We got news from our colleague Dr. Christian M. Stracke who is UNESCO Chair for Open Education and Innovation and Associate Professor at the Welten Institute Open University of the Netherlands on open vacancies for Open Education at the Open University of the Netherlands. Three vacancies for his research team are published now online (one Post-Doc and two PhD positions):
Currently there is much attention for Open Education solutions and namely MOOCs as an alternative way to provide education to the mass. However, their quality is often criticized in relation to their design, organization and the high numbers of students (up to 97%) that are not finalising courses. This PhD research project is aimed to develop and assess quality indicators and evaluate their significance and usability. For this purpose, an alternative approach to quality development of Open Education solutions is developed in the research that focuses the quality of Open Education solutions and their delivery and that takes into account motivation, intentions and strategy of both parties: the open education designers and providers and the learners themselves.
This PhD research project will combine and use different important theories in the fields of open education, constructivism, systems theory, critical pedagogy, competence building, quality and organization development. The research will use learning analytics, questionnaires and structured interviews for gathering the data. Statistical methods will include structural equation modelling and design of experiments techniques.The PhD candidate will be passionate about open education and will strive for developing the project in a self-organized manner supported by a daily supervisor and a professor. S/he will publish results of the research in high-impact scientific journals and will present intermediate results in international, peer-reviewed conferences. The candidate will actively contribute to the dissemination and application activities in European research projects and s/he will collaborate with other researchers in the research cluster on open education and innovation.
Currently most Open Education solutions lack a long-term engagement and sustainability: Many learners are joining MOOCs and online communities but are losing motivation and interest as they are not finalising the courses or becoming inactive. This PhD research project is aimed to develop and assess quality indicators and evaluate their significance and usability. For this purpose, an alternative approach to the design and delivery of Open Education solutions is developed in the research that focuses the long-term engagement of learners in Open Education and that takes into account motivation, intentions and strategy of both parties: the open education designers and providers and the learners themselves.
This PhD research project will combine and use different important theories in the fields of open education, constructivism, systems theory, critical pedagogy, competence building, quality and organization development. The research will use learning analytics, questionnaires and structured interviews for gathering the data. Statistical methods will include structural equation modelling and design of experiments techniques.
The PhD candidate will be passionate about open education and will strive for developing the project in a self-organized manner supported by a daily supervisor and a professor. S/he will publish results of the research in high-impact scientific journals and will present intermediate results in international, peer-reviewed conferences. The candidate will actively contribute to the dissemination and application activities in European research projects and s/he will collaborate with other researchers in the research cluster on open education and innovation.
The Post-Doc research position will focus on the strategic and design decisions at the macro-level of Open Education. The macro-level is related to the organisational embedding of Open Education activities and of the design of Open Education solutions. The PostDoc/Assistant Professor will analyse and evaluate the current state-of-the-art and develop a framework and related instruments for decision making on the Open Education strategy, design and implementation by Open Education providers in close cooperation with the other researchers in the research cluster on open education and innovation: The overall objective is the development and evaluation of a comprehensive and applicable framework approach for school education, Higher Education and vocational education that is used and tested in practice for organizational development and educational innovation and can be transferred to enterprise development and lifelong learning.
The PostDoc/Assistant Professor will facilitate the strategy and design of Open Education solutions (MOOCs and online communities) and their testing, data collection and evaluation within several European research projects. It is expected that the candidate will be able to take an integrative and multi-disciplinary perspective and that s/he will pro-actively develop ideas for a common framework and data analysis as well as publications across several European research projects. It is expected that the Post-Doc/Assistant Professor is actively involved in the management of these research projects.
The candidate will be passionate about Open Education and will strive for developing the project in a self-organized manner supported by the other principal investigators and leading professor. S/he will have already a publication record in Open Education or related domains. Output of the project will be submitted to high-impact scientific journals and intermediate results will be presented in international, peer-reviewed conferences. The candidate will play an active/leading role in dissemination and knowledge utilization activities in the research projects and s/he will collaborate with other researchers in the research cluster on open education and innovation.
