MOOCs in the reform of mathematics education in Costa Rica
Angel Ruiz
President, Interamerican Committee on Mathematics Education
Vice President, International Commission on Mathematical Instruction
Director General, Central American and Caribbean Network for Mathematics Education
http://www.angelruizz.com
ruizz.angel@gmail.com
Introduction
In May 2012 a major reform in the mathematics curriculum of all primary and secondary education
(grades 1-12) was adopted in Costa Rica. The main approach of the new curriculum is “problem
solving with special emphasis on real contexts”, that is to say: building learning through special
problems (favoring those connected to real contexts) that trigger student interest, independent work,
and contrasting solution strategies, and communication of those strategies during the class, and a with a
cognitive closure by the teacher at the end of the class (this is a pedagogical model). The new
curriculum aims to develop higher cognitive capabilities and mathematical competency through this
approach and with classes that use problems at different levels of complexity. It also includes
mathematical processes (transverse activities): Reasoning and argumentation, Posing and solving
problems, Connecting and establishing relations, Using multiple representations of mathematical
objects (graphic, numeric, symbolic, tabular, etc.), and Communicating and expressing mathematical
ideas formally and verbally. There are some explicit curricular axes besides the main approach: strong
but adequate use of technologies, promotion of positive attitudes and beliefs about mathematics, and
the use of the history of mathematics. This curriculum integrates various elements of international
experience and research in mathematics education, though adjusted entirely to the Costa Rican reality.
One of the major challenges now confronting the country is the implementation of this ambitious
curriculum. To help meet this challenge the project, Mathematics Education Reform in Costa Rica
(www.reformamatematica.net), has been created. It is financially supported by a private entity, the
Costa Rica United States Foundation for Cooperation, which benefits the actions of the Ministry of
Public Education (MEP). This project elaborated a plan for the gradual implementation of the new
curriculum (2013-2015), multiple documental resources and various types of professional development
for teachers: face-to-face, blended and virtual. The blended courses have a strategy in two stages: first,
the preparation of school leaders for the primary (300) and secondary (100) teachers, who in turn –a
second stage- offer a replica in all regions of the country (massive courses, each year participate 6000
primary teachers and 1400 secondary teachers). The courses for leaders are offered directly by the
project, but the massive ones are conducted by the MEP. For each course there are 5 sessions of 8
hours (for each level) and work through the platform Moodle of at least 40 hours. A further description
of this curriculum reform and this project can be found in Ruiz (2013).
Virtual Courses
The online courses are intended for teachers who received no other training or who need more
preparation, taking advantage of the virtuality: flexibility of schedule, no need to attend a specific
physical facility, etc. Seven courses will be held between September and December 2014. For grades 1,
2 and 3: Geometry, Relations and Algebra, and Numbers; for grades 7, 8 and 9): Geometry, Relations
and Algebra, Numbers, and Probability. See http://cursos.reformamatematica.net.
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The focus of these courses is not mathematics, not general pedagogy, but specific pedagogy of
mathematics oriented towards the classroom. It is intended as a preparation to implement the new
curriculum. In some cases mathematical content is emphasized because of the shortcomings that
teachers have, but always looking to frame it within pedagogical strategies. These courses are not part
of any university program; they provide professional development for in-service teachers.
The strategy chosen was that of MOOCs, because it provides:
• An attractive dynamism through a very useful multimedia means, videos;
• Easy elaboration of the courses: videos can be recorded in a very simple way;
• Contact with prestigious mathematics researchers and teachers who elaborated the new curriculum
and that are conducting the process of its implementation.
The mathematical and pedagogical content of the courses is elaborated using some of the materials
used for the blended courses.
Because of the immediate need for curriculum implementation in the country, it was necessary to
develop in a short period of time a means for the preparation of in-service teachers. MOOCs allowed
this.
Besides the images of the professor (that appears in a smaller box) the videos include PowerPoint
presentations where the topics are developed (with all the Mathematics and Pedagogical contents). The
activities the participants need to follow are presented in these videos.
The activities carried out on the platform by the user contain mathematics: the chosen platform has an
effective LaTeX plugin that facilitates its management.
There is an assessment for each course (requisites to obtain a certificate of participation) with two
components:
• Practices of self-assessment that are done after every module (the user has the right to two possible
attempts, the platform offers certain feedback when incorrect responses are given);
• A final examination, the platform gives only one attempt to the user.
So far, all the items elaborated are multiple-choice. Both components possess a value of 50 per cent. To
pass the course it is necessary to obtain 70 per cent.
The course offers help to the users in a technical forum (about the platform) and in an educational
forum (on the contents).
In Costa Rica there has been experience with distance education (in higher education, in secondary
education and in some trainings for teachers). The use of the platform Moodle is extended in the
university institutions (it supports regular courses), and also there have been fully virtual activities
(although more recently). When the Project Reform of Mathematics Education in Costa Rica was
conceived, the first idea was to create traditional online courses. Nevertheless, the advantages of the
MOOCs led us to assume this type of virtual strategy.
One of the problems we have is that the current accreditation of courses does not allow in-service
teachers to receive points or promotions within their professional development regime. The Costa
Rican legislation is still very limited in accrediting such courses. This legislation is still based on faceto-face courses, distance learning courses and online courses for small populations. With small
populations, for example, it is possible to measure individual involvement and performance (without
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allowing, for example, fraud) through academic forums (monitored), tasks, projects, etc. With large
populations it would require a very large amount of people to support these activities. The philosophy
of the MOOC modality of courses would be lost.
These first MOOCs in Costa Rica will award a certificate of participation, which become a part of a
teacher’s portfolio. The project provides this certificate.
We expect participants to be people only interested in learning (in this case about mathematics teaching
based on the new curriculum) due to the fact the accreditation of these courses does not allow inservice teachers to receive points or promotions within their professional development regime
Because the courses are oriented towards segments of a very specific population in the middle of a
curricular reform that must be implemented, a high completion rate is expected (in the world this rate
for MOOCs is very low). Besides, the following have been established:
• A maximum number of participants in every course: 100 in the courses for the secondary education
and 200 in those for primary education;
• Some face-to-face activities to generate motivation and reinforcement for the participants.
As for the first issue, it is done that way because the project does not have sufficient personnel to attend
larger populations; and also because we want to test the degree of receptivity these courses will have as
well as a chance to improve them for future editions. It is a radically new experience in Costa Rica and
the region. If these first courses are successful, we will seek to offer them again to broader populations.
As for the second issue, the facilitators of the courses will not develop these activities, they will be
organized by mathematics regional advisers (who are officials within the Ministry of Education who
support the educational regions of the country). The idea is that once the participants are identified
(after registration) they will be given certain support during the courses.
In the second half of 2014, five new virtual courses will be prepared for 2015.
We decided to use the technological platform Class2Go (of Stanford) since when the decision was
made it was free, open, friendly, and it was not a beta version.
In short, the MOOCs in Costa Rica are a mutation in several senses:
• They are not intended for higher education, but for the preparation of in-service teachers.
• They are open courses, but not so massive: maximum quotas were established.
• They are virtual, but the participants will have some face-to-face support from the Ministry of
Education through meetings in several educational regions.
• In this first experience, the accreditation for these courses will not provide participants points or
promotions in their regime of professional development.
In the future it will be necessary to explore accreditation mechanisms that provide formal career
advancement credit to the teachers, and also to increase progressively the maximum participation
quotas.
To guarantee that the participant has really learned the contents of the course and provide credit, an
additional verification probably will be needed, which could be a face-to-face test.
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References
Ministerio de Educación Pública de Costa Rica (2012). Programas de estudio de Matemáticas. I, II y III Ciclos de la Educación
General Básica y Ciclo Diversificado. http://www.reformamatematica.net/proyecto/docs/programas.pdf
Ruiz, A. (2013, July). Reforma de la Educación Matemática en Costa Rica. Perspectiva de la praxis. Cuadernos de
Investigación y Formación en Educación Matemática, Special number, Costa Rica.
http://revistas.ucr.ac.cr/index.php/cifem/issue/view/1186
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