MOOC LOW3-ZERO LIVING: Third and last in-person meeting at the Living Lab

The third in-person meeting of our MOOC course LOW3-ZERO LIVING took place at our Living Lab. It served for an exchange about the Learning Modules and their content, and specifically to discuss the different exercises, the latest on energy certification and embodied energy of our homes.

The meeting also served for a first feedback on the student satisfaction, as the mixed online and in-person format of the course is quite innovative and still unusual for our university. Students expressed to be very happy with the course and that the combination of learning online and through the exploration of a real prototype building creates a unique learning experience. 

Regarding their personal learning environment, students mentioned that they use to course the weekly modules generally at home, some also at university, going through the whole thematic guided visit, specific knowledge clouds, and self-assessments in one single session. This helps to stay concentrated and get the most out of each Learning Module. Students mentioned that the course delivers very specific and useful information, going deeper than many other classes they receive, and that they would like to have access to this information also beyond the official end of the course, when information is needed e.g. for specific design projects (TAPs) they develop. Exercises related to their personal homes and individual lifestyles have been reported to be very motivating, but also very time intensive, proposing a recognition of 3 instead of 2 ECTS for the course.

During the break, some solar kitchen experiments allowed to experience the power of the sun at first hand, measuring the velocity and peak temperature of heating up water, some building material surface temperatures and reflecting about the geometry of solar radiation. Even the "Campus Cat" came for a visit, what ones more describes well the "domestic" and therefor more personal, non-formal learning environment of our Living Lab.

This third and last in-person meeting of our MOOC ended with an outlook on the holistic energy transition of our cities, projecting the Roadmap for Energy (R4E) specific Smart Urban Spaces Roadmap video and discussing its vision for 2050.)

(R4E Roadmap video Smart Urban Spaces)

Once finished this first experience with our MOOC, we will evaluate the experience, format and contents, and decide in which form the course will be offered during the next academic year.