IES Director Highlights Friday Institute MOOC-Eds in First-Year Report

In a recent report of the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) Director Mark Schneider’s first-year accomplishments, two of the Friday Institute for Educational Innovation’s Massive Open Online Courses for Educators (MOOC-Eds) were highlighted as examples of how IES’ Practice Guides are translated into practice. Schneider said that these courses served “as prototypes for how a product developed with IES resources can be ‘taken to market’ through connections to regional partners.”

“Practice Guides are among the most important products of IES, because they are central to translating research into practice,” Schneider said in his report. “IES hasn’t done nearly enough to translate the guides into actionable information that can transform behavior and outcomes. Others have stepped in to fill the gap. We have found several examples of how Practice Guides (what works) can be turned into products that change how education is delivered (what happens).”

The Friday Institute’s Fraction Foundations and Teaching Foundational Reading Skills MOOC-Eds are organized around recommendations from IES Practice Guides and give educators specific, research-based recommendations for effective teaching practices that they can implement in their classrooms. These Practice Guides are developed by a panel of expert researchers and practitioners and prepared for the Institute of Education Sciences, a part of the National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance.

All Friday Institute MOOC-Eds are built on research-based models of effective professional development, professional learning communities and online communities of practice. Developed in collaboration with a team of experts, each of the MOOC-Ed courses include core resources and supplemental materials around a specific topic, while also allowing for personalization and flexibility. MOOC-Eds are designed to help educators improve their professional knowledge and practice. Each course is developed based on the following four core design principles: multiple voices, self-directed learning, peer-supported learning and practice-based learning. Over 40,000 participants have taken these courses from all 50 states and more than 140 countries.

Read IES Director Mark Schneider’s report here.

Learn more about MOOC-Eds at mooc-ed.org.