This article analyzes Higher Education students’ development of interpersonal competences when using Information and Communication Technologies. The participating sample was made up of 1490 students from three Spanish universities: Complutense University of Madrid (Spain), Pablo de Olavide University (Spain), and National Distance Education University (UNED). The data were collected through a questionnaire called “Basic digital skills 2.0 of university students” COBADI® (Registered trademark: 2970648). A factorial analysis was performed to determine possible groupings of representative factors and subsequently the trees technique was applied by running the CHAID (Chi-squared Automatic Interaction Detector) algorithm. This made it possible to develop a map of possible differences between universities, ages, and gender of students. The results showed that university students have higher competences in communicating through interactive presentations and video-images, as well as in collaborating and working with documents online through mobile devices.

Massive is one of the distinctive features of MOOCs which differentiate them from other e-learning experiences. This massiveness entails certain possibilities, but also some challenges that must be taken into consideration when designing and implementing a Massive Open Online Course, in relation to context, work progress, learning activities, assessment, and feedback. This document presents an analysis of the advantages and disadvantages of the massive aspect of MOOCs, and specifically it narrates the experience of creating a MOOC on Web Science, developed at the University of Southampton (United Kingdom) using the new FutureLearn platform, in autumn 2013. In this document, the importance of Web Science as an emerging field is analyzed and its origins explored. The experience gained from the decisions and the work progress developed for the creation and implementation of a specific MOOC is also shared here. The final section of the paper analyses some data from the MOOC in Web Science, including the participation index, the comments and interactions of some participants, tools used, and the organization of facilitation. Challenges involved in running a MOOC related to course design, platform use and course facilitation are also discussed. El carácter masivo es una de las peculiaridades de los MOOC, que lo diferencian de otro tipo de experiencias de aprendizaje en red. Este hecho configura una serie de posibilidades, pero también una serie de retos que hay que tener en cuenta a la hora de diseñar e implementar un curso masivo en red, en relación, por ejemplo, a los contenidos, el proceso de trabajo, las actividades, la evaluación y el feed-back. Este trabajo presenta un análisis de las ventajas y desventajas del carácter masivo de los MOOC y concretamente describe la experiencia de creación de un MOOC sobre Web Science desarrollada en la Universidad de Southampton (Reino Unido) en la plataforma FutureLearn durante el otoño de 2013. Se analiza la importancia del estudio de la rama de Web Science y cómo se originó esta experiencia. También describen las decisiones y el proceso de trabajo desarrollado para la creación e implementación del MOOC en concreto. Se termina este trabajo analizando alguno de los datos que se han obtenido, como el índice de participación (ligeramente elevado respecto a la media de los MOOC), los comentarios de los participantes, la manera de gestionar la facilitación del curso y algunos de los retos que nos encontramos a la hora de gestionar un MOOC, que se relacionan con el diseño del curso, la plataforma que se utiliza y cómo se organiza la facilitación del curso.

Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) are frequently portrayed as "agents of change" in higher education (HE), impacting on institutional practices, processes and structures throughout HE. However, these courses do not "fit" neatly with the established aims and functions of universities, and accounts of technology-led change in universities predominate, simplistically emphasising technologically determinist narratives with incidental social effects. This study aims to explore the consequences of introducing these courses into HE in terms of the roles of educators, learning designers and the socio-technical construction of MOOCs. The research takes a socio-technical perspective, combining the established analytical strategy of Socio-Technical Interaction Networks (STIN) with the social theoretical 'third space' framework of HE activity. The paper reports on the first of three institutional cases studies, finding that learning designers occupy a hub-like position in the networks of actors involved in MOOC development within an emergent 'third space' between academic and managerial roles. The analysis also reveals how the massive and open elements of these courses elicit involvement of seemingly peripheral actors, who exert a strong influence on course production processes and content, with educators taking a less central role. This work adds a socio-technical element to understandings of third space activity in higher education, and can inform the planning and development of online education projects in accounting for changing roles in HE where massiveness and openness are combined in a course.

The advent of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) has been altering the Higher Education landscape in recent years. This kind of courses are penetrating in an increasing number of universities, the majority of which do not seem to have intentions to stop offering them in the short term. Such courses are generating new educational scenarios to which universities have to adapt, which creates a set of challenges and opportunities, most of them related to the use of technology in education. This study aims to shed light on such challenges and opportunities when a university employs postgraduate students as MOOC mentors.For this study, a set of focus group interviews were conducted in an English university to PhD students in various disciplines. In the interviews, participants share their experiences as mentors, especially regarding how they developed certain teaching and digital skills, and how they faced certain challenges related to their digital identity.The results suggest that participating in MOOCs as mentors can help early career researchers to develop certain teaching, digital, and academic skills that could be beneficial for the institutions they work for, and for themselves. However, their online exposure sometimes raises certain implications for their public image, their working conditions, and their online professional identity.

Since Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) became a global phenomenon in 2012, there has been constant evolution in the way Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) make sense of them. HEIs embracing MOOCs have dedicated a variety of human resource to this venture. Only in a minority of cases, staff have been appointed exclusively to this role. In all other cases, MOOC related tasks have been allocated to professionals who were already performing other educational tasks. This article contains a study that captures the experiences of these professionals in a Spanish university and a British university, as relates to their involvement in MOOCs. Interviews and group sessions were conducted to ascertain the influence of MOOCs in their practice, and in their opinions about the role of MOOCs in their institutions. The results seem to suggest that participants have positive attitudes towards incorporating MOOCs at the university, although they demand a serious bet for this educational approach from the strategic decision makers in the institutions.