What is a MOOC?
The abbreviation MOOC stands for Massive Open Online Course. These are online courses that are mostly free of charge and are offered on a variety of topics. Because they are presented in an online format, you can start the course at any time and learn the content at your own pace. An essential component in many MOOCs are videos, one of the most popular formats to convey content.
Why do we do MOOCs?
In the spirit of lifelong learning, continuing education and training are essential in a wide variety of fields. As MCI, we want to contribute to open education and make our expert knowledge accessible to as many people as possible. MOOCs are a great opportunity to communicate skills and knowledge efficiently to a large number of interested people.
What MOOCs are there and where can I find them?
MOOCs are provided on a platform. It is easy to get started using your MCI login data or registering for free on the platform. MCI is currently working on two exciting MOOCs. „Making Smart Decisions Proactively“ and „Entrepreneurship & Technology: From Idea to Market“.
An e-portfolio is a personalized website on which students present their skills in a particular field. Creating an e-portfolio provides an opportunity for students to independently work on unstructured problems while at the same time acquiring valuable competencies for work in digital space.
In this way the acquisition of academic competences is linked with the acquisition of digital skills, complemented by a critical reflection on the student’s own work on the e-portfolio.
MCI offers bridging courses on various subjects (mathematics, physics, chemistry) for first-year students, as an efficient tool to help them refresh their knowledge in the relevant field. Bridging courses are designed as blended learning courses, combining online and on-campus teaching phases.
At MCI’s Biotechnology and Food Engineering department, lab work also takes place in virtual laboratories (Labster).
Labster entails various benefits: the opportunity to do “dry runs” in a safe setting ensures that the time spent in the real-life lab can be used more efficiently; on the other hand, Labster also allows the simulation of experiments that would not be possible within the bounds of the available time or organizational framework of a lecture.
In addition, the use of gamification elements helps to enhance theoretical knowledge in playful ways.
Also outside formal settings such as directly on campus, learning takes place at all times. Field trips and study tours to various international destinations are an integral part of many study programs.
It takes a video to learn. Micro-lectures are series of lectures on video, retrievable by the students to watch and study whenever and wherever they choose.
Digital badges are digital certificates documenting knowledge and skills acquired outside the regular curriculum.
In addition to the relevant study program, students are given the opportunity to enhance their personal competence portfolio by acquiring a variety of key competences and skills in different areas, and thereby improve their career prospects.
Constructive Alignment ©MCI Learning Solutions
Transparency in teaching and continuous quality assurance as to the didactics and contents of the learning processes are vital elements in the design and implementation of structures for personalized learning processes at MCI. It is of essential importance to give students the opportunity to learn in collaborative settings based on application-oriented contents.
Good teaching is always focused on the student. Good instructional design is always based on the intention to help create a successful learning process for the student. And in order to be successful the teaching method must be matched with the desired learning outcome and the envisaged types of examination. All lectures, courses and seminars at MCI are, in design and orientation, based on these three vital elements for the creation of a successful teaching concept.
Innovative Teaching ©MCI Learning Solutions
The following are MCI’s essential principles for good and innovative teaching:
“Overall, the e-portfolio project was one of the most challenging, yet most rewarding projects I ever had to deal with at university. It is definitely appropriate within the curriculum.” (evaluation 2019)
“The study tour to Asia was great! It made me realize how different cultural approaches are reflected in business life, too.” (evaluation 2018)
“One of the things I liked about the e-portfolio project was that it involved many different tasks, which gave me the opportunity to learn a lot, e.g. how to use new tools, to prioritize tasks, personal time management, etc.” (evaluation 2019)
“Working with Labster was exciting. I was able to repeat the simulation of lab experiments at home, and I really profited a lot from that.” (evaluation 2019)
“What I liked most was being able to watch the lecture series in my own time several times over. This contributes a lot to my learning outcome.” (evaluation 2018)
“I now have a digital badge in responsible management, which I can also post on my social media channels. Some of my contacts have already commented on it.”
“The bridging course in mathematics was vital for me. It gave me a head start into the semester.”
The innovative competence of many members of the MCI faculty is not least evidenced by the prizes and awards received for good innovative teaching at MCI.
Each year the MCI Academic Council presents a Teaching Award to the three best teachers at MCI.
The nominees are chosen from amongst the entire internal and external faculty of the preceding academic year, taking into account the students’ feedback. The final decision is taken by the Academic Council on the basis of the overall evaluation results ranking.
The worthy winners of the 2021 Teaching Award are:
The most important elements contributing to good and successful teaching are professional expertise, a modern and target-group-oriented didactical approach, and first and foremost the ability to explain contents clearly and succinctly and fill the students with enthusiasm for the relevant topic.
The three winners of the Teaching Award meet these requirements in an exemplary manner: with an active, practice-related and discourse-oriented approach to teaching that perfectly combines research, theory and practice, and ensures the students’ active participation.
Profformance Teacher Award
The MCI was nominated for the Profformance Teacher Award for the project "MOOCs @ and by MCI - Enabling Life Long Learning through Massive Open Online Courses".
The purpose of this international higher education teacher award is to identify, acknowledge and recognize excellent teaching practices and to provide opportunities not only for sharing and exchanging best examples, but also to encourage cooperation between the Higher Education Institutions of the European Higher Education Area.
The project was developed and submitted by the MCI Learning Solutions team.
The certificate can be found here ( pdf | 391.20K ).
Ars Docendi – Austrian State Prize for excellence in teaching
The MCI project „A-BWL für Wirtschaftsinformatiker/innen einfach anders? - „Mastering the Basics to strive for Excellence!““ was selected for the shortlist for this year’s “Ars Docendi”, the Austrian State Prize for excellence in teaching at Austrian higher education institutions, in the category “Quality improvement of teaching and studyability”.
The project was realized by Prof. Dr. Teresa Spieß , Thomas Dilger, MA in collaboration with management consultant Helmut Zangerl, who is a lecturer at MCI. The project provides students with the basic knowledge of business administration with high practical relevance.
International E-Learning Award
In 2018, an exceptionally innovative project focused on integrating and linking the development of digital and professional competences was honored within the framework of the renowned IELA award program. The MCI project “ePortfolio & Digital Competencies” was recognized as an outstanding initiative in the field of e-learning at institutions of higher education, and earned particular praise for the exemplary use of technologies to improve education and performance. Only three projects worldwide were awarded prizes in this category.
The “ePortfolio & Digital Competencies” project at MCI was initiated and designed by Professor Claudia Mössenlechner, Head of MCI Learning Solutions, and implemented in close cooperation with the MCI Tourism department.
