«Towards educational innovation: MOOCs and SPOCS of the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid»

Abstract

The Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (UAM) has for many years promoted the use of new educational resources to facilitate interaction between teachers and students. UAM has several initiatives for the creation and delivery of MOOCs and SPOCs. UAM has been a member of the edX Consortium since 2014. During 2015 their first four MOOCs were delivered over two editions and in spring 2016 another four new courses are on line (see https://www.edx.org/school/uamx). During this short period, both UAM academics and the UAMx team have learnt the theory and practice of these new online courses. So we are able to plan, create and deliver online courses of interest in line with the high standards of the edX platform. A good example of the process from the conception to the launch of a course is shown in this presentation of the course entitled “The Spain of Don Quixote”. The second edition of the course has been used in UAM History degree studies. This course uses Don Quixote as a framework for the history of Spain in the Golden Age through varied innovative educational materials. In addition, the versatility of UAM online courses makes them suitable for both small and mass audiences.

Bios

Pedro Garcia Martin is Full Professor of Modern History at the UAM and writer. As an academic, he has been teaching at UAM since 1984 and he has given several lectures at Francesco Datini de Prato y Etnográfico de Cerdeña (Italy), at the Museums of Helsinki, Turku and Lapland (Finland) at the Universities of Porto and Viseu (Portugal), at Nantes and Lyon (France), and at Tufts University in Boston and New York Skidmore College at its headquarters in Madrid and Alcala de Henares. His literary works include Los comuneros (1990), La casa verde (1992), El agua de la serranía (1993), El linternista vagamundo (2011), La ciudad prendida de los pájaros (2012) y La niña románica (2014). Así como las novelas Ruter el Rojo (2005), El químico de los Lumière (Premio Ciudad de Salamanca, 2007), La Virgen de Lope de Vega (2011) and El lobo de Avakkum (Planeta, 2015).

Ruth Cobos Perez is Assistant Professor at the Computer Engineering Department at UAM, and a researcher in the Interactive Tools and Applications Group (GHIA). She has been Rector’s delegate for Educational Technologies since 2014. Together with the Vice Chancellor for Educational Technologies she manages the UAMx Office (http://www.uam.es/uamx). She has participated in and conducted research projects into the areas of Computer Assisted Collaborative Work, Social Media, Education, e-Learning, Blended Learning, MOOCs and SPOCs. Further information is available at http://www.eps.uam.es/~rcobos/