Delivering WASH education at scale: evidence from a global MOOC series - DORA 4RI
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987759 EAU ENVIRONMENT & URBANIZATION Delivering WASH education at scale: evidence from a global MOOC series FABIAN SUTER and CHRISTOPH LÜTHI Fabian Suter is the manager Abstract The water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) sector is facing a shortfall of the digital learning of several million appropriately skilled professionals. Massive open online courses programme at Sandec, the (MOOCs) can play a crucial role in addressing this. This paper presents the case department of “Sanitation, study of the MOOC series “Sanitation, Water and Solid Waste for Development”, Water and Solid Waste for Development” at Eawag. which has reached over 120,000 learners within six years. It has attracted mainly well-educated, employed learners, under 34 years old, from Asia, Latin America Address: Eawag – the and Africa. Underrepresentation of female learners remains a challenge. While Swiss Federal Institute MOOCs have proven excellent for delivering WASH education at scale, some of Aquatic Science and Technology, Überlandstr. alternative formats (e.g. blended learning, small private online courses) allow more 133, Dübendorf 8600, collaborative, interactive learning environments. Three practical examples from Switzerland; email: fabian. Nigeria, Indonesia and Mozambique indicate the potential for synergies among suter@eawag.ch MOOCs and further learning formats. With the global shift towards digital learning Christoph Lüthi is the due to the COVID-19 pandemic, MOOCs have gained further traction. department head of Eawag- Sandec and leads the Keywords capacity development / digital learning / MOOC / WASH research group “Strategic Environmental Sanitation Planning”. Email: christoph.luethi@ eawag.ch I. Introduction The immense capacity gaps in human resources in the water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) sector(1) are a longstanding issue. In 1991, the UN 1. In this paper, we define Development Programme (UNDP) and UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water “WASH sector” as the group Education in Delft organized a symposium on water sector capacity of professionals supporting the delivery of water and development, which highlighted the gaps in education and training sanitation services and hygiene opportunities for WASH professionals in low- and middle-income countries promotion. (LMICs).(2) In 2007, the United Kingdom’s International Development 2. IHE/UNDP (1991), “A strategy Committee argued that the lack of institutional, organizational and for water sector capacity individual capacity at the national and local levels is a more serious issue building”, Proceedings of the UNDP Symposium, Delft, 3–5 for sustaining sector targets than the lack of financial resources. Likewise, June. the 2012 United Nations GLAAS report found that only 27 of 67 countries analysed had sufficient staff to operate and maintain their urban drinking water systems (and only 11 countries had enough employees for their rural systems).(3) Clearly, capacity development in most LMICs has not 3. WHO (2012), UN-Water kept pace with the rising need for human resources and well-trained staff Global Annual Assessment of for both rural and urban WASH services. Sanitation and Drinking Water (GLAAS) 2012 Report: The The most relevant and up-to-date research on human resource Challenge of Extending and capacity gaps in the sector was published by the International Water Sustaining Services, Geneva. Association (IWA) in 2014 as an outcome of the multi-year research project known as the Human Resources Capacity Gap Study. The final Environment & Urbanization Copyright © 2021 International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED). 1 https://doi.org/10.1177/0956247820987759 1–18. DOI: 10.1177/0956247820987759 www.sagepublications.com
ENVIRONMENT & URBANIZATION report(4) provided an in-depth analysis of human resource gaps in Africa 4. IWA (2014), An Avoidable Crisis: WASH Human Resource and the Asia-Pacific region, using a consistent methodology. The study Capacity Gaps in 15 Developing was a wake-up call for the sector to address the serious shortages of human Economies, The Hague. resources that risk undermining progress in increasing access to safe water and sanitation for all. The poor situation surrounding the capacity of institutions involved in water provision and sanitation services is most severe in sub-Saharan Africa, and the report estimates a staff shortfall of almost 800,000 professionals to meet universal WASH coverage in the 15 countries included in the study. A key message of the report is that there can be no sustained progress in achieving Sustainable Development Goal 6, on clean water and sanitation for all, without effective human resource management and training of the right number and calibre of people. For urban areas, the latest report on “Progress in Drinking Water, Sanitation and Hygiene” by the Joint Monitoring Programme estimates a current coverage of 85 per cent for basic sanitation services and 97 percent for basic drinking water services. (These figures, however, often fail to reflect the lack of acceptable provision in the informal settlements that can house large proportions of the urban population in many towns and cities in LMICs, and the water indicators fail to take account of quality.(5)) Despite 5. Weststrate, Johanna, Geske the progress made in recent years, the current pace does not suffice to Dijkstra, Jasper Eshuis, Alberto Gianoli and Maria Rusca (2019), achieve universal coverage by 2030.(6) Urban poverty, increasing population “The Sustainable Development density in cities, and rapid urbanization outpacing infrastructure and service Goal on water and sanitation: provision are some of the key challenges calling for an integrated approach learning from the Millennium Development Goals”, Social providing sustainable solutions for basic urban services, such as sanitation, Indicators Research Vol 143, water supply, solid waste management and stormwater drainage.(7) The No 2, pages 795–810; also planning and implementation of these solutions in the coming decade Adams, Ellis Adjei (2018), requires reaching professionals and students at scale. “Thirsty slums in African cities: household water insecurity in Massive open online courses (MOOCs) entered the global educational urban informal settlements of landscape in 2012 with the revolutionary promise of offering free access Lilongwe, Malawi”, International to higher education for anyone with internet access. With their scale- Journal of Water Resources Development Vol 34, No 6, independent design and open philosophy, they seemed predestined to pages 869–887. make an important contribution to closing the capacity gap in the WASH 6. UNICEF/WHO (2019), sector. However, the transition from ideal to reality has raised legitimate Progress on Household questions, specifically on whether the scalable format of MOOCs has Drinking Water, Sanitation and been achieved at the expense of equity. Hygiene 2000-2017: Special Focus on Inequalities, New This article provides an overview on the history of MOOCs and York. discusses their potential for the WASH sector with a case study of the 7. Narayan, Abishek and Lüthi, MOOC series “Sanitation, Water and Solid Waste for Development” Christoph (2020), “Solving urban (WASH-MOOC series), developed by Eawag-Sandec, the Swiss Federal sanitation – sustainably and equitably”, Water Environment Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology. The case study analyses the Federation Vol 43, No 4, pages learner demographics of this globally available WASH programme, which 18–21. has attracted over 120,000 enrolled learners within six years, and critically reflects on challenges, such as low completion rates, overrepresentation of already privileged learners, the relatively low number of MOOCs produced in LMICs, and the trade-off between scale-independent design and contextualized learning. The article concludes with a discussion about the future of MOOCs in light of the current shift towards digital learning in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. II. Methodology A case study approach has been selected to gain a better understanding of the opportunities and challenges of MOOCs for the WASH sector, 2
D E L I V ER I NG W A S H E D U C A T I O N A T S C A L E because it allows for investigating a contemporary phenomenon in 8. Yin, Robert (2009), Case depth and within its real-life context.(8) With its broad range of topics Study Research: Design and (water treatment, sanitation, faecal sludge management, solid waste Methods, SAGE Publications, London, 319 pages. management), global reach and continuous high enrolment numbers over several years, the WASH-MOOC series is well suited to provide a thorough insight into the MOOC phenomenon and its implications for the WASH sector. The data used in the case study are drawn from 9. Coursera is the largest Coursera’s(9) course dashboards between April 2014 and May 2020, as MOOC platform, offering over well as from surveys answered by learners at the beginning (n = 4,300) 4,500 courses to 64 million and the end (n = 3,143) of all courses of the WASH-MOOC series.(10) learners globally (https://www. coursera.org). An important limitation of the case study is the lack of post-course 10. The surveys almost data measuring the impact of the series on WASH professionals and exclusively contained multiple- learners. choice questions, with the exception being an open-ended question in the final survey asking for recommendations on III. Moocs – A Brief Overview how to improve the courses. When MOOCs emerged in 2012, they challenged the existing educational models by promising free access to education and equal opportunity to learners globally. Within months, the first courses offered on newly 11. Class Central provides founded MOOC platforms reached over one million learners.(11) The rapid regular updates on overall development triggered a debate about disruption and democratization MOOC learners and courses across major platforms (https:// of education, and by the end of the year, the New York Times famously www.classcentral.com), declared 2012 to be the year of the MOOC.(12) Enthusiasts highlighted including the first major MOOC the “potential to unlock a billion more brains to solve the world’s biggest platforms: Coursera (https:// www.coursera.org), edX (http:// problems”,(13) while sceptics identified MOOCs’ essential feature as www.edx.org), and Udacity “short, unsophisticated video chunks, interleaved with online quizzes”(14) and (https://www.udacity.com). considered them a threat to academia. 12. Pappano, Laura (2012), “The The sudden rise of MOOCs is based on experimentation over several year of the MOOC”, New York years with technologies and pedagogical concepts for online learning. Times, 2 November, accessed 15 July 2020 at https://www. Two early initiatives deserve special attention. In 2008, Downes and nytimes.com/2012/11/04/ Siemens explored new approaches enabled by the internet and social education/edlife/massive-open- media. They offered a course on “Connectivism and Connectivity online-courses-are-multiplying- at-a-rapid-pace.html. Knowledge” at the University of Manitoba, Canada to 24 paying students on campus and 2,700 non-paying online students in parallel. The 13. Friedman, Thomas (2013), “Revolution hits the instructors set up several course sites, including Moodle forums, video universities”, New York Times, streaming channels and a Wiki. In addition, learners established their 26 January, accessed 15 July own learning spaces, such as blogs and Facebook groups. This course 2020 at https://www.nytimes. com/2013/01/27/opinion/ coined the term “massive open online course” and is regarded as the sunday/friedman-revolution- pioneer for “cMOOCs” (connectivist massive open online courses) that hits-the-universities.html. focus on interaction and connectivity by, according to McAuley et al., 14. Vardi, Moshe (2012), “Will building “on the active engagement of several hundred to several thousand MOOCs destroy academia?”, ‘students’ who self-organize their participation according to learning goals, Communications of the ACM Vol 55, No 11, page 5. prior knowledge and skills, and common interests”.(15) In 2011, Stanford 15. McAuley, Alexander, Bonnie University created the first “xMOOC” (eXtended massive open online Stewart, George Siemens course) by successfully exploring the potential of reaching a global and Dave Cormier (2010), audience at scale with free online courses. Three almost simultaneously The MOOC Model for Digital Practice, University of Prince launched courses on artificial intelligence, data science and machine Edward Island, Charlottetown, learning reached over 100,000 learners within two months. The courses 64 pages, page 4. focused on knowledge transfer from teacher to learner and were offered on centralized platforms where students could access new videos every week, and complete automated multiple-choice quizzes and programming assignments. 3
ENVIRONMENT & URBANIZATION Porter’s definition of MOOCs exemplifies early MOOC definitions, emphasizing the scale-independent design of MOOCs and the intention of offering open education: - Massive: MOOCs are intended to be run at scale, with hundreds or even thousands of participants and without any limit to student numbers being imposed. - Open: MOOCs are intended to be open—with the word ‘open’ used to imply that access to MOOC is both free of charge and also that access to MOOCs is unrestricted. [. . .] - Online: MOOCs are delivered completely online and involve no face-to- face contact. [. . .] - Course: One of the key attributes that differentiates MOOCs from an open educational resource is that they have the characteristics of a traditional course—they run during a specific time period, based upon prescribed content, and instruction is provided to the student during that period of time. As with traditional courses, there is usually also an element of assessment included in MOOCs, and this may include some form of accreditation.(16) 16. Porter, Sarah (2015), What Are MOOCs?, Chandos Publishing, Waltham, 156 As MOOCs have grown in popularity, several alternative definitions pages, page 4. and taxonomies have been proposed in the literature. Clark expanded Siemens’ distinction between “cMOOCs” and “xMOOCs” into eight not mutually exclusive categories of MOOCs according to their pedagogy (e.g., groupMOOCs that aim to increase student retention, adaptiveMOOCs using adaptive algorithms to offer personalized learning experiences, transferMOOCs mimicking a traditional lecture).(17) Conole’s classification 17. Clark, Donald (2013), scheme is based on 12 dimensions, such as degree of openness, scale “MOOCs: taxonomy of 8 types of MOOC”, accessed of participation, or use of multimedia.(18) Pilli and Admiraal propose a 20 July 2020 at http:// taxonomy that positions MOOCs according to their level of openness and donaldclarkplanb.blogspot. massiveness. They differentiate between large-scale, more open courses com/2013/04/moocs- taxonomy-of-8-types-of-mooc. and small-scale, less open courses.(19) Liyanagunawardena follows a more html. learner-centred approach and proposes a taxonomy with 13 categories 18. Conole, Grainne (2014), “A covering information provided to learners before entering a course (e.g., new classification of MOOCs”, mode of assessment, ratings, use of multimedia).(20) The diversity of The International Journal for taxonomies underlines the difficulty in accurately classifying MOOCs. Innovation and Quality in Learning Vol 3, No 3, pages The costs for production and delivery of MOOCs are highly context- 65–77. specific. In a study focusing mostly on MOOCs produced in the US, 19. Pilli, Olga and Wilfried Hollands and Tirthali found overall costs ranging from US$ 38,980 to Admiraal (2016), “A taxonomy 325,330 per course and costs per completer of US$ 74 to 272.(21) Human of Massive Open Online resources, video production and acquiring access to a MOOC platform are Courses”, Contemporary Educational Technology Vol 7, considered key cost drivers. No 3, pages 223–240. After an initial debate about MOOCs, which was based on anecdotal 20. Liyanagunawardena, evidence rather than on robust data, a growing number of empirical Tharindu (2019), “A MOOC studies has started to provide insight on what happens when thousands of taxonomy based on classification schemes of people are learning with the same educational material. Three challenges MOOCs”, European Journal of of particular relevance are low completion rates, overrepresentation of Open, Distance and e-Learning already privileged learners and the relatively low number of MOOCs Vol 22, No 1, pages 85–103. produced in LMICs. 21. Hollands, Fiona and According to Jordan, the completion rates for MOOCs are 6.5 per cent Devayani Tirthali (2014), “Resource requirements on average, consistent across university rank and total enrolment, and and costs of developing completion is negatively correlated with course length.(22) A study by Reich and delivering MOOCs”, and Ruipérez-Valiente, analysing 261 courses with 5.63 million learners, The International Review of Research in Open and offered between 2012 and 2018 on edX, reveals that completion rates did 4
D E L I V ER I NG W A S H E D U C A T I O N A T S C A L E Distributed Learning Vol 15, No not improve over time and only 52 per cent of enrolled learners actually 5, pages 113–133. started the course.(23) MOOCs have been repeatedly criticized for their low 22. Jordan, Katy (2014), “Initial completion rates when compared to traditional university courses. However, trends in enrolment and completion of Massive Open critiques focusing exclusively on completion rates tend to overlook the fact Online Courses”, International that auditing a MOOC or other forms of non-completion might still offer Review of Research in Open a valuable learning experience, and one that suits the learner’s intention. and Distributed Learning Vol 15, No 1, pages 133–160. Low completion rates of MOOCs are not problematic as long as learner 23. Reich, Justin and José feedback is good. A simple comparison of dropout rates between MOOCs Ruipérez-Valiente (2019), “The and traditional lectures, without considering learner intention and format- MOOC pivot”, Science Vol 363, specific incentives, can be misleading. No 6423, pages 130–131. The well-documented overrepresentation of more affluent and better- 24. Liyanagunawardena, educated MOOC learners(24) is challenging the initial promise of MOOCs to Tharindu and Shirley Williams (2013), “The impact and reach democratize education by removing such hurdles as wealth, credentials or of MOOCs: a developing geographic location. There is an estimated global digital population of 4.1 countries’ perspective”, billion persons, yet a large proportion of global learners are currently unable eLearning Papers Vol 1, No 33, pages 38–46; also Hansen, to learn with MOOCs or other digital learning formats, due to the lack of John and Justin Reich (2015), affordable broadband internet, technology issues or deficiencies in digital “Democratizing education? learning literacy.(25) The trend towards monetizing MOOCs with paywalls Examining access and usage for course content and certificates, micro-credentials and degrees is creating patterns in massive open online courses”, Science additional hurdles for less affluent learners. At the same time, organizations Vol 350, No 6265, pages have successfully designed and offered MOOCs for disadvantaged learner 1245–1248. populations. Based on an analysis of a globally diverse set of studies and 25. United Nations Economic reports, Lambert provides an overview of promising approaches tackling and Social Council (2020), Progress towards the inequity in MOOCs, including learner-centred and multilingual course Sustainable Development design, courses offered at no cost and personal support provided to learners.(26) Goals, report of the Secretary- A repeatedly published critique refers to the tendency of MOOCs General prepared for the 2020 to embed Western-centric epistemologies; this perspective calls for a session, 19 pages, accessed 14 July 2020 at https://undocs.org/ more pluralistic approach, including increased MOOC production in en/E/2020/57. LMICs.(27) Zhang et al. identify the concentration of MOOC production 26. Lambert, Sarah (2020), “Do in high-income countries and the misalignment with local cultures, MOOCs contribute to student languages, pedagogies and contexts as the most critical challenge of equity and social inclusion? A systematic review 2014–18”, MOOCs.(28) In 2016, Abidi et al. expressed their surprise regarding the Computers & Education Vol small number of MOOCs produced in LMICs and, based on their practical 145, 17 pages. experience gained as MOOC producers at the Aga Khan University in 27. Adam, Taskeen (2019), Pakistan, published a roadmap for offering more MOOCs from LMIC “Digital neocolonialism and institutions.(29) In recent years, universities and training institutes in massive open online courses (MOOCs): colonial pasts and LMICs have increasingly positioned themselves as content producers. neoliberal futures”, Learning, The proliferation of affordable smartphones and mobile data plans have Media and Technology Vol 44, enabled learners at scale to access MOOCs also in the absence of reliable No 3, pages 365–380. landline infrastructure. Today, MOOC platforms based in LMICs (e.g., 28. Zhang, Ke, Curtis Bonk, SWAYAM in India, MéxicoX, ThaiMOOC, IndonesiaX, etc.) are offering Thomas Reeves and Thomas Reynolds (2020), “MOOCs thousands of courses, which are reaching millions of learners. Highly and open education in the popular learning apps (e.g., Byju’s in India, Kytabu in Kenya) further global South: successes and underline the trend towards digital learning. challenges”, in MOOCs and Open Education in the Global Over the course of 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic has changed South, Taylor & Francis, New education on a global scale and led to a distinctive shift towards digital York, pages 1–14. learning. The UN estimates that over 90 per cent of global learners on 29. Abidi, Syed, Aamna all levels have been affected by school closures caused by COVID-19.(30) Pasha, Greg Moran and Syed During the crisis, enrolment numbers for MOOCs have drastically Ali (2017), “A roadmap for offering MOOC from an LMIC increased worldwide;(31) universities that produced COVID-19-dedicated institution”, Learning, Media MOOCs for a broader audience (e.g., Imperial College London), or and Technology Vol 42, No 4, specifically for health professionals (e.g., Javeriana University School of pages 500–505. Medicine in Bogotá), have reached thousands of learners. According to the 5
ENVIRONMENT & URBANIZATION World Bank, the crisis is an unprecedented shock to education, but also 30. See reference 25. provides an opportunity to build stronger and more equitable educational 31. In its annual conference on systems.(32) At the same time, there is also a serious risk that the pandemic 24 April 2020, Coursera stated that there had been over 10 and the predicted global recession will further increase the digital divide, million course enrolments in and severely impede achieving SDG 4, which seeks to “Ensure inclusive and 30 days, an increase of 644 per equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all”. cent year over year. 32. World Bank (2020), The COVID-19 Pandemic: Shocks to Education and Policy IV. Case study – Mooc Series “Sanitation, Water and Responses, Washington, DC. Solid Waste for Development” In 2014, Eawag-Sandec launched the WASH-MOOC series with the goal of providing free access to high-quality WASH education at any time and in any place. The series is primarily designed for WASH professionals and students in LMICs and consists of four courses on water treatment, sanitation planning, solid waste management and faecal sludge management:(33) 33. For more information: https://www.eawag.ch/mooc. - Introduction to Household Water Storage and Treatment (HWTS-MOOC) covers the most important water treatment methods at the household level, successful implementation strategies, and means of assessing the impact of Household Water Treatment and Safe Storage (HWTS). (https://www.coursera.org/learn/water-treatment). - Planning & Design of Sanitation Systems and Technologies (Sanitation-MOOC) deals with how to plan for urban sanitation at the city and neighbourhood levels, and provides an overview of different sanitation system and technology configurations. The course is offered in parallel in English and French. (English version: https://www.coursera.org/learn/sanitation; French version: https:// www.coursera.org/learn/sanitation-fr) - Municipal Solid Waste Management in Developing Countries (Solid Waste-MOOC) provides an overview of the municipal solid waste management situation in LMICs. It covers key elements of the waste management system, such as its technical, environmental, social, financial and institutional aspects. (https://www.coursera.org/ learn/solid-waste-management) - Introduction to Faecal Sludge Management (FSM-MOOC) focuses on what can be done to work toward solutions for faecal sludge management in LMICs. It includes an introduction to faecal sludge management; covers the engineering fundamentals and required information for the design and selection of technologies, especially for non-sewered urban and peri-urban contexts; and provides an overview of innovation in the sector. (https://www.coursera.org/learn/faecalsludge) The courses are managed in close collaboration by content and digital learning experts at Eawag-Sandec. They have been produced in partnership with Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) and its Center for Digital Education, which spearheaded MOOC production in continental Europe. Inclusiveness is a priority of the courses and is being targeted through consistent efforts to make the courses accessible to a multilingual and culturally diverse group of learners, as well as a collaborative effort to engage with global sector specialists (Photo 1). Course content is continuously updated in order to promptly embrace new sector developments (Photos 2 and 3). Free access to the complete 6
D E L I V ER I NG W A S H E D U C A T I O N A T S C A L E PHOTO 1 Charles Niwagaba from Makerere University, Uganda presenting a video lecture on non-sewered sanitation in sub-Saharan Africa © Eawag-Sandec (2020). educational material is offered to all institutions that aim to use the WASH-MOOC series for educational purposes. The WASH MOOCs are available for free on the learning platform Coursera as five-week courses with an estimated workload of 25 hours each. During the first two years, courses were available exclusively during the course period of five weeks plus an extra week to prepare for the final exam. Course materials were uploaded afresh at the beginning of each week. Since 2016, the courses have been continuously offered in session format, allowing learners to join a course throughout the whole year. Each session has fixed start and end dates with suggested deadlines, incentivizing learners to progress through the course together. Enrolled learners get immediate access to the full course including videos, readings, discussion forums and assessments. Due to the short average attention span in video-based learning, the video lectures are split up into modules of 6 to 10 minutes and enriched with interactive elements (e.g., quiz 34. Geri, Nitza, Amir Winer and questions, discussion prompts).(34) Learners can test their progress online Beni Zaks (2017), “Challenging with multiple-choice quizzes, practical assignments and a final exam. the six-minute myth of online video lectures: Can interactivity Discussion forums serve as interaction platforms. Learners who complete expand the attention span the full series receive a free Statement of Accomplishment from Eawag- of learners?”, Online Journal Sandec. In addition, Coursera offers an optional course certificate for US$ of Applied Knowledge 49. The courses are offered in English with subtitles in English, French, Management Vol 5, No 1, pages 101–111. Spanish and Portuguese. Further subtitles (e.g., Hindi, Bangla, Russian) have been added to individual courses. a. Reaching WASH learners at scale Overall, the series has reached 121,649 enrolled learners within six years. Three courses launched in 2014 and 2015 attracted several thousand 7
ENVIRONMENT & URBANIZATION PHOTO 2 Rick Johnston and Sara Marks in the video studio at EPFL record- ing a module on water treatment methods © Fabian Suter (2015). PHOTO 3 Animation in the Sanitation-MOOC illustrating the sanitation service chain © Eawag-Sandec (2020). 8
D E L I V ER I NG W A S H E D U C A T I O N A T S C A L E Figure 1 WASH-MOOC series – cumulative enrolled learners per course SOURCE: Coursera dashboards of the WASH-MOOC series (April 2014–May 2020). 35. The HWTS-MOOC offered learners within a limited period of six weeks.(35) The full potential of the in 2014 and 2015 and the WASH MOOCs, though, came into play when the courses were offered Sanitation-MOOC offered in 2015 reached 20,359 enrolled continuously from 2016 onwards. Since then, the growth rate has been learners. constantly high, reaching on average 1,581 new learners every month from January 2016 to February 2020. In March 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic led to a sudden expansion of enrolment numbers, increasing them fourfold. It is yet unclear if the current growth rate of 5,000 to 6,000 new learners per month is temporary or the beginning of a long-lasting trend. Figure 1 represents the substantially different enrolment numbers per course. Most learners have enrolled in the Solid Waste-MOOC (59,995 learners). This is followed by the Sanitation-MOOC in English (25,908 learners) and HWTS-MOOC (24,873 learners). The FSM-MOOC covers a more specialized topic, and, hence, has attracted a smaller audience (6,909 learners). Compared to its English counterpart, the Sanitation- MOOC offered in French is reaching considerably fewer learners (3,994 learners). b. WASH MOOC learners = young, well educated, employed, male and from LMICs Glass and colleagues, along with other observers, describe typical MOOC learners as young, male, well educated, employed, and originating from 36. Glass, Chris, Mitsue a high-income country.(36) This description supports the argument that Shiokawa-Baklan and Andrew MOOCs contribute to the digital divide rather than democratizing Saltarelli (2016), “Who takes MOOCs?”, New Directions for education. The analysis of the learner demographics in the WASH-MOOC Institutional Research Vol 2015, series shows that this description is an accurate representation of learners No 167, pages 41–55. in terms of age, gender, education and work status. Between 76 and 80 per cent of learners have completed a bachelor, master or doctoral degree, 9
ENVIRONMENT & URBANIZATION and the majority are younger than 34 years of age. Female representation ranges between 26 and 39 per cent among the courses, which is even lower than the average on Coursera. A majority of learners are professionals. Only about one-third of learners are categorized by Coursera as full-time students (32.7 per cent). In terms of learner origin, however, the data of the WASH-MOOC series fundamentally contradict the Glass et al. description of typical learners. In all courses, the vast majority of learners are from LMICs. Most learners are from Asia (36.8 per cent), followed by Latin America (20.6 per cent), Europe (17.3 per cent) and Africa (15.3 per cent). With over 25,000 learners, India is the country with most enrolled learners. At the course level, the reach per country and world region vary substantially. The Solid Waste-MOOC features high enrolment among Latin American learners (26 per cent versus 11–14 per cent in the other courses). The HWTS-MOOC and FSM-MOOC have above-average learner numbers from Asia (47 per cent and 45.6 per cent respectively); and the majority of the learners in the Sanitation-MOOC offered in French are from francophone Africa (52 per cent). The greater representation of learners from LMICs underlines the attractiveness of the content and format for the primary target group of the WASH-MOOC series. At the same time, surveys completed by learners at the end of all four MOOCs(37) revealed that learners from LMICs still 37. In all courses of the WASH- consider internet access, financial resources and languages to be hurdles. MOOC series, students were asked to fill in a survey before Course learners particularly highlight the need to offer improved access starting and after completing a for learners without reliable or affordable broadband internet (e.g., by course. By June 2020, a total of reducing file sizes, by offering user-friendly download options of the full 4,300 learners had answered the initial survey and 3,143 courses), to issue free certificates at the course level and to make courses learners had completed the available in more languages. Learners from LMICs further recommend final survey. expanding the content, mainly by adding more case studies and practical examples from their respective world regions and countries, and increasing collaboration with local partners (e.g., universities, companies, NGOs, local authorities) to create contextualized learning offers with credentials. In the absence of long-term studies measuring the impact of the WASH MOOCs, final survey answers from course completers provide some insights on the extent to which the courses can foster students’ ability to get jobs in the WASH sector and broaden the skills of currently employed professionals to respond to WASH challenges. Most course completers stated that they were able to use the gained knowledge in their profession right away (55.4 per cent) or expected to use it in the next five years (39.5 per cent). c. Completion rates – the bane of MOOCs? Compared to other MOOCs, the WASH-MOOC series has above-average completion rates. Out of 121,649 enrolled learners, 79,642 (65 per cent) have started and 14,796 (12.1 per cent) have completed a course (Figure 2). However, the completion rates have only limited information value if learners’ intentions are not taken into account. The “easy- in, easy-out” options of most MOOCs allow learners to enrol without lengthy application protocols or initial payment, and to drop out with two mouse-clicks. Low completion rates are, therefore, not a bane, but a logical consequence of a format that also attracts learners who might 10
D E L I V ER I NG W A S H E D U C A T I O N A T S C A L E Figure 2 WASH-MOOC series – cumulative learner numbers per learner category NOTES: Within six years, the series has reached 121,649 enrolled learners. 65 per cent of enrolled learners have started a course, and 12.1 per cent have completed a course. SOURCE: Coursera dashboards of the WASH-MOOC series (April 2014–May 2020). be only interested in specific course offerings (e.g., technical aspects of treatment methods, case studies). A progress funnel (Figure 3) provides more detailed information than the completion rate, which simply divides enrolled learners by course completers. All courses feature the typical high dropout rate at the beginning and a relatively flat curve from week 2 onwards. Measuring the number of active learners per month (Figure 4) offers a complementary indicator to learner engagement. This figure illustrates that the COVID-19 pandemic has not only led to a massive increase of enrolled learners (Figure 1), but also caused a steep rise in learner engagement. d. Digital learning formats beyond MOOCs According to Torrisi-Steele and Drew, higher education in the 21st century “faces the challenge of providing cost-effective, high quality learning experiences appropriate to the needs of an ever-increasing, culturally diverse student population and to meet the competency demands of a digital, 38. Torrisi-Steele, Geraldine knowledge driven society”.(38) While MOOCs have proven to be beneficial and Steve Drew (2013), for delivering WASH education at scale, they can fall short in providing a “The literature landscape of more contextualized learning experience. Blended learning initiatives(39) blended learning in higher education: the need for better and so-called SPOCs (small private online courses) have emerged as more understanding of academic targeted formats that allow more collaborative and interactive learning blended practice”, International environments. In practice, there is a high synergy potential among these Journal for Academic formats. 11
ENVIRONMENT & URBANIZATION Development Vol 18, No 4, pages 371–383, page 378. 39. Blended or hybrid learning combines online and face-to- face learning. Online materials are used to complement in-class learning by offering additional exercises or content. Figure 3 WASH-MOOC series – progress funnel NOTES: The progress funnel shows similar retention rates for all courses of the WASH-MOOC series. Most learners drop out before starting the course and before completing week 1. A majority of learners starting week 2 complete the full course. SOURCE: Coursera dashboards of the WASH-MOOC series (January 2016–May 2020). Figure 4 WASH-MOOC series – learner engagement per month NOTES: Learners that have at least completed one course item per month are categorized as active learners. SOURCE: Coursera dashboards of the WASH-MOOC series (January 2018–May 2020). 12
D E L I V ER I NG W A S H E D U C A T I O N A T S C A L E PHOTOS 4A AND 4B Elizabeth Oloruntoba of Ibadan University in Nigeria integrates MOOC modules into her lecture by jointly watching the videos (4A) followed by a discussion (4B) © Ibadan University (2016). The following three examples from universities and training centres in Nigeria, Mozambique and Indonesia illustrate the versatile application potential of MOOCs as a component of online, onsite and blended learning formats: - The most common approach chosen by partner institutions is the integration of selected video modules into an existing onsite lecture. Photos 4A and 4B show Elizabeth Oloruntoba using a video module 13
ENVIRONMENT & URBANIZATION in her “Water Supply and Quality Management” course at Ibadan University in Nigeria. After an introduction to the topic, she watches the videos together with the learners, followed by a discussion about the content. Alternatively, partners apply the “flipped-classroom” mode whereby students learn content by watching video modules of the WASH-MOOC series outside of the classroom and then come to class prepared to engage with the content. - An instructive example of a full-fledged programme based on the WASH-MOOC series is the ZAMADZI capacity-building initiative in Mozambique. Directing the learners to the MOOCs on Coursera was not considered a viable option, due to the language barrier and the lack of affordable internet. Therefore, the complete series was transferred to a locally hosted Moodle platform, translated into Portuguese and merged with onsite activities focusing on the contextualization of content (e.g., field visits, student presentations, group assignments, roleplays). The overall learner feedback has been positive. Remaining challenges are the high costs of data bundles, video-based preparation for the classes, and the language barrier that continues to exist in courses, which are subtitled but not fully delivered in the learners’ native languages.(40) 40. A blog post written by the programme manager - The course “Kuliah Online Pengelolaan Sampah di Indonesia” provides insights into the (“Online Lecture on Waste Management in Indonesia”) exemplifies design and management of the ZAMADZI capacity-building the development of a more contextualized online course based initiative. Arsénio, André (2019), on a MOOC. The course was created jointly by Eawag-Sandec and “Cooperation with EAWAG in the Institute of Technology Bandung (ITB), after local stakeholders the short-course program”, expressed a demand for easily accessible knowledge on solid waste ZAMADZI blog, 30 September, available at https://zamadzi. management issues in Indonesia. The complete Solid Waste-MOOC net/2019/09/30/cooperation- has been subtitled in Bahasa Indonesia, and local experts have with-eawag-in-the-short- provided additional video modules on the specifics of solid waste course-program. management in Indonesia. The contextualized course is hosted by 41. The course is freely ITB and offered completely online.(41) available on the ITB-webpage at https://ftsl.itb.ac.id/link/ kuliah-online-pengelolaan- sampah-di-indonesia. V. Discussion Although MOOCs have not fully lived up to the high initial expectation of democratizing education, they have enriched the educational landscape by offering free or affordable education to millions of learners globally. The continued growth in the number of MOOC learners, courses and platforms indicates that MOOCs are here to stay. This article has critically examined the opportunities and challenges of MOOCs for WASH practitioners and students based on the case of the WASH-MOOC series. The series has reached WASH professionals and students at an unprecedented scale, with a majority of learners coming from LMICs. The monthly growth rate of around 1,500 new learners in normal times, and 5,000–6,000 new learners since the outbreak of COVID-19, indicates a continuous high demand for online courses in the WASH sector. The analysis of the students’ demographics shows that WASH MOOCs can reach learners who will play a crucial role in closing the capacity gaps in the sector – well-educated and young professionals in LMICs. With the explicit formulation of a standalone goal on education (SDG 4: “Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong 14
D E L I V ER I NG W A S H E D U C A T I O N A T S C A L E learning opportunities for all”) and the integration of numerous education- related targets within other goals, education is considered a key driver for the overall achievement of the SDGs by 2030. Can a dedicated MOOC series make a viable contribution? The transdisciplinary character of the SDGs is represented in the WASH-MOOC series, which, besides its strong focus on SDG 6 (“Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all”), embraces aspects of other goals, such as no poverty (SDG 1), good health and wellbeing (SDG 3), gender equality (SDG 5), and sustainable cities and communities (SDG 11). The series can offer learners new perspectives and knowledge they would otherwise not have access to. As a case in point, many engineering schools in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia continue to teach over-engineered, conventional sewer systems as the best urban solution for environmental engineering, even though these systems have failed to reach the vast majority of citizens in the past decades. The Sanitation-MOOC and the FSM-MOOC presented in Section IV offer in-depth alternative content for participants to learn about non-sewered solutions that they would otherwise not have access to. This leads to the question of whether MOOC learners can convert the offered learning experiences into practical actions contributing to the SDGs. Feedback collected from learners at the end of the courses indicates that a vast majority of course completers are using the gained knowledge in their profession right away or are expecting to use it in the next five years. In addition, there is some anecdotal evidence from WASH- MOOC learners and universities using the courses that the MOOCs are fostering students’ employability in the WASH sector. However, getting a better understanding of the extent to which WASH MOOCs are actually contributing to the SDGs will require further research that entails a systematic impact assessment. With a format designed for delivering education at scale, providing a contextualized learning experience is only possible to a certain extent. It is, therefore, important to highlight the suitability of MOOCs to serve as a starting point for high-quality, cost-effective blended learning formats. This potential for synergies does not come as a surprise, because the initial experimentation at Stanford University that continues to shape MOOCs was strongly driven by the aims of making on-campus education more engaging and making better use of time by enabling students to learn the core material online and using class time for discussions or experiential activities. An alternative digital learning format that addresses some of the shortcomings of MOOCs are SPOCs, which have emerged as a more targeted format, encouraging cohort-based experiences with smaller learner groups and defined start and end dates. Their scaled-down approach allows for the design of content that is tailored to a usually more homogeneous cohort (e.g. staff from Tanzanian municipal utilities). SPOCs offer “face time” between instructors and participants, e.g. in- person orientation, webinars, Q&As, group work, quizzes, capstone exercises and a reliable mentoring system – in short, a challenging learning experience that allows participants to acquire new competencies. Like MOOCs, SPOCs can be sequenced to allow for on-the-job training, without learners having to take time off. In the coming years, escalating population growth, exploding demand for education, diminishing technological hurdles (e.g., rapid spread of smartphones, fast penetration of landline and mobile broadband internet), and a growing number of universities that are discovering the 15
ENVIRONMENT & URBANIZATION potential of MOOCs as an integral component of their curriculum, are increasingly turning WASH MOOCs into an important and viable option for learners in LMICs across the globe. Reaching such a diverse learning population at scale requires a continuous effort to adapt content and format. Recommendations from course completers in LMICs particularly point out the importance of improved access for learners without affordable broadband internet, additional translations, more case studies from LMICs, and increasing collaborations with partners in LMICs to offer contextualized learning offers. Providing free credentials and course validation is frequently requested by learners but remains a thorny subject. More development work is needed to create internationally recognized certification standards for verified achievements. Future digital learning offers will need to address three distinct issues to become a driving force in WASH education in the next decade: (i) strengthening inclusion and equity, particularly by improving the current gender imbalance of MOOC learners; (ii) gaining a better understanding of learners’ needs, intentions and behaviours, e.g. by using emerging analytical methods based on artificial intelligence; and (iii) improving learning experiences by combining MOOCs with more tailor-made online and blended learning formats for targeted learning cohorts. The COVID-19 pandemic has further accelerated the trend towards digital learning and has forced educational institutions in the WASH sector to build up or expand their digital learning offer in a very short period, leading to a wealth of first-hand experiences with challenges and opportunities related to digital learning. The practical experiences gained during the pandemic will influence the design of the post-pandemic educational systems and raise the expectation that an increasing number of WASH MOOCs, SPOCs and blended learning initiatives produced by universities in Asia, Latin America and Africa will reduce the capacity gap in the WASH sector. Acknowledgements We thank Christian Riuji Lohri and Abishek Sankara Narayan for their helpful comments on an earlier version of the manuscript. We would also like to express our gratitude to Elizabeth Oloruntoba from the University of Ibadan, Nigeria and André Arsénio from the ZAMADZI- programme in Mozambique for sharing their insights on usage and contextualization of the MOOC series. Many thanks to all instructors of the WASH-MOOC series (Rick Johnston, Sara Marks, Christian Zurbrügg and Linda Strande) and their teams for their passion for digital learning, as well as to the colleagues at the Center for Digital Learning at EPFL for the fruitful collaboration during the production of the MOOC series. Funding The MOOC programme was supported through funding by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) and the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (Eawag). 16
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