Learning strategies and digital interventions: an analysis of the context of education for sustainable development

Abstract

The present document proposes explorative and explicative research with the purpose to determine if the implementation of Massive Online Open Courses (MOOCS) can help achieve the Education for Sustainable Development goals according to the conceptual framework issued by UNESCO by promoting education for sustainable development prompts and exercises. This study is of a mixed nature, for there are two methodology phases: First, the gathering of quantitative data through four online surveys that were run at the beginning and the end of the course, and second, the gathering of qualitative data that was obtained through sixteen semi-structured interviews that were made to users. Eight of the users interviewed left the course unfinished, and eight of them completed the MOOC successfully. The intention of selecting both types of users is to listen to the voice of the participants and to comprehend their main motivations, complaints, and hopes for future MOOCs that might be designed in down the road in order to teach about education for sustainable development. A proposal, pinpointing the main elements that the participants found attractive when signing up to the course, as well as the feedback that was received directly from the interviews that were made, presents a summary of whether the participant's expectations were met, as well as an analysis comparing the answers obtained before and after the course intervention to determine if there was a significant change or not in the participant's awareness of sustainability and its importance for future generations.