Emergency remote teaching and learning (ERTL) represent a critical and challenging time for teachers globally. To understand how Portuguese teachers interpreted their ERTL experiences of the first lockdown, we started by asking: What perspectives do teachers have about ERTL? Answering three open questions made available online between April and May of 2020, a sample of 305 preschool, basic, and secondary school teachers expressed their perspectives on (i) difficulties throughout ERTL; (ii) students’ constraints in participating in ERTL; (iii) the potential and benefits resulting from this exceptional period. Data were analyzed using content analysis. While Portuguese teachers perceived ERTL with concern, a majority also saw it as an opportunity. Workload, work conditions, and time management were the most frequently mentioned difficulties. Regarding students’ constraints, teachers emphasized participation, the role of parents, lack of contact, and autonomy. Despite the constraints and difficulties, teachers highlighted gains such as the development of digital competencies and the opportunity to transform teaching and learning. Only 18 teachers suggested there were no positive outcomes from this experience. Since this is an exploratory study, further studies are needed to triangulate the findings.

The Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) movement is the latest ‘big thing’ in Open and Distance Learning (ODL) which threatens to transform Higher Education. Both opportunities and threats are extensively discussed in literature, comprising issues on opening up education for the whole world, pedagogy and online versus campus education. Most of the literature focus on the origin of the MOOC movement in the US. The specific context of Europe with on the one hand autonomous countries and educational systems and on the other hand cross-border cooperation and regulations through the European Union differs from the US context. This specific context can influence the way in which the MOOC movement affect education in Europe, both reusing MOOCs from other continents (US) as publishing MOOCs, on a European platform or outside of Europe. In the context of the EU funded HOME project, a research was conducted to identify opportunities and threats of the MOOC movement on the European institutions of higher education. Three sources of data were gathered and analysed. Opportunities and threats were categorized in two levels. The macro level comprises issues related to the higher education system, European context, historical period and institutional level. The micro level covers aspects related to faculty, professors and courses, thus to the operational level. The main opportunities mentioned were the ECTS system as being a sound base for formal recognition of accomplishments in MOOCs, the tendency to cooperate between institutions, stimulated by EU funded programs and the many innovative pedagogical models used in MOOCs published in Europe. The main threats mentioned were a lacking implementation of the ECTS system, hindering bridging non/formal and formal education and too much regulation, hindering experimenting and innovation.

Higher Education (HE) is experiencing disruption from technologies, demographics, the globalising world and longer life expectancy. Historically Higher Education has had a legacy of being seen as the requirement for an educated ‘elite’, there has been a policy ambition set in various countries (including the UK) for it to become the expectation for much wider segments of the population as a whole. As students become ‘everyone’ and learning becomes ‘all the time’ Distance Teaching and Research Institutions have a tremendous opportunity but there are also many disruptions and barriers to overcome. Higher Education institutions have an important role within Education for Sustainable Development and sustainable lifestyles; one of the important goals and targets of the United Nations Sustainable Development goals for 2030. Higher Education can contribute to sustainability in many ways – social, technical and environmental; globally and locally. In particular distance-learning universities due to the flexibility in the learning process, use of technologies, and inter-disciplinary approach to teaching and learning, constitute key factors in education for sustainable development. But what will this contribution look like? In this paper, the responses from senior leaders in four major European distance-learning universities are presented, compared and discussed. The tentative conclusions draw out some strategic imperatives for sustainable higher education in the twenty first century.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, most Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) across the globe moved towards “emergency online education”, experiencing a metamorphosis that advanced their capacities and competencies as never before. Teaching and Learning Centers (TLCs), the internal units that promote sustainable transformations, can play a key role in making this metamorphosis last. Existing models for TLCs have defined the competencies that they could help develop, focusing on teachers’, students’, and managers’ development, but have mislead aspects such as leadership, organizational processes, and infrastructures. This paper evaluates the PROF-XXI framework, which offers a holistic perspective on the competencies that TLCs should develop for supporting deep and sustainable transformations of HEIs. The framework was evaluated with 83 participants from four Latin American institutions and used for analyzing the transformation of their teaching and learning practices during the pandemic lockdown. The result of the analysis shows that the PROF-XXI framework was useful for identifying the teaching and learning competencies addressed by the institutions, their deficiencies, and their strategic changes. Specifically, this study shows that most institutions counted with training plans for teachers before this period, mainly in the competencies of digital technologies and pedagogical quality, but that other initiatives were created to reinforce them, including students’ support actions.

Studies show that feedback greatly improves student learning outcomes, but achieving this level of personalization at scale is a complex task, especially in the diverse and open environment of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs). This research provides a novel method for using cutting-edge artificial intelligence technology to enhance the feedback mechanism in MOOCs. The main goal of this research is to leverage AI’s capabilities to automate and refine the MOOC feedback process, with special emphasis on courses that allow students to learn at their own pace. The combination of LangChain—a cutting-edge framework specifically designed for applications that use language models—with the OpenAI API forms the basis of this work. This integration creates dynamic, scalable, and intelligent environments that can provide students with individualized, insightful feedback. A well-organized assessment rubric directs the feedback system, ensuring that the responses are both tailored to each learner’s unique path and aligned with academic standards and objectives. This initiative uses Generative AI to enhance MOOCs, making them more engaging, responsive, and successful for a diverse, international student body. Beyond mere automation, this technology has the potential to transform fundamentally how learning is supported in digital environments and how feedback is delivered. The initial results demonstrate increased learner satisfaction and progress, thereby validating the effectiveness of personalized feedback powered by AI.