What is a MOOC?

[xcriteria]

How many of you are familiar with MOOCs?



Watch on YouTube

There are several different kinds... some are more like traditional university courses (like most on Coursera and [http://edx.org]edX[/url]. Others are more like temporary [b]learning communities[b] (called connectivist MOOCs), like Learning Creative Learning 2 (LCL2) from MIT (running now) and Designing a New Learning Environment (DNLE) from Stanford (in 2012.)

These new formats of connected learning are one of the things that is helping to transform traditional myths about what education is and how it has to work... a.k.a., school-as-usual. And they can be a great way to meet like-minded people... I've met people through both of these who also believe in transforming education.

So... I think they're worth learning about and exploring.

Does that make sense? How many of you have checked out some MOOCs? Any thoughts on them?

And what kinds would you like to see?

[xcriteria]

scorchededge's blog post about MOOCs:

http://apessimisticview.weebly.com/1/pos...-mooc.html

PS: Anyone else want to respond to the poll above? It's a simple question.

[scorchededge243]

I was a total believer in them, but they really can't replace face to face. The way I see it also is most of the Mooc's just put the teaching online (duh) but not actual learning. Same boring old method, just easier to get access to for free or lower price.

[xcriteria]

That's where connectivist MOOCs (cMOOCS), and even "meta-MOOCing" come into play.

Have you seen any of these edu-MOOCs, like Designing a New Learning Environment (DNLE), or Learning Creative Learning (LCL)?

LCL2 is running now... http://learn.media.mit.edu/

These courses tend to involve active discussion of learning itself, and the courses are more about people connecting and learning through projects and discussions, vs. just absorbing lecture content.

For example, I started this thread in LCL2, which got some conversation going:

Creative Learning for those unhappy in “school-as-usual”

Others, like New School Creation, where run mostly using G+ and YouTube.

Even when these courses are over, their content usually remains, and it's possible to remix that content, and those assignments, in new ways.

I've met some interesting people through these... people who believe in the need to transform education to meet the needs of learners. And now, there are all these tools that can be used to facilitate learning.

On that note, face-to-face interaction does have benefits, but Google Hangouts make something similar possible. I'm working on creating and finding relevant content... and looking at how that can be mixed into more worthwhile interactive experiences.

I posted about some of my experiences with face-to-face college not meeting my needs... on this LCL2 thread: To metaMOC or not?

In short, I think whether it's in-person or online, or a hybrid, there's the question of whether the "experience designers" really make a compelling, worthwhile experience. When it comes to learning, I think that's usually best done by getting to know individual learner's backstories, situations, interests, cognitive styles, and preferences... though that's a bit hard to scale.

Would you be interested in participating in a MOOC-like experience that would adapt to your needs and preferences?

[Faby]

Oh, by the way (not to hog your thread or anything), there's also this: http://ocw.mit.edu/index.htm

[xcriteria]

(04-23-2014 07:10 AM)Faby Wrote:  Oh, by the way (not to hog your thread or anything), there's also this: http://ocw.mit.edu/index.htm

Yeah, MIT OpenCourseware was quite groundbreaking in making course content available. I remember when that was first announced.

MOOCs are different in that they're usually structured like courses with start and end dates, enrollment, usually forums, some kind of interaction from the instructors, and often certificates of completion (for those who meet the requirements.)

Here's an article about how MOOCs emerged in 2012: The Year of the MOOC

But yes... a lot of people drop out or just lurk, and there's a big question of how to do things even better, now that so much content is open and available for use (including just on YouTube.)