NearEU

NearEU MOOC won “E-course of the Year 2022” Award!

We are extremely proud to announce that the NearEU MOOC “Common Challenges of Competing Regionalisms” has been select as best e-course of the year by Estonia’s Quality Agency for Higher and Vocational Education (Eesti Kõrg- ja Kutsehariduse Kvaliteediagentuur – EKKA). The main results of the competition, were announced at the spring seminar “Digiäkk 2.0” on May 20, 2022, where the main coordinator of the MOOC, Anna Beitane, delivered a presentation on the topic “Supporting the development of a self-directed learner and the emergence of learning communities in MOOC Common Challenges of Competing Regionalisms“.

In 2022, 97 courses from various universities, colleges, vocational education institutions and general education schools across Estonia were recognized as worthy of the e-course quality mark. Among the main recipients, 9 courses were nominated for the e-course title of the year, including the Johan Skytte Institute’s “Common Challenges of Competing Regionalisms” course! 

According to Anna Beitane, “our entire team is very grateful to EKKA and the evaluating committee for recognizing our MOOC with such a high honor.  We are proud of the results achieved since it well represents the effort of the team that has been working on this course for many months to achieve this outcome. As the committee acknowledged, the MOOC is not only raising awareness about a very relevant and still understudied topic, but it also includes a number of interactive and student-directed learning features that determined a high level of participants’ involvement and activism. We are thankful to everyone who contributed to the success of this course!” 

The aim of the e-course Quality Label is to improve the quality of e-courses offered by educational institutions and to share best practices. The Quality Label affirms the very good quality of the e-course and is a recognition for the creator and organiser of the e-course, who have achieved excellent results in the application of digital technologies in the learning process. The Quality Label of the e-course affirms to the learner that the course and its level of delivery meet the quality requirements. The e-course Quality Label has been issued in Estonia since 2008. 

The full recording from the “Digiäkk 2.0” event, including Anna’s presentation can be accessed here. A short clip, introducing viewers to the features of the MOOC, can be also accessed here

e-course quality mark Pekka picture

Picture: Leeis Reiman