Joining Forces Toward Social Inclusion - Language MOOC Design for Refugees and Migrants through the Lens of Maker Culture

Oct 15, 2026

The article examines how MOOCs can be leveraged to support social inclusion for refugees and migrants by designing Spanish-language language MOOCs through maker-culture and collaborative approaches. Built within the Erasmus+ project MOONLITE, the initiative coalesced university academics, NGOs, refugee support groups, volunteers, and learners to identify linguistic needs using design thinking. Outcomes report an effective academic–community continuum and a 96% completion rate across both MOOCs, enabling participants to navigate key integration situations in Spain.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages24

Reading Time1 h 0 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

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Introduction

calico journal (online) issn 2056–9017 Article Joining Forces Toward Social Inclusion: Language MOOC Design for Refugees and Migrants through the Lens of Maker Culture Maria Dolores Castrillo and Beatriz Sedano 1 Abstract The expansion of MOOCs (massive open online courses) is very much associated with instructors interested in the craft of teaching, innovating, and experimenting with different methods to improve and expand students’ learning experience. The Erasmus+ project MOONLITE has worked to create cross-institutional scenarios and new educational pathways for migrants and refugees, devising, among other things, two Spanish language MOOCs (LMOOCs). They are the product of the joint efforts of university academics, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and refugee support groups (RSGs), together with volunteers, refugees, and migrants, who formed a community in order to design courses that effectively addressed the needs of refugees and migrants arriving in Spain. Using a design thinking process, all parties involved attempted to collaboratively identify strategies and solutions to a given problem that might not be obvious upon first inspection; in this case, the specific linguistic needs of migrants and refugees arriving in a new country. Results show that this continuum ofacademics—NGOs/RSGs—volunteers—refugees/migrants was highly effective for the learners, with an overall completion rate in both MOOCs of 96%. The participants’ perception is that these MOOCs helped them in their goal of integrating into life in Spain in key situations, such as communicating in a job interview or understanding the process of looking for accommodation and completing bureaucratic procedures. Keywords:MOOCs, LMOOCs, Maker culture, social inclusion, designbased research, refugees and migrants. Affiliations 1Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia, Madrid, Spain. [email: ](email: mcastrillo@flog.uned.es)[mcastrillo@flog.uned.es](email: mcastrillo@flog.uned.es) [email: ](email: bsedano@invi.uned.es)[bsedano@invi.uned.es](email: bsedano@invi.uned.es) calico journal vol 38.1 2021 79–102 [https://doi.org/10.1558/cj.40900](https://doi.org/10.1558/cj.40900) © 2021, equinox publishing 80 Joining Forces Toward Social Inclusion 1. Introduction It has been over a decade since the beginning of the MOOC (massive open online course) revolution, when it was suggested that such courses would contribute to the democratization of education by enabling access for learners from all backgrounds (Chafkin, 2013; Hollands & Tirthali, 2014; Littlejohn, Hood, Milligan, & Mustain, 2016; Pappano, 2012). However, the lack of impact of MOOCs on social inclusion and the scarce access to education for students from underprivileged environments are undeniable facts. In spite of some variation by course content, virtually all the studies related to the sociodemographic profiles of MOOC participants confirm the high socio-educational level of the students (Bozkurt & Aydin, 2015; Castrillo & Mañana-Rodriguez, 2017; Christensen, Steinmetz, Alcorn, Bennett, Woods, & Emanuel, 2013; Goldwasser, Mankoff, Manturuk, Schmid, & Whitfield, 2016; Laurillard, 2016, Neuböck, Kopp, & Ebner, 2015; Tovar, 2015): The demographics of massive open, online course (MOOC) analytics show that the great majority of learners are highly qualified professionals, and not, as originally envisaged, the global community of disadvantaged learners who have no access to good higher education (Laurillard, 2016, p. 1). However, recent research (Aman & Santandreu, 2019; Lambert, 2020) points to a new line of contextualized MOOCs as a valid alternative to commercial MOOCs, one that would widen participation and help contribute to student equity and social inclusion. In this respect, the research presented here yielded promising results obtained within the Erasmus+ project MOONLITE related to participant performance and high social impact. The project has aimed at creating

FAQs

What problem does the MOONLITE project address?

It targets limited educational access and the weak impact of MOOCs on social inclusion, focusing on the linguistic needs of refugees and migrants arriving in Spain.

Who collaborated to design the MOOCs?

The MOOCs were produced through joint efforts of university academics, NGOs, refugee support groups, volunteers, refugees, and migrants, forming a community for course design.

What results did the design approach achieve?

The continuum of university academics, NGOs/RSGs, volunteers, and refugees/migrants proved effective, with an overall completion rate of 96% across both MOOCs.

Oct 15, 2026

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