The EMOOCS 2017 Conference at UC3M (by Ariel Díaz)

                                       

I'll admit it, until a few days ago I didn't think much of MOOCS (Masive Online Open Courses) as a whole. Yes I knew what they were, and yes I was aware they were getting some focus from the academic and reasearch comunity but that was the end of it from where I stood: they were simply an extra to a teacher's efforts or a way to make his/her lessons available to a wider audience. You may have already guessed it but I was wrong.

Volunteering at the 2017 EMOOCS Conference that took place between the 22nd and 26th of May of 2017 in Leganés at the Carlos III de Madrid University proved to be not only an oportunity  to look closer at the topic but in many ways, for me ar least, was also an eye opener. MOOCS are, in many cases, becoming the teacher's complete focus, as reaching a larger number of students, with little or no previous experience in the subject, presents them with new challenges and forces them to reinvent the way in which they transmit the knowledge. They have to learn to speak in front of a camera, to make their content fit in a 5 minutes video and the energy and the enthusiasm shown in learning and improving by most atendees to the conference speaks for itself, there is no better enterprise than that taken with joy and the desire to do. It made me feel as if this was the new great thing, the next big change, the coming revolution to education all around the world. And it appears others have felt the same as several companies, also present at the event, are heavily investing in MOOCS and digital platforms (such as edX) to host them; these companies are also changing the way they train workers or even the selection process, by using online courses. 

We were given the opportunity of participating in one of the several Workshops that took place during the event. The one I attended, "Green Keen", focused on a hands-on experience with video recording and the challenges posed to both the presenter and the crew behind the camera. We had the chance of recording our own mini class, which was awesome if I may add, and what struck me the most was that the exchange of ideas and experiences convinced the talkers to try new ways of recording they had previously discarded as not so convenient.

In a personal level, I am excited for MOOCS, their future seems bright and it makes sense: the Internet has such a presence in every aspect of our lives that is only natural it finds its way into the classroom (by getting rid of the classroom that is). I'm really looking forward to when I have to design a course and I can make it available to all. No need to understand it all on the first try, you can just go back and hear it again, no more "I'm sitting too far and I can't hear", just turn up the volume. All in all, if you've read this far I'm guessing you are at least a bit interested. Don't take my word, go and try them out, pick a subject you've been itching to learn about and give it a try. Let me know what you think afterwards.