44
B. Moser-Mercer et al.
Higher Education thrives in larger spaces that offer diverse inputs and encourage
free expression, allowing learners to combine free navigation of learning resources
with more structured tutoring and mentoring approaches. Unorthodox learning pathways unleash creativity; interrupted learning pathways, however, are hurdles. Protracted displacement is the biggest such hurdle, a major stumbling block to satisfying
intellectual curiosity and leading a dignified life. This is due to the feeling of helplessness and insecurity that can compound feelings of despair and hopelessness over
years of displacement with limited or no educational or economic opportunities.
Open Educational Resources (OERs), and more specifically Massive Open Online
Courses (MOOCs), have disrupted Higher Education in the Global North by challenging traditional assumptions and practices about teaching and learning, most notably
by putting the learner at the center of the design and using technology to enable
the learning process. As such, MOOCs have acted as a catalyst for change and have
prompted many educators to rethink what education should look like today and how
we can best design it.
Through our ongoing research into the challenges of refugee access to higher education (Moser-Mercer 2016), we have learned that despite extraordinary growth in
ICTs, access to information in fragile contexts remains constrained by connectivity,
language, and cultural barriers. Furthermore, information per se does not constitute
education, and this is particularly true for learners living in fragility. Higher Education in Emergencies cannot simply replicate traditional Higher Education models.
Indeed, HEiE must unlock the innovation potential of its “users” in an uncertain
environment by operating flexibly while showing tolerance for ambiguity, adaptability, and equifinality, i.e., researching multiple pathways to reach its objectives (Ries
2011; Blank 2013; Bloom and Betts 2014).
This perspective motivated InZone to undertake the MOOC Multi-Center Study
(Moser-Mercer 2016). This project aimed to engage in a finer grain analysis of the
multiple factors that contribute to the development of optimal learning environments
in fragile contexts. These factors must be responsive to refugee learners’ needs,
respect humanitarian principles, and create opportunities for charting new learning
pathways in situations of conflict, crisis, and protracted emergencies.
The study built on an earlier case study (Moser-Mercer 2014) in an effort to
strengthen the evidence base for HEiE by including a variety of fragile learning contexts. These differed with respect to the setting—camp or urban refugee settings;
language—multilingual with English as vehicular host country language or predominantly monolingual with Arabic as vehicular host country language; and gender
diversity. Even after enlarging the learner pool, expanding into different urban- and
camp-based refugee settings, ensuring diversity in the participant pool and incorporating refugees as participant researchers, the earlier case study results were largely
confirmed.
The study used an off-the-shelf MOOC offered consecutively as a session-based
and on-demand course in English. It integrated as variables (a) on-site and virtual
tutoring and mentoring support in select settings, enlisted the partnership of NGOs
and international organizations with an education mandate and local presence, and
(b) two geographic regions—the Horn of Africa and the Middle East—and two
B. Moser-Mercer et al.
Higher Education thrives in larger spaces that offer diverse inputs and encourage
free expression, allowing learners to combine free navigation of learning resources
with more structured tutoring and mentoring approaches. Unorthodox learning pathways unleash creativity; interrupted learning pathways, however, are hurdles. Protracted displacement is the biggest such hurdle, a major stumbling block to satisfying
intellectual curiosity and leading a dignified life. This is due to the feeling of helplessness and insecurity that can compound feelings of despair and hopelessness over
years of displacement with limited or no educational or economic opportunities.
Open Educational Resources (OERs), and more specifically Massive Open Online
Courses (MOOCs), have disrupted Higher Education in the Global North by challenging traditional assumptions and practices about teaching and learning, most notably
by putting the learner at the center of the design and using technology to enable
the learning process. As such, MOOCs have acted as a catalyst for change and have
prompted many educators to rethink what education should look like today and how
we can best design it.
Through our ongoing research into the challenges of refugee access to higher education (Moser-Mercer 2016), we have learned that despite extraordinary growth in
ICTs, access to information in fragile contexts remains constrained by connectivity,
language, and cultural barriers. Furthermore, information per se does not constitute
education, and this is particularly true for learners living in fragility. Higher Education in Emergencies cannot simply replicate traditional Higher Education models.
Indeed, HEiE must unlock the innovation potential of its “users” in an uncertain
environment by operating flexibly while showing tolerance for ambiguity, adaptability, and equifinality, i.e., researching multiple pathways to reach its objectives (Ries
2011; Blank 2013; Bloom and Betts 2014).
This perspective motivated InZone to undertake the MOOC Multi-Center Study
(Moser-Mercer 2016). This project aimed to engage in a finer grain analysis of the
multiple factors that contribute to the development of optimal learning environments
in fragile contexts. These factors must be responsive to refugee learners’ needs,
respect humanitarian principles, and create opportunities for charting new learning
pathways in situations of conflict, crisis, and protracted emergencies.
The study built on an earlier case study (Moser-Mercer 2014) in an effort to
strengthen the evidence base for HEiE by including a variety of fragile learning contexts. These differed with respect to the setting—camp or urban refugee settings;
language—multilingual with English as vehicular host country language or predominantly monolingual with Arabic as vehicular host country language; and gender
diversity. Even after enlarging the learner pool, expanding into different urban- and
camp-based refugee settings, ensuring diversity in the participant pool and incorporating refugees as participant researchers, the earlier case study results were largely
confirmed.
The study used an off-the-shelf MOOC offered consecutively as a session-based
and on-demand course in English. It integrated as variables (a) on-site and virtual
tutoring and mentoring support in select settings, enlisted the partnership of NGOs
and international organizations with an education mandate and local presence, and
(b) two geographic regions—the Horn of Africa and the Middle East—and two