Designing a MOOC on sustainable campuses
Huupponen, Jouni (2025)
2025
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Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2025061022248
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2025061022248
Tiivistelmä
The subject of the work is to help an international team of experts to create a MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) on sustainable campuses and to introduce service design to them. Additionally, the thesis explores the use of service design methods in MOOC design.
The MOOC is intended for adult learners who must take the responsibility for their own learning, therefore self-directed learning and reflective learning are important considerations to the project. They are also both active processes and need to be learned. Meanwhile, motivation is an important aspect of self-directed learning and MOOC design. Learners, their interests and motivations will vary from course to course and course designers, instructors, and other collaborators need to consider their specific course and how it relates to the needs of the learners.
The course is also meant for a global audience, and it is not always a certainty that the learners have the necessary skills in self-directed or reflective learning, though learner’s background is not the main contributor to possible difficulties in doing a MOOC. Rather, adult learners have other responsibilities and circumstances in life that can negatively affect their learning.
The work covers the creation of learner personas, including the use of artificial intelligence in their creation. The work then uses the personas to investigate value generation through the value proposition canvas. The personas also form the starting point for journey mapping. The work also includes several workshops and an autoethnographic account.
The service design methods yielded several good results, such as new perspectives found through personas. Autoethnography was found to be a powerful tool in gaining personal experience with the topic. Furthermore, service design was found to be a useful approach in MOOC design and even partially including service design and design thinking into a MOOC design has clear value.
The MOOC is intended for adult learners who must take the responsibility for their own learning, therefore self-directed learning and reflective learning are important considerations to the project. They are also both active processes and need to be learned. Meanwhile, motivation is an important aspect of self-directed learning and MOOC design. Learners, their interests and motivations will vary from course to course and course designers, instructors, and other collaborators need to consider their specific course and how it relates to the needs of the learners.
The course is also meant for a global audience, and it is not always a certainty that the learners have the necessary skills in self-directed or reflective learning, though learner’s background is not the main contributor to possible difficulties in doing a MOOC. Rather, adult learners have other responsibilities and circumstances in life that can negatively affect their learning.
The work covers the creation of learner personas, including the use of artificial intelligence in their creation. The work then uses the personas to investigate value generation through the value proposition canvas. The personas also form the starting point for journey mapping. The work also includes several workshops and an autoethnographic account.
The service design methods yielded several good results, such as new perspectives found through personas. Autoethnography was found to be a powerful tool in gaining personal experience with the topic. Furthermore, service design was found to be a useful approach in MOOC design and even partially including service design and design thinking into a MOOC design has clear value.