Beyond Mooc: An Analysis of Informal Online Learning Utilizing Open Educational Resources (OER) For a Digital & Inclusive Society

The COVID-19 pandemic and the containment measures that followed have highlighted the importance of equal access to up-and reskilling opportunities for life and work, for workers as well as job seekers. EU Digital Education Action Plan highlights the central role of digital learning in increasing equity and inclusiveness through the wide array of digital technologies, beyond formal education and including lifelong learning. In the digital ecosystem for education, informal online learning plays a key role. Informal learning processes are facilitated through open education, which provides access to unlimited amounts of knowledge for personal or professional development. However, little literature has focused on informal open online learning (IOOL) that occurs in everyday life. Specifically, few studies differentiate between informal learning for professional and personal development, nor between workers and job seekers. While the COVID-19 crisis led to a massive shift towards online courses for training, the current exploratory research uses a broader view of OER use among adults who are not interested in academic credit or professional certification in light of their individual characteristics. During COVID-19's lockdown, a questionnaire was distributed to capture three themes: types of OER used for learning during the crisis; perceived OER usefulness (PU); and changes in OER usage due to the crisis. Among other findings were low utilization of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs); a particular preference for social networks among workers with low technology literacy and low English proficiency; and a significant gap in OER usage between personal or professional development among workers. These insights can be used both for the development of effective models of open learning in support of digital transformation in educational institutions as well as for future evaluation.