Massive open online courses (MOOCs) for long-distance education in geriatric medicine across Europe: A pilot project launched by the consortium of the project “Screening for Chronic Kidney Disease among Older People”: SCOPE project

Key summary points Aim The aim of the paper is to give insight into MOOCs in general and to specifically describe a MOOC developed in the course of the SCOPE project “Screening for Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) among older People across Europe”. Findings The major target of the MOOC was the improvement of knowledge for a broad audience. The SCOPE MOOCs are freely accessible, structured in three modules, offer additional learning material and guarantee knowledge dissemination about aging and chronic kidney diseases. Message The MOOCs represent a contemporary example of how modern technology is supporting a transition to modern training in geriatrics. Purpose To cover the increasing need for professional knowledge, skills and competences in the care of older people, new learning techniques have been developed. Using the Internet to provide educational material has come into focus of many academic institutions as the learning content can easily be transferred to a larger audience. Since the first launch of a “massive open online course” (MOOC) in 2008, this educational format has raised increasing interest among education experts. The current publication provides insight into the new format of MOOCs in general and specifically describes a MOOC developed by a Pan-European Consortium “Screening for Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) among Older People across Europe” (SCOPE), a project funded by the European Commission under the umbrella of the Horizon 2020 program. Methods Technical background, learning theories and content of the MOOC of the SCOPE project are presented in this overview. Results The MOOC of the SCOPE project is provided on the MOOC ICT platform iMoox. The courses are built up of video clips, textual descriptions, graphics, animations and audio designed with a clear structure and learning goals. The concise video clips with a maximum length of 15–20 min are equipped with additional learning material such as documents, links and asynchronous communication opportunities. Conclusion MOOCs are recognized as a contemporary approach to transfer required knowledge and skills not only in general but also in geriatric medicine, as the health and social care environment is ever-changing and becoming more complex.