Integration of a MOOC course and a PLN-PLE in a face-to-face course on fundamentals of programming

Abstract

This paper describes the educational experiences in Computer Programming Fundamentals for students of Social Sciences and Humanities that integrates face-to-face classes with elements of virtual education such as participation in a Massive and Open Online Course (MOOC) and the development of personal learning environments and networks (PLE-PLN). This hybridization of face-to-face and virtual components requires proper integration and synchronization. In this sense the MOOC course has been taken as an "assistant" in the delivery of a practical part of the course and in the classroom the theoretical part is reviewed and exercises and comments are carried out trying to integrate the two educational modalities. This integration is reinforced by the PLN-PLE that each student develops according to the progress achieved in class and in the massive course. PLNs-PLEs as a whole can be considered as cyber-spaces of information exchange and knowledge construction. The central coordination of the activities of both educational modalities is carried out in the classroom through a virtual learning and teaching environment (EVEA) implemented in Moodle. The instructional design that has been followed in classes is supported by the methodology of project-based learning that allows the teacher and the students to have a well-planned vision and objective from the beginning of the school period. The pedagogical framework that supports the presence and virtual elements is given within a context of connectivist learning that seeks to achieve different levels of interaction and cognitive involvement among the participants.