Developing a MOOC: The Romanian Experience.

Started in 2008 and gathering momentum over the past two years, now an online phenomenon, MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) reunite different perspectives over a globalized online learning. The 'pure' and initial ones integrate the connectivity of social networking, the facilitation of an acknowledged expert in a field of study, and a collection of freely accessible online resources. The others are based on online LMS's where "open" students, can join in some or all of the course activities, which might include watching videos, posting on discussion boards and blogs, and commenting via social media platforms or on chat rooms. Widely it is accepted that MOOCs are disruptive - by their very nature they tell a different narrative to that of the traditional university. But all major players in the higher education field have initiated, created or joined a MOOC in the last years. The most successful ones are in widely used languages as English, Spanish or German. Four universities from Romania started a Romanian MOOC environment, which provides free access to valuable education in Romanian language, presented by well-known professors. This papers presents the planning, structuring but also the technological and pedagogical models used in creating the Romanian MOOC. Which one from the MOOC models and LMS the Romanian courses can adopt and integrate? How Romanian students can be encouraged and motivated in attending these courses and how the use of OER and social networking can be encouraged? These are just some of the questions which the paper answers, based on the Romanian MOOC development, the enquiries and surveys generated in the universities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]