Attending to the specific needs and demands of students in a globalised world: the case of a ‘spanish for travelling’ MOOC

Abstract

Language MOOCs (LMOOCs), whose content is related to language teaching, is still a field in need of further exploration, with respect to both the number of courses available and scientific research carried out, constituting a developing and expanding field. This paper will show a concrete example of the types of courses developed within the European Project ECO. This course is aimed at Spanish language students who want to learn the language in order to travel and has been created based on a rigorous needs analysis, according to the approach oriented towards action as advocated by CEFR (Common European Framework of Reference for Languages); and following a new MOOC typology proposed by the ECO project, the sMOOCs, whose pedagogical framework is based on Connectivism, and insists on a social, interactive and ubiquitouscomponent. This study follows a qualitative methodology through initial and final questionnaires. The analysis of data extracted from the first edition of this MOOC will show that a previous needs analysis, with the use of social networks and OER (Open Educational Resources) contribute to fulfill the expectations and development of the participants as autonomous learners who will be able to carry out their actions in the language within a globalised context.

Keywords

• MOOC de lenguas
• enseñanza a distancia
• aprendizaje social
• análisis de necesidades
• turismo.