New Education Normal Webinar Series: On the Road toward Fostering Greater Self-Directed Learning in MOOCs: Research toward Better Design Practices

On 18 September 2020, the New Education Normal (NEN) Webinar Series was launched by the Office of Education Research. This series focuses on post-pandemic technology-enhanced learning, with the objective of inspiring and informing policymakers, practitioners, and researchers in Singapore and beyond. Topics of interest include (and are not limited to) technology-mediated home-based learning, learning in 1:1 (one-device-per-student) settings, and blended learning—which Singapore’s Ministry of Education intends to normalise.

The first NEN webinar focused on Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) and was titled “On the Road toward Fostering Greater Self-Directed Learning in MOOCs: Research toward Better Design Practices”.

The speakers at this pilot webinar were Prof Curtis Bonk, Professor of Instructional Systems Technology at Indiana University, and Asst Prof Meina Zhu, Assistant Professor of Learning Technology and Design at Wayne State University. The speakers discussed two studies they conducted on MOOCs and 20 strategies to facilitate self-directed learning in MOOCs they learnt as a result of those studies. 
 Screenshot of the webinar in progress. Pictured: Prof Curtis Bonk (top), Asst Prof Meina Zhu (middle), and Prof Looi Chee Kit (bottom)

The webinar concluded with an engaging question and answer segment, moderated by Prof Looi Chee Kit, Professor at NIE’s Learning Sciences and Assessment Academic Group, and was attended by approximately 130 participants from across Asia including Singapore, China and Nepal.

If you missed the webinar, you can watch the recording here: