) exploratory case study, which found experiences of work-based learning in the reports by 20 multidisciplinary practitioners following the launchDOI: 10.5944/ openpraxis.13.3.138 of a MOOC program at the Hemispheric Development Fund (HDFx)
The systemic tensions identified through the preceding application of the activity systems analysis framework are discussed as catalysts for the learning experiences reported by participants
This finding corresponded to the principal research question of this study, which aimed to understand whether and how participants experienced learning through their work with the multidisciplinary design of edX MOOCs for Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC)

Summary

INTRODUCTION

This analysis expands on Freire’s (2020) exploratory case study, which found experiences of work-based learning in the reports by 20 multidisciplinary practitioners following the launch. Tension X, depicting a clash between the subject and tool components of the HDFx MOOC program system, addressed challenges of professional practice deriving in learning pressures for members of the HDFx team in relation to the adoption of the edX platform for the creation and delivery of MOOCs for LAC As such, it identified gaps of practical knowledge or skills reported by subject matter experts, instructional designers, administrative assistants, media producers, and platform technicians through their multidisciplinary collaborations. Tension Y, depicting a clash between the tool and object/outcome system components, documented the technical and/or pedagogical challenges with the functionality of the edX platform and contingent MOOC-based modalities of instruction that were identified by participants as obstacles hindering the HDFx program’s primary objective of using MOOCs for delivering top-quality training and professional development opportunities for LAC. The aggregated activity systems analysis of the HDFx MOOC program resulted in Tensions X, Y, and Z, which corroborated this study’s principal finding, Finding 1, related to the emergence of work-based learning through multidisciplinary collaborations among participants in labor-integrated activities

FINDINGS

Evaluation

OF FINDINGS

DISCUSSION