With the purpose of promoting massive, open and online education, as well as establishing an innovative educational environment that becomes an international reference in the use of Information and Communication Technologies, the National University of Distance Education (UNED) and Microsoft have expanded the collaboration agreement they have with the signing of new ways to promote the digital transformation of distance education through the use of innovative technological solutions that enhance the so-called MOOCs (Massive Open Online Course).
Alejandro Tiana, rector of the National University of Distance Education, and Pilar López, president of Microsoft Ibérica have signed the aforementioned agreement, reaffirming the commitment of both institutions to promote the incorporation of the latest technologies into the teaching field.
The agreement that we signed with the UNED is a magnificent example of our commitment to promoting educational quality through technology, where teachers, their commitment to innovation and their involvement as transmitters of knowledge are a fundamental piece to achieve a advanced educational environment that helps the necessary transformation of the process to adapt it to the requirements of today’s society.Pilar López, president of Microsoft Ibérica
The UNED, one of the European universities that is at the forefront of the use of digital technologies in educational settings, agrees with Microsoft to develop massive, online and open quality training, developing accessible, interactive and ubiquitous spaces where citizens, in general, and teachers, in particular, can be trained throughout their lives. The final intention is to create pathways or training itineraries from MOOCs to the rest of the official and university-specific teachings and vice versa.Alejandro Tiana, rector of the National University of Distance Education
Now, deepening the aspects of this alliance, it has been known that Among the areas of collaboration, the migration of the open source OpenMOOC platform of the UNED to Microsoft Azure stands out, Microsoft’s cloud computing solution.
In that sense, it is worth mentioning that It is the largest migration that Microsoft has carried out so far in the field of Education in Europe, which in addition to helping the digital transformation of this sector, demonstrates the company’s commitment to open source.
On the other hand, it is necessary to refer to This coalition between UNED and Microsoft is especially focused on promoting the use of MOOC courses in the European academic community, through collaborative work with the different Microsoft subsidiaries in Europe. In addition, Microsoft will actively participate in the development and development of these types of courses aimed at training teachers on the didactic application of the technologies developed by the company.
UNED currently offers 20 MOOC courses to its more than 35,000 students (…) Thanks to the agreement, Microsoft becomes an ambassador and collaborating member of the ECO project, and will make its experience and knowledge on digital communication available to UNED to help disseminate the activities and results of the Project.
About ECO Project
The ECO Project is funded by the European Commission and is made up of 22 top-level educational institutions, located in nine countries, including UNED. All of them have joined forces and ideas to spread a new way of educating through MOOC courses and optimize the possibilities of this type of ubiquitous, open, accessible and massive learning on a pan-European scale.
In addition, the 4,000 e-teachers of the ECO Project will be able to benefit, thanks to the agreement between Microsoft and the UNED, from the use of the Office 365 service.
