The experience of MOOC, in the university extension of the Open University in Portugal

Abstract

The relevance of the MOOC is discussed (Massive and Open Online Course) in the university extension, from the Universidade Aberta (Univ-Ab, Open University) of Portugal. This public higher education institution, founded in 1988, is based on its model of teaching and learning in the distance modality, having students in five continents, in three levels of studies: undergraduate, master's and doctorate. Although its headquarters are located in Lisbon, the institution currently has nineteen Local Learning Centers (CLAs, in portuguese), eighteen of which are located in portuguese territory (fourteen in mainland Portugal and four in the adjacent islands: three in the Azores and one in the Madeira Island), as well as another one in the Mozambican capital: Maputo. The CLAs are, as its name suggests, local support centers for teaching taught by Univ-Ab, especially aimed at promoting which result from the creation of partnerships with civil society, thus seeking the development of socio-cultural and educational interventions, framed in the local territorial dynamics, according to the specificities of the respective area of ​​influence. Another important aim is the interpretation and communication of the training and cultural needs of the areas covered by the CLAs, since the MOOCs allow us to assess and perform a pre-approach to the higher courses of Univ-Ab, and is therefore a tool of formal learning, after its accreditation, and which, in some cases, progresses to the frequency of a higher education level.