Innovating Problem and Project Based Learning Using a Modified Version of MOOCs

In this chapter, we argue that the recent interest in personalized and individualized approaches to online learning challenge pedagogies that build on strongly collaborative understandings of learning. We explore an example of such a collaborative pedagogy (Problem and Project Based Learning (PBL)), and how we can develop this model to remain relevant and innovative. We propose three emerging developments or ideas and how these can advance PBL thinking for a digital and global age. 1) We discuss and outline the idea of a ‘flipped semester’, rather than ‘flipped classroom’. 2) We discuss how students are developing novel collaborative competences that will be important for future work and learning through their distributed and face-to-face (f2f) collaboration. 3) Finally, we present the idea of Collaborative Open Online Projects (COOPs), that we propose as a specific type of MOOC amongst many others.