Re-Envisioning Education for Women and the Majority World through MOOCs

• In Event: Roundtable Session (Wednesday III)
  In Refereed Round-Table Session: Gender issues: intersections between education and constructions of identity

Proposal

The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the Republic of Korea sponsored the 2015 World Education Forum. The theme of the 2015 Word Education Forum involved “equitable and inclusive quality education and lifelong learning for all by 2030: transforming lives through education” (UNESCO, 2015). The Preamble of the Incheon Declaration defined education as an essential and universal right for all humans to create and ensure peace, equipping people for employment with hopes that they have social and economic means for self-sustainability (UNESCO, Preamble 5, 2015). Regarding education for girls and women, the report stressed the value of education in promoting gender equality and equity by supporting gender-sensitive policies, improving teacher training, and creating curriculum to decrease discrimination and violence against females in schools (UNESCO, Preamble 8, 2015). The preamble called for donors from affluent nations to provide funding and resources, such as educational technology, to help educators in the Majority world provide quality-learning opportunities for females and the underserved (UNESCO, Preamble 9-16, 2015).

This paper examines one such educational technology known as Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs). MOOCs have been a recent phenomenon in providing large-scale interactive participation and open access to courses online. Depending on the internet availability in some of these developing countries, this alternative may provide adults a chance to obtain education. Using the empowerment theory as a comparative education framework, this paper examines recent literature on the origins of MOOCs, the benefits and challenges of MOOCs in adult education, and implications in providing access to education for females and the underserved. This paper also provides recommendations for future research for education organizations to enable MOOCS to provide additional opportunities for life-long skills for people in the Majority World

Author

• Runchana Pam Barger, Wheaton College