Using Co-design to Create MOOCS for Southeast Asian Audiences

Abstract

This paper examines the process of co-design for MOOCs. As part of the COMPETEN-SEA project experts from six countries address the issue of bringing continuing education to geographically, or socially, isolated groups. In particular, COMPETEN-SEA aims to provide education in the form of MOOCs to single mothers in Malaysia, rural health workers in the Philippines and rural fishermen in Indonesia. These case studies are used to explore the process of co-creating appropriate learning environments for groups that do not have the same needs and expectations as the academic MOOC participant. Co-design intentionally involves multiple groups of stakeholders and has been successfully implemented in various contexts with positive results in the past. In this particular case, successful co-design requires several different types of expertise, namely instructional designers, technology experts who can compensate for weak infrastructure, content experts, sociologists, anthropologists, and community members. All of these individuals must reach a common understanding of the project’s context and goals as well as the implementation strategy.