International Pockets of Innovation

Ground-Breaking Practices in Online Learning From Educators

The International Pockets of Innovation series showcases a broad range of examples of best practices in online learning from faculty and instructors in higher education around the world, including Ireland, Norway, France, Iceland, Spain, Italy, US, Israel, Costa Rica, Scotland, England, Sweden and Germany, with more added each month. These descriptions highlight models and resources that can be adapted in many educational settings to improve student success in online, blended, and technology-enhanced learning.

In this growing series, Contact North | Contact Nord features projects with three specific characteristics:

They represent a new approach.
They support students.
The developers are prepared to share their innovations, the challenges they encountered and what they learned with public colleges and universities in Ontario, as well as colleagues around the world.

This international series complements Contact North | Contact Nord’s Pockets of Innovation Series with 135 examples of how innovative educators in Ontario’s public colleges and public universities are using online learning to provide engaging learning experiences for students as well as the Cross Canada series with examples from Canada, outside of Ontario.

MITx MicroMasters: Offering Students Access to Quality Credentials and Degree Pathways at Multiple Universities at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, United States
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, launched OpenCourseWare in 2002, as a freely accessible depository of course materials. In 2018, it contains virtually all MIT course content, with resources from 2,400 courses available to learners and...
Two Universities – Two Degrees: A Model for Awarding Double Degrees in Master’s Programs at Royal Roads University, British Columbia, Canada and the Management Centre Innsbruck, Austria
Dr. Charles Krusekopf, a Professor in the School of Business at Royal Roads University (RRU) in British Columbia, Canada has extensive international experience as a student and professor. One of his goals at RRU is to find ways to provide international academic experience to students who are...
Open Online Education Research Focused on Students, Course Design and Higher Education Institutions at the Open University of the Netherlands
SOONER, under the leadership of Dr. Marco Kalz, is linked with four PhD projects – three at OUNL and one at the University of Utrecht. Two research studies focus on learners – one on self-regulation of learners taking Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) and the second on questions of motivation and...
Learner Analytics for Students to Encourage Better Results and Retention at the University of Brighton, England
Over the last few years, Dr. Katie Piatt, eLearning Services Manager, and many of her colleagues at the University of Brighton in England, are learning more about the emerging field of learning analytics, with its promises of better understanding, communication and interaction with...
Offering Digital Teaching and Learning, Research, Design, and Production at the Media Center at Technical University Dresden, Germany
The Media Center at Technical University Dresden (TU Dresden) in Germany was created about ten years ago by bringing together two units, one of which focused on media research and design and the other on media production including e-learning. Dr. Thomas Köhler, previously responsible for the...
Integrating Massive Open Online Research Exercises into MOOCs to Benefit Students and Researchers at the University of Geneva, Switzerland
In 2013, Pablo Achard, Senior Advisor to the Rector at the University of Geneva (UNIGE) in Switzerland, took on responsibility for the development of the University’s Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) program. The first MOOCs were to act as a showcase, with as many of the topics as possible aligned...
An Online Admissions Program Expands Access to Engineering Degrees at Technical University of Denmark
The Technical University of Denmark (Danmarks Tekniske Universitet / DTU) offers an admissions program for adults wishing to qualify to apply for an engineering degree program. Many of the students in the admission program have backgrounds in vocational education – either through an apprenticeship...
Challenge-Based Online Learning to Develop Essential Competencies at the Open University of Catalonia, Barcelona, Spain
The Open University of Catalonia (UOC) in Barcelona, Spain is an online university with over 54,000 students in more than 100 bachelor, master’s and doctorial programs, in addition to almost 300 diplomas and specialist courses. To better prepare graduates for the labour market and professional...
Digital by Design: Library Services at the Open University, United Kingdom
The library at the Open University in the United Kingdom is a key component of the services offered to the 170,000 OU students, of whom 75% work full- or part-time. A defining characteristic of the OU is its openness at the undergraduate level to all adults, regardless of ...
From Idea to Application: Technology Enhanced Learning Design at The Open University, United Kingdom
Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL) Design is part of the Learning and Teaching Innovation Portfolio at The Open University (OU) in the United Kingdom. Gerald Evans, Head of TEL Design, describes its role as: “translation of academic ideas into practical applications of technology enhanced learning...

International Pockets of Innovation

Ground-Breaking Practices in Online Learning From Educators

MITx MicroMasters: Offering Students Access to Quality Credentials and Degree Pathways at Multiple Universities at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, United States

Two Universities – Two Degrees: A Model for Awarding Double Degrees in Master’s Programs at Royal Roads University, British Columbia, Canada and the Management Centre Innsbruck, Austria

Open Online Education Research Focused on Students, Course Design and Higher Education Institutions at the Open University of the Netherlands

Learner Analytics for Students to Encourage Better Results and Retention at the University of Brighton, England

Offering Digital Teaching and Learning, Research, Design, and Production at the Media Center at Technical University Dresden, Germany

Integrating Massive Open Online Research Exercises into MOOCs to Benefit Students and Researchers at the University of Geneva, Switzerland

An Online Admissions Program Expands Access to Engineering Degrees at Technical University of Denmark

Challenge-Based Online Learning to Develop Essential Competencies at the Open University of Catalonia, Barcelona, Spain

Digital by Design: Library Services at the Open University, United Kingdom

From Idea to Application: Technology Enhanced Learning Design at The Open University, United Kingdom

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