MOOCs SYSTEM - A REAL CHALENGE FOR ROMANIAN UNIVERSITY PROFESSORS
MOOCs SYSTEM - A REAL CHALENGE FOR ROMANIAN UNIVERSITY PROFESSORS

Summary/Abstract: Paper rationale. The launching of the MOOCs educational system has been prepared approximately since 2008 and, starting with 2011, it became a functional reality. Although quite controversial, this system creates a real competition with the classic education performed in the university campus, where the professor and the student are in a face to face relationship. Moreover, the MOOCs system proposes a radical alternative on teaching-learning, exceeding in terms of technologization the well-known version of the blended-learning education. Methodology. The research purpose: to make a diagnosis of the perceptions of the Romanian university didactical staff and of students on the MOOCs system. In this respect, two questionnaires were prepared and applied: a. PMOOC1 - applied on 140 members of the university didactical staff coming from 7 reference universities and distributed in 4 batches relevant for the university hierarchy; b. PMOOC2 applied on 140 students (20 of each of the 7universities). The t test for independent samples had been used. Results. The processing and interpretation of the collected data reveal significant differences between the perceptions of the young university didactical staff and those of the didactical staff who are older in the educational field. Also, significant differences between the perceptions of the university didactical staff and those of the students had been evidenced. Discussions. The analysis of the perceptions belonging to the members of the groups included in the batch of respondents reveals that most of the professors do not know the MOOCs educational system and that a quite low number of students have limited information on this educational system. Conclusions. The made study reveals significant aspects and attitudes of professors and students towards MOOCs, and its results may be used as a starting point for a national program to train the university didactical staff in the field of pedagogy specific to this educational alternative.

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