Every three months there will be an update from the project management team describing the main activities undertaken by the EMMA team in the preceding 3 months.

May 2016 – EMMA involves over 20,000 learners!

The last 3 months have been really, really busy for the EMMA team. We launched a whole series of new MOOCs and increased the number of registered users on the platform to 20999. The coding MOOC was a huge success attracting over 6000 teachers all keen to find out how they can introduce coding in their classroom. We have also been busy launching our call for new providers who would like to use the multilingual EMMA platform on which to host their MOOC and there is now a public call to action to anyone interested in exploring this idea. Our popular webinar and newsletter series continued and now almost 3000 people receive our newsletters with plenty of information about what EMMA is up to along with links and reviews of developments related to the MOOC phenomenon on the global stage.

February 2016 – over 16,000 registrations for EMMA MOOCs

Its been a really busy 3 months for the EMMA team who have succeeded in bringing in the first MOOCs provided by organisations who are not project partners, which is a significant milestone for the project. This has brought with it a number of improvements to the workflow with several partners collaborating closely in order to bring new providers online. A partner meeting in December in Valencia hosted by UPV helped to secure partner involvement and to discuss the exploitation of EMMA in the post funding phase. The highly successful Coding MOOC launched in January helped to test the robustness of the system and a new campaign promoting 14 MOOCs was launched which includes the first MOOC delivered in 4 languages.

November 2015 – Brand new look for EMMA

With the launch of the new October campaign, EMMA partners also released a new interface with a fresh and we hope even more attractive look. Not only does the platform have a new look but it is also far more sophisticated with the integration of not only the translation and transcription services but also more elaborated learning analytics with a new dashboard designed to make the job of MOOC teacher and manager far simpler. The catalogue of EMMA MOOCs is also growing with the launch of 2 new MOOCs in October on Assessment and Copyright and a re-issue of 7 existing MOOCs – while the number of validated users on the platform has now gone over 7000. Work to attract new MOOC providers continues apace and UOC who are responsible for leading in this area have been very busy streamlining this process. Last but not least we also launched our new video competition in recent weeks – so look out for the results of the #ILikeEMMA video contest coming your way soon.

August 2015 – Successful Summer School in Ischia

June and July were busy months for everyone involved in EMMA. Many of the existing MOOCs were still running and we saw enrollments go up to over 5000 which was an important landmark for the team. Project partners met for a consortium meeting in Estonia kindly hosted by Tallinn University – a meeting that provided a good opportunity to review the first full academic year of EMMA and to look forward to 2015/2016. In July many of the partners were involved in the highly successful EMMA Summer School which brought together a number of potential new MOOC providers in the terrific working environment of Ischia, off the coast of Naples. The summer school was organised jointly with the annual ECTEL summer school and provided a good opportunity to streamline the EMMA approach to MOOC design and delivery and to prepare for new provider recruitment in 2015/2016.

May 2015 – Over 4000 people enrolled on EMMA MOOCs

The last 3 months have been a really busy period for the EMMA team. While many of the second round of MOOCs were still running, a new round of MOOCs launched in May. They included the very popular Open Wine University from University of Burgundy in France and the first ever tri-lingual MOOC on ePortfolios which was launched by Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC) in May 2015 and which begins in June. The number of enrollments continues to increase with over 4000 people enrolled in EMMA MOOCs by the end of May. Work to streamline the production process is underway to make it easier for new MOOC providers to insert their MOOCs onto the EMMA platform while also using the translation and transcription service. Planning for the delivery of the first EMMA summer school is also coming to a head which is being organised as a co-delivery experience with novice MOOC designers working alongside experienced MOOC providers to create a number of new MOOCs for delivery in the second half of 2015.

February 2015 – EMMA offers a second round of MOOCs

Since November, the EMMA team have been busy monitoring and reviewing the experience of offering the first MOOCs which ran until December. The partner meeting held in Madrid in December provided a good oppprtunity to review progress generally and to plan for the next phase. Since then, arrangements for the next batch of 5 MOOCs have been finalised and these will launch in March/April while planing for the second iteration of several of the first round of MOOCs is planned for May. Arrangements to support the introduction of MOOCs not provided by EMMA partners have also been advanced and those interested can find the selection criteria and information about how to apply to EMMA to have their MOOC included in the EMMA platform on the project website. Work has been done on the EMMA Summer School which will be held in Ischia in July in collaboration with ECTEL and the project continues to be presented in a variety of different events and locations.

November 2014 – EMMA opens its doors with the first round of MOOCs

Seven out of the first ten planned MOOCs launched in October which was the high spot of this last period. Topics ranged from the Organisation of Cultural Enterprises provided by UNINA to Searching on the Internet from UPV and by the beginning of November over 1000 people had enrolled on one of the first pilot MOOCs. A lot of ‘learning while doing’ is taking place amongst the project team as the various services and functionalities linked to the platform start to roll-out, At the same time the team continues to promote EMMA amongst stakeholders and policy-makers and EMMA was represented at several important events in this last period. The first newsletters were circulated to a growing community of people interested in keeping abreast with how the platform is evolving. Furthermore the first steps were taken in building a collaborative network initiated by EMMA amongst European projects and initiatives active in MOOC developments and also in preparing for the first EMMA Summer School due to be held in 2015.

August 2014 – EMMA Project getting down to business

Since May, the focus of work for all partners has been to prepare a platform fit and ready to support the first 10 MOOCs due to be launched in September. This work is led by UNINA who are responsible for platform adaptation and systems integration which includes also UPV, IPSOS, CSP and TLU component developers and University of Leicester as leaders of the pilot implementation work. This is a task not without challenges given the different nature and structure of the MOOCs that need to be accommodated. Work to assess the suitability of the platform to meet the needs of the MOOC providers is led by ATOS who have been painstakingly reviewing the functionality of the platform according as it develops and working closely with UNINA to adjust and adapt where possible and necessary. Usability testing is ongoing and several deliverables have been finalised in this period including the project risk analysis, the pilot engagement plan and the first series of dissemination materials. Presentation of the project to outside interest groups has continued apace and there have been presentations about EMMA in several international events. The support and interest in the work of EMMA shown by the Italian Minister of Education is a particular highspot of the dissemination activities in recent months.

May 2014 – EMMA Project off to a good start

EMMA has got off to a good start with a kick-off meeting involving all partners in February which served to lay the initial plans for the project. A further meeting in April in Lisbon focused on reaching consensus between the needs and requirements of the different MOOC providers and the platform design. Each of the work package leaders has been active in setting up work plans and priorities with the partners and there has been quite some progress in terms of the translation and transcription work to be done along with the work to set up an effective pilot in September. The coming months are very critical as this is when the important technical and usability tests as well as user testing will take place, necessary for a successful launch of the platform in September. Meanwhile as a project, EMMA has been launched and there is already a significant amount of interest, particularly amongst other potential MOOC providers. In the coming months this interest will continue to be fostered with presentations about the project taking place in several events.