Summary of the experience (by Karolina Kedeva)

In this summary I would like to briefly state my experience of participating in the capacity of a volunteer at this years EMOOC’s Conference held at the Carlos III University Madrid.  Although I am a PhD in Law student, and do not deal on a daily basis in my studies and research with more advanced IT mechanisms and media designs and techniques, I have found this experience very colorful and stimulating.

Namely, not very far ago teaching, learning, gaining access to journals, live lectures, setting correspondence with top expertise in a field, had been extremely limited by the notions of space, time, available recourses (costs) and dedicated only to certain circles of the academic community. Proof of this would be the lengthy and challenging application procedures for teachers and academics in certain fields, and in certain countries for that matter, complex accreditation processes for students up taking courses and degrees abroad far away from their jurisdiction, expensive seminar and congress fees for participation, etc.  Thus one can undoubtedly claim that with the invention of an open online course, with the opportunity of free registration, easily accessible and publically shared resources, texts, videos, materials curriculums, and the option of integrating and corresponding with leading experts and practitioners in many fields of knowledge, life for the academic community has become much easier by and large.

Therefore, from my brief experience on the EMOOC’s conference, I can say that such an invention as the MOOC is a truly innovative tool aimed to assist all students who wish to freely organize or improve their knowledge and skills, but at the same time to assist the exchange of know-how among professors, assistants, and stimulate the interaction between the academic community and the students. It is also considered a great milestone in the development and progress of distance learning.

 I would like to give an example of one very practical and interesting WorkShop that I was actively engaged in during the conference: “Framing the ‘Talking Head’’ by Jeanine Reutemann (University of Applied Sciences and Arts Basel, FHNW, Switzerland). The main objective of this workshop had been to demonstrate how variations in media design can help the educator to communicate his message with the audience.  Although the title and some of the context had been technical to people in the media design industry, a lot was said about the various teaching methods, delivery and speech in front of the camera and overall delivery of presentation too. Being a lawyer and PhD in Law student these particularities relating to visualization of presentation techniques seemed very intriguing to me.

 Thus for instance when watching live examples of lectures on the MOOC’s we identified and debated about the various speeches, the lecturers’ delivery, tone of voice, gestures, distance, etc. In that sense, the lecture was very important for professors and us as future lecturers our fields, to assist with the details that can have a great impact on our delivery to the target audience. We analyzed the importance of rehearsal prior to recording the lecture, the importance of the so called “social distance” that is individual but should be evaluated whether too close/ or too far depending on the setting, and finally the importance of gestures which usually assist to fulfill the unsaid in a certain lecture. Hence this practical workshop had been designed to demonstrate not only awareness from behind the camera, but also was very educative for educators presenting and preparing for lectures in front of the camera.

The workshop was designed in a manner to actively include all participants, and thus part was left for the technical producers practical exercises, but also all participants were divided into small groups and had the chance to bring up thoughts, questions and answers to certain problems, and case studies that we worked with on the course. Primarily some of the greatest challenges to producers in media design were discussed, such as lightening, positioning, angles, sound, setting the focus on the speaker (the eyes), the closed innovative model, and other technological aspects of the usage of the 4D camera. However, also a great part had been divided into the speech itself such as the importance of the ‘story telling’, pre-scripting, the abovementioned use of appropriate gestures and social distance through specific examples and identifying the target audience. Finally the outcome of the MOOC design was presented as depended on both produces and educators, and the key aspects for success were revealed to both parties. One interesting example and point was that not every lecturer is the same in the sense that some are more introvert or extrovert than others, and dependent on that adaptations should be made in the video formatting but also on the part of the speaker with increased or decreased gestures, tone of voice, etc. Being a film director herself the lecturer perfectly delivered all key aspects of creating the perfect MOOC, through the prism of applied film studies.

All in all my experience on this EMOOC’s conference and the respective Work Shops had been very educational and would recommend it without doubt to all students and lecturers with the urge to achieve more in their academic career. 

Karolina Kedeva

PhD in Law student. Carlos III University Madrid