Impact driven: 10-Year Anniversary TU Delft MOOCs

A desire to share knowledge more widely to help people all over the world make a positive impact on their lives, careers and society is what inspired a group of pioneering lecturers from TU Delft to develop the university’s very first Massive Online Open Courses (MOOCs). Ten years on, what is the impact of those first MOOCs and what is the future of lifelong learning in the educational landscape? Let’s hear it from them.  

The Introduction to Water Treatment and the Solar Energy MOOCs launched 10 years ago on 15 September 2013. Since then, TU Delft’s online continuing education has grown from those two MOOCs into a broad offering of close to 200 courses and about 50 programmes by all of TU Delft’s faculties – and reaching over 3.6 million learners worldwide! 

A fantastic growth and outreach that contributes to the university’s vision on ‘learning for life’. Congratulations to those pioneering lecturers!  

Arno Smets, Professor in Solar Energy at EEMCS, and from CEG, Doris van Halem, Professor in the Water Management department; Jules van Lier, Professor of Environmental Engineering and Wastewater Treatment; Luuk Rietveld, Professor of Urban Water Cycle Technology; and Merle de Kreuk, Professor of Environmental Technology. (pictured left to right, top to bottom)    

With Lifelong Learning very much a hot topic at national and European policy level, and the decision in April by the Executive Board to include its provision as one of TU Delft’s core educational tasks, we asked those front-runner colleagues for their views and reflections. 

Far reaching impact 

“Developing the online course that also covers the content of our third-year bachelor course was one of the best education investments we did,” says Van Lier. The MOOCs, which are used on-campus and highly appreciated by students, made the lecturers’ expertise travel far and wide to reach hundreds of thousands of learners worldwide. The positive impact of providing open, flexible access to shared knowledge was – an is – manyfold, affecting the learners as individuals, but often extending beyond the personal and their career to reach their communities and countries.   

There are so many examples! People who were inspired to start their own business; professionals that embarked on a career change; students around the world who used the materials to prepare themselves for their exams at the local university; others for whom the MOOCs were decisive in starting a BSc or MSc programme – some even choosing to come study at TU Delft and going on to have successful careers in the Netherlands and abroad.  

The importance of providing such education can be further appreciated in the face of touching emails messages such as “I cannot hand in my homework due to the floodings in my country" (Philippines), and “I am lacking behind, my internet is too often interrupted due to the war” (Syria). “It is impressive to see that, no matter the circumstances, people are so eager to learn”, says De Kreuk. 

And in truth, the lecturers could not have foreseen the far inspirational reach of their online courses. “I can think of people who developed their own training programs for their regions, or who started to develop new financial products to support the integration of solar energy, and even about members of parliament who changed their opinion on the matter” recounts Smets, “and I remember Andersson who, after taking the MOOC, built his own photovoltaic system and improved the living standard of his entire village”. 

10 Years in Numbers 

“Hey! I know you!” 

Creating online continuing education gave lecturers an additional platform to boost their visibility. Alongside being recognized by peers as front-runners, it added to their professional development, broadened their tool-set, and enhanced networks and international recognition, in both academia and industry – “It opens up new contacts and conversations”, notes Van Lier. Moreover, the reuse of their materials by others is another relevant benefit – for both parties. “It’s most rewarding to get asked by overseas colleagues whether they can use our MOOC in their academic lecture series”, he comments. 

And all of them report many surprising occasions when they were ‘recognised’ – literally – by former online students in the most diverse settings and countries… like the process operator who during a tour of a water treatment plant in Morocco enthusiastically shouted at De Kreuk “You were my teacher!”…or like Rietveld who chanced upon one of his online students while visiting a university in China…or the employee who hailed Van Lier with “You’re famous!” during a meeting at a water company in Egypt…and the time when travelling Smets came across a man in a bar who on seeing him remarked on how much “I looked like one of his online professors!”  

From Delft to the world and back again 

Starting up the development of those MOOCs felt very much like an experiment, recall the lecturers. It was a collaborative team effort, with expert support by the TU Delft Extension School, to professionalise all different materials and present videos in front of a camera. “I learned to deliver the content of a 45-minute lecture in a 7-minute video, which is a useful skill”, says Van Halem. “When we started, we really had no idea on how to go about it and what it would bring,” shares Van Lier, and Smets adds: “it was an exciting challenge as not just our university but many around the whole world would be seeing the results of our efforts and deem them a success or not”.  

They also gained a deeper appreciation of how course design decisions affect the quality of the learning experience and about the merit of revisiting materials over time when necessary to better connect with the learner’s life, culture and local situation. Overall, creating the MOOCs help them further mature as lecturers and to apply new concepts and tools to campus teaching. 

Van Halem comments that using the MOOCs for their campus courses, also meant trying out the ‘flipped-classroom’ approach and realising the value of an hybrid and on- and off-campus teaching format – way before the Covid-19 pandemic.  

They all agree with Van Lier that it required quite a bit of time investment, but that looking back it has been more than rewarding; an investment with long standing benefits – for them personally as education professionals, for TU Delft’s own campus students and Alumni, and for hundreds of thousands keen participants from across the globe. An impact that they would not have imagined ten years ago. 

A ‘here-to-stay hot topic  

That ‘online education is here to stay’ is a view shared by all five lecturers. “It has a recognised position in the educational methodologies” says Van Lier, and although Rietveld remarks that it will not replace on-campus education, he sees it as “an excellent way to explain the basics of our fields of expertise and encourage further specialisation”, a view that Van Halem shares: “There remains plenty of opportunities for additional learnings in practice and theory. This way the MOOCs complements nicely on-site education or learning-on-the-job”.  In agreement, Rietveld trusts that “being more flexible and not requiring any travel, online courses could gradually replace other forms of post higher education”, which Van Lier also believes: “online education facilitates lifelong learning, offering, in addition to the MOOCs, high-level professional education courses and tracks on request that are commonly followed by mid-career professionals” – and increasingly, more and more employers are encouraging this type of training for their staff.  

Additionally, the current trend in continuing education sees offerings becoming more specialised and the courses less massive. “The online education sector is still exploring routes on how to create a sustainable system for this type of education” comments Smets, “for example, sustainable business models for professional education for learners in low to middle income countries could see intergovernmental institutions stepping in and sharing in the responsibility”. As often learners follow the courses to increase their employment prospects, it is great that the MOOCs are available for free to support their chances in the labour market. “One would also hope that employers recognise the motivation and effort learners put in and that they appreciate the value of our offer”, remarks De Kreuk. 

And among those who have completed their formal higher-education studies are TU Delft’s Alumni who like to ‘return to school’ through the MOOCs. According to Van Halem: “even though they graduated years ago, they use our material to refresh their memories or to polish a specific part. I think it is amazing how a BSc-level course has grasped the essence of the working field and is still relevant for people employed in the industry.” 

With Lifelong Learning (LLL) being high on the socio-political agenda nationally and internationally, it is critical that TU Delft continues to lead the conversation and the development and delivery of new forms of continuing education, with quality standards alike on-campus education. A commitment formally ratified in a dedicated LLL Strategy. 

Challenges: every learner is unique 

Lifelong learning is inherent to modern, professional life, and if we consider the rapid developments in science and technology, it will become even more so. “Many of the global challenges we currently face require engineering expertise” comments Smets. “If I look at the photovoltaics and solar energy sector, every year along the value chain, around 300,000 new jobs are created globally, for all education levels. LLL concepts and solutions can support this influx of human capital for a technology crucial in mitigating climate change. And this is true for many other sectors”, he explains.   

One of the challenges is that there is not one single type of lifelong learner: every learner is unique with its own specific needs and background. And every sector also has its own needs when it comes to expertise. Smets finds that “a high level of flexibility is required to be able to offer education that caters to such a diverse learner population and varied sector demands”. 

Smets speaks for all when stating that the ability to share knowledge with professionals around the world increases the impact of their expertise and work, and so he sees it as a moral duty to share this knowledge and support lifelong learning efforts into the future. A desire that embodies TU Delt’s own vision of contributing to solve global challenges by educating new generations of socially responsible engineers – a contribution that does not stop when a student graduates but continues with LLL education. 

Interested in knowing more about Lifelong Learning at TU Delft?  

Are you a TU Delft lecturer wishing to contribute to the LLL offer? 

Visit the ‘call for proposals’ page or email extension-school@tudelft.nl 

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