Future of Technology in Education conference #fote13

Last Friday I attended the FoTE conference which was enjoyable and interesting. I attended in 2011 but didn't make it last year so was pleased to be able to shuffle work and travel and life to get there this time.
It is hosted by ULCC at Senate House, Uni of London. It's a beautiful building and has great memories for me as I used to spend hours in the library there in the 80s when I did my first degree at Kings College.




I like the event because it is for Learning Technologists and academics / teachers / educationalists who are involved and knowledgeable about learning technologies - it's not for the general overviewers but at the same time not cliquey. Also there is always a good back channel discussion via twitter.
The first speaker was Nicola Millard who is a futurologist. She was brilliant and engaging and talking about customers which is what I'm interested in. I do like an inspirational key note speaker to kick off an event, someone with an interesting take on the situation and with an appealing delivery. She talked about making things easy and effortless for customers and different sorts of effort such as cognitive effort. She mentioned email and that it would die out due to other channels being easier - not sure that I agree with that sweeping statement.....
A great point that she made was that you need 4 things in order to work - coffee, cake, connectivity and company. I agree entirely although would substitute tea for coffee. I think this idea is something library people should think about embracing - what sort of space is needed for you and for library users?
The next speaker was Alicia Wise from Elsevier who talked about Open Access. It was an interesting talk and quite difficult as the audience, I expect, are predominantly in favour of OA and see publishers as a barrier to it. But it was good to see them as part of the discussion.
The third speaker was Gwen Noteborn from Maastricht Uni talking about Webcasts in education: Mythbusters! It was ok and interesting but maybe covering old ground to some extent.
After the coffee break was the Fireside Chat with a real virtual fire in the background.
FOTE13 Fireside Speakers:
Yousuf Khan (Chair), Chief Information Officer, Hult International Business School
Adrian Ellison, Director of Information Technology, University of West London
Cathy Walsh, Principal and CEO, Barking & Dagenham College
Heidi Fraser-Krauss, Head of IT Services, University of York
Richard Maccabee, Head of ICT, University of London
There was some discussion around the idea that technology changes but working practices don't often change in order to develop along side. Again 'easiness' of using technology was mentioned - I agree in part, it has to accessible and available but I'm not sure it has to be simple - some of the appeal of technology is that it is challenging and complex - it can change the world, that is why it is enthralling.




After lunch Lindsay Jordan delivered a great presentation including a blue outfit and a piano. She talked about why people drop out of courses. Sustained learning needs motivation, organisation, self discipline - can we get these in an online environment? Possibly? She advocated face to face communication rather than email....again I would say it depends on the situation and the interaction.




Next presentation was by Martin King and was about diversity and connectivity - lots of interesting stuff.
Next presentation was from Kevin
Ashley from the Digital Curation Centre. He talked about the data deluge and the problem that we have is that the amount of data is outstripping the technology we have to store it.
After the coffee break, the final two presentations were about Moocs. Matt Yee-King and Marco Gillies talked about the Mooc that they created and delivered at Goldsmiths. It was a great insight into the practicalities of scaling up an online course and some of the issues and solutions they had encountered. This included changing deadlines which is easy for small cohorts but not for large numbers. Also the problems of negative comments on discussion forums - even if 1% make one comment, this can be large number of complaints.
The last presentation was by Diana Laurillard entitled The pedagogies for large-scale student guidance. The data from Moocs suggest that the majority of participants already have a degree or higher degree. This suggests that it is not for undergraduate study but for CPD. The drop out rates are high but registration is not the same as signing up. When scaling up the numbers involved in courses for Moocs, other factors have to be considered such as admin and support. Support costs are not going to go down but technology can innovate pedagogy. There needs to be investment in teacher innovation to make best use of resources and improve student outcomes.
All in all, it was a great day with lots of ideas to take away and reflect on. It's good to spend a day immersed in learning technology, listening and talking to people.








On the way back to the station I managed a very brief (10min) visit to the British Library - just time to stand and stare.

#ocTEL Effective Learning Resources - Global Citizenship

 ocTEL week 4     Effective learning resources

How can we take advantage of technological developments in order to create and source relevant learning resources for our students?

I wasn't sure what I wanted to search for but I’d just come out of a meeting about Visiting Students and Studying Abroad and how we can improve the student experience for these students.  Two of the many areas we discussed were ‘Global Citizenship’ and ‘Employability’ and how the information and support can be delivered to enhance these aspects.
So I decided to search for useful resources in one of these areas to ‘identify appropriate digital resources, including text-based, multimedia and interactive, for particular learning contexts’ although I’m looking at it from a general  HE perspective rather than a particular learning context.

Jorum

Search term ‘Global Citizenship’
The top result was a resource from the University of Southampton which was relevant and part of a course Teaching Citizenship in HE.  There was lots of good resources although mainly text and images.
http://www.southampton.ac.uk/citizened/activities/global_citizenship/index.html

The second resource was a recording of a lecture from the Royal Veterinary College.  The content looked very interesting and the lecture itself would have been interactive using a voting system but the playback using Echo360 was very slow. 
http://www.rvc.ac.uk/Review/GlobalCitizens.cfm

Open University – Open Learn

Search term ‘Global Citizenship’               
The top result was a link to a module entitled Enacting European Citizenship (ENACT).
It is part of a Money & Management course and wasn’t a learning resource.
All of the other results on the first page were part of the same module. 
So I searched on the sidebar under education and the results showed a module Teaching citizenship: Work and the economy.  Presumably to access the learning resources you have to enrol onto the module.
http://www.open.edu/openlearn/education/teaching-citizenship-work-and-the-economy/content-section-1

YouTube
Search term ‘Global Citizenship’               
This search produced lots of results although not millions.  I filtered the search to include only those in the last year.  I watched two or three and they were very interesting.  There were quite a few TEDx ones.  

So the questions:
How easy was it to find a relevant resource?  It was easy to find the resources and I think that they were relevant because I managed to find course specific, sector specific resources as well as general ones. 

How could you incorporate this resource into your professional practice? For the purposes of finding a resource that could be used for Student information Points and Enhancing the Student Experience then they were suitable as a starting point and to create a general learning resource.

Which source did you find more useful (and why) – the ‘official’ resource bank or the open search?  Both the official and the open search were useful.  The official ones were very text / image based and straightforward but the Jorum ones were easy to find and relevant. The YouTube videos were more engaging but if may not match specific learning outcomes. 
Are there any limitations to the use of your preferred resource for your learners (e.g. copyright licence; login requirements)?  The Open Learn resource required a login which you would do if you knew that you definitely needed that resource and had been directed to it but when browsing it’s probably a barrier.

Would your own students agree that the resource you prefer is accessible? I think that most students would agree that the videos were accessible and the websites easy to navigate.

Big ?'s about Technology Enhanced Learning #ocTEL

One of the activities for week 0 of ocTEL, in addition to writing an introduction about yourself,  is what is the most important question about TEL for you?  I'm not sure what my big question is.  Does technology enhance learning? Yes. Does technology enhance life? Yes. With the condition for both that it is used effectively and with consideration and 'for the greater good'. But that's true about everything.  So maybe the question is 'how can I/we use technology to the best effect to enable students/people to learn?'
I decided to have a look at what other people are saying about their big questions.
I looked on the ocTEL website first intending to go to the forums but got distracted by the Twitter Conversations Visualised which is 'a graph of the Twitter interactions using the #ocTEL hashtag' created by Martin Hawksey @mhawksey.  It's brilliant.
I looked through the various forum posts and picked out words and phrases that summarised the subjects that people were asking their questions about.
I then went to the jiscmail list and discovered that Tom Franklin had posted a table which summarised the recent posts of big questions and put them into categories.  Very helpful and another quick win for me.  
So here are a list of words that are the most popular big questions in alphabetical order.
It's interesting and reassuring to see that the most popular, apart from the directly relating to Moocs ones, are about engaging people either students or staff and ensuring that the engagement is effective and has impact.  
My big question is still how can we use technology enhanced learning to engage learners and enhance the student experience and this is a question shared by many other participants of this course and those involved in TEL.

One thing.... #ocTEL

The induction week 'if you only do one thing...' is to write an introduction about yourself and your experiences with TEL / technology as a student / teacher / learning technologist and how it affects the way you absorb, reflect, discuss etc. etc.
I have used TEL in a variety of roles while working as an ICT teacher in a secondary school and sixth form college, as an eLearning Manager (VLE and staff ICT training), as a Head of Learning Resources (elearning and library services) in a FE College and currently as a Student Information Points Manager in a University.
I've used VLEs and learning platforms to learn including my MSc which I did online and a variety of other online courses and MOOCs.  Also as a tutor using VLEs, virtual classrooms and web conferencing facilities.
The greatest benefit of TEL is as a means of communicating and sharing.  It enables communication through email, text and social media and opens up the possibilities of working with people collaboratively.  It provides a way of learning that is accessible and inclusive. 

(This is my second attempt at writing an introduction blog post - the first one I wrote spontaneously and re reading it realised it was too 'TEL and Me' - it's still here 
http://donlantechnologies.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/tel-and-me.html
if you want to read it). 

Anyone for cricket? First day of ocTEL #ocTEL

Today is the first day of ocTEL the Open Course in Technology Enhanced Learning which is being organised by the Association for Learning Technology (ALT).  I've been looking forward to it because of my involvement with ALT and also I'm keen to participate in another MOOC.  I've taken part in three MOOCs so far with varying degrees of success and engagement and have learnt a lot.  I've learnt what works for me as far as approaching an online course with masses of information and participants.  The most important thing that I've learnt is to put my filtering strategy in place straight away - there is too much information and I have too little time.  Next start selecting - select activities and people to find out about and to engage with.  It's quite liberating to dip in and drop out and to view success as a constantly changing variable.
As I've been working all day I hadn't intended to look at the course guidance and materials until now but suddenly around lunchtime I started to receive a lot of emails to my gmail account.  The first three were from ocTEL - a newsletter, welcome and week 0.  Ok that's fine, a quick glance then back to work.  I quite liked the reference to cricket 'play gets under way at the civilised hour of 11.00.....Like cricket, it's best if you don't rush.' Then there was a bit of introductory blurb to reassure people.  In the week 0 email were the week's aims and if you only do one thing.... This appeals to me as I'm always looking for the quick win first then the detail or maybe to make that sound better, looking for the essentials then the options.
However then lots of emails started flooding into my email box.  Another quick look - the emails are coming from the OCTEL-PUBLIC jisc mail list.  OK that's fine, I'll just leave them there but I don't remember signing up to a jisc mail list for this course because my jisc mail login is connected to my work email not my gmail.  What are people emailing to the list about? It seems to be the introduction contribution - obviously as I haven't read the activities at this stage I've no idea what the tasks are.  Then come the inevitable emails to the list which are unfortunately going out as emails with the subjects along the lines of unsubscribe me or I don't want these emails.  Luckily a couple of people posted useful advice as to how to unsubscribe or change the settings to receive a digest etc.  
I suspect that most people didn't remember that they must have opted in during the registration process to the jiscmail email list - I don't remember doing this.  But it's easily remedied and worse case scenario, you have a lot of emails.  
But i decided that i didn't want a constant stream of emails coming to me - I want to go and get them when needed.  I first tried through the ocTEL website in the profile section as I thought that might stop the notifications but it didn't work.

But that didn't work so I went to the jiscmail website which i was sort of trying to avoid as I had to set up a new account with my gmail so now I've got two accounts.  It doesn't really matter.  I chose to stay on the list but read the emails on the jiscmail website.

So now just time for a very quick glance through of the background information and guidance for activities.  It's useful that there is a week 0 and it is a long week.  There is lots of useful advice and help but I'm not sure why the introductions etc. weren't on the forum to start with rather than on the jiscmail list as now there are some on both.  

Tomorrow I'll go back and read a selection of other peoples posts.  For me I find it easiest to post a summary every few days on my own blog and link via twitter with a hashtag. 

Digital Artefact

This is my digital artefact

It is a video of a series of wordles which are visualisations of the words that make up the themes and ideas of the EDC MOOC course.

 They show the perspective from the 'course' side, the 'YOU' side and

compare with the 'participant', the 'ME' side. 
The themes, each of which represent a week of the course, move from technology at the beginning of the course to human and education at the end.

The density of the words and colours used is a reflection of the complexities involved in being part of a MOOC and trying to make sense of the learning experience.

Using Facebook as a Filter and Funnel for MOOC interactions #edcmooc #MoocsAndMe

When I started to take part in the #edcmooc I made the usual social media / networking connections between the course and my accounts i.e. twitter hash tag, Google+ community, blog.  There is also a Facebook student group which I joined and then immediately had second thoughts about.  I disabled the email notifications for each time a post is made to the group but then I thought I’d leave it for a day or two and come back to it.  As I mentioned in a previous post I'm taking part in the E-Learning and Digital Cultures MOOC #edcmooc in a purposeful way as I want to engage with the activities and the assessment.  This is a slightly different approach to my participation in the #oldsmooc where I realised early on I wasn't going to be able to do everything but still want to participate regularly.  Different again to the #etmooc which I have dipped into when passing but without any commitment or defined purpose.

I have completed some activities for the first week of the #edcmooc which has involved reviewing videos and articles and I have started to develop some ideas of what I am going to include in my digital artefact.  But I haven’t as yet interacted with many other people who are on the course.  This was deliberate to start with in order to avoid being overwhelmed but now I want to look at what everyone or at least some people are doing.  I have been following the twitter hashtag #edcmooc and have read some blog posts from participants which have been very interesting and commented or retweeted some. 

However I then thought back to the Facebook group and wondered whether this was a way of looking at the middle ground – not right in the middle of the course looking at everything and yet not in the wide open MOOC twittersphere.  I don’t necessarily want to post to the Facebook group but it might be a way of seeing the video resources that people are sharing and also to quickly scan through and like some posts.  Also I wondered if, as it is a #edcmooc student Facebook page, whether it would give interesting insights into how participants were feeling about engaging with the MOOC.

It’s not possible to look at all the posts or activity but I picked one day i.e. 30^th January which was the Wednesday of the first week as I thought that  people would be starting to engage and getting used to the course but still fairly open to the new experience.  People would have had time to look at the activities so there would be some focus not just all ‘hello and welcome’ etc.

I looked at 97 posts which were posted during the 24 hours of 30^th January (there are 4676 members of the group).  As the participants are from countries across the world there are posts at all times throughout the 24 hours.  I didn't count the number of comments on each post – some posts had no comments, some had numerous, I would say that the average was 2 or 3.  Some posts had lots of likes and comments and these were ones where help or clarification was being offered.  There was one post which provided a link to a EDCMOOC Google doc presentation which had 183 likes and 47 comments.  There wasn’t many requests for help, only 4, but help that was given especially links to study rooms, how to manage material, passwords etc. were popular.  As were links to twitter chat resources and general MOOC guidelines. 

There were still a fair number of ‘hello I'm from ......’ posts including Argentina, Belgrade, Manchester, Malawi, Kenya, Canada, Columbia, Brazil, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Hungary, France etc.

There were 16 links to individual blogs i.e. blogs by participants about their experiences of the blog so far and what they have done or thought about.
There were 7 links to documents and articles.
There were 33 links to videos – examples of the topics for discussion in week or similar.

In general the group is very helpful and positive and upbeat and participants are willing and keen to help and comment.

But does it help as far as filtering and funnelling?
It does filter in that all the information in the group is about the edcmooc or related activities. But even in one day on one platform / forum there is too much information to look at for the time and effort that most people would want to dedicate to the course.  So then some more ‘funnelling’ – would it be possible to pick out 5 videos a day, 5 comments a day and 5 blog links a day to look at and review.  That’s the only way I can think of to make good use of the resources.  Plus 5 random likes for things you like.......

Utopian v Dystopian #edcmooc #MoocsAndMe

The #edcmooc task for Week 1 is to look at some resources i.e. videos and articles and review whether they represent a Utopian or Dystopian view of technology.
Utopian claims of Information Technology are intrinsically democratizing, neutral as democratizing global forces of information creation and maximize public access. Dystopian claims are that Information Technologies have anti democratic properties, that hardware/software ownership equals anti democratic control etc. etc.
First video - Bendito Machine - the characters treat technology as god like and have no choice but to follow.  It has a certain dark, satanic feel to the film but it was mainly a mixture of weirdly funny and negative 'same old same old' sort of feel, fantastical.  Dystopian.
Second Video - Inbox - funny in a soppy way. I don't think I would have considered it in a technology way although it was about connecting.  It would be great if you could just put an object in a bag and it went immediately. Or a person, teleporting.  Utopian
Third video - New Media - dark fantasy? Purpose? No idea. Dystopian.  
It is easy to make technology seem evil or dark because you can portray it as exerting control or power but I'm not sure that I buy into this view.

Chandler, D. (2002). Technological determinism. Web essay, Media and Communications Studies, University of Aberystwyth.
Technological determinism is the view that technology is seen as the only cause of change in society.  Reductionism / holistic - I usually consider technology and society from a holistic or mutually beneficial point of view but it was interesting to consider it as less advantageous.  It is interesting to think about philosophy and technology - it is a long time since I studied philosophy and then it was religious philosophy.  I hadn't thought that I should stand back and think about technology as a philosophical issue or concept so I'm glad that I read this as it has given me some direction to explore further.
One of the other articles suggested for reading is the infamous Prensky, M. (2001). Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants. On the Horizon, 9/5.
I'm hesitant to revisit this but I know that I should.  The 'digital native' phrase / idea / concept has become so well known not just in learning technology arenas but in common education circles and beyond that it is hard to consider it objectively.  In my opinion, and from the situations I've worked in, the digital native doesn't exist or more accurately does not exist as a clear and distinct entity.  It is not as simple as saying that a certain person born at a certain time when certain technology or digital devices existed is a 'digital native'.  I know from teaching ICT and from managing eLearning and libraries that all people, especially young people approach technology differently.  It is not the original article or research that is the issue, it is the fact that some people who know very little about learning technologies with the best intentions just blurt out the phrase as if it's a fact.  So tomorrow I'm going to read and consider the original and subsequent research again....objectively.

So far, so yay with E-Learning and Digital Cultures #edcmooc #MoocsAndMe

Today is the first day of the E-Learning and Digital Cultures MOOC from University of Edinburgh on the coursera platform. This is the third MOOC that I've signed up for in as many weeks - two planned which are this one and the OLDs MOOC and the ETMOOC which I just happened to be passing by and decided to stop for a look.
I logged into the course site and I like the layout and the interface - it's easy to read and make sense of. The announcements are the same content as the emails that I've received so it feels slightly familiar and also saves going back to the emails to re-read the details. There are some instructions which contain clarification of how the course will be taught and assessed. Already there is a different emphasis than the other MOOCs - there is going to be some teaching and assessment. The assessment consists of a final assessment in the form of a digital artefact - wow, I'm interested now. This is appealing to me as a very task orientated person - I like to produce something, to have something to show (yes, I know this is approach / attitude is both a strength and a failing).
Next the usual things I've come to expect from the beginning of a MOOC - make note of twitter hashtag #edcmooc to tweet and join any chat and join Google+ group community. There's also a Facebook group this time - I have joined but I'm not sure as my Facebook tends to be friends so I'll have to see whether this is good for me or not. Blogging - add RSS feed to EDC MOOC news.
There is also going to be a Google Hangout on Friday at 17: 00 (Friday at 5.00pm?? Is this just me but I'm not sure this is optimum time for engaging with a cool work thing - I expect there is a good reason for it).
So a quick look round the site to orientate myself - seems fairly straightforward. I had a quick glance at the discussion forums, some general discussions so I'll revisit them tomorrow. The course guides give details of the Google Hangouts and the Synchtube. The EDC MOOC News - is this the list of blogs?
So onto the structure of the course which consists of two blocks. The first block is Utopias and Dystopias with Week 1 Looking to the past. This will involve looking at how digital culture and digital education are either utopian or dystopian. There are examples of writing on e-learning between 1998 and 2002, an historical approach. The task is to look at what has changed in relation to current debates about digital education. The Week 1 resources consist of videos / journal articles / essays / speeches etc.
So that's the plan - watch and read all the resources and try and understand the different viewpoints. I'm interested and engaged and looking forward to taking a calm and collected approach. It will be good for me to focus and concentrate which was one of my new year resolutions.
This MOOC feels different from the other two and I think it is for two reasons. Firstly it is more structured and feels more like a proper online course (I can't explain this yet). Secondly I've approached it differently. I've put my own filter system in place at the beginning, before I've looked at the communications and collaborations that are going on around the edge of the course. I'm starting from the inside and working out. Rather than leaping into the hurly burly, I've looked to see what I can get out of this. This approach is a direct result of the MOOC experiences of the last few weeks and also a realistic estimation of my time and resources.
I had a quick look at what the Digital Artefact involves. It can be text, image, sound, video, links and can use tools such as Animoto, Prezi, Google sites, Wordle etc. etc. and it must 'express a question, an idea, a problem, a hope, a worry, or a provocation.....' Possible areas are communication technologies, evolution of information technology, future of learning institutions..
 So far, so good .....and tomorrow into the hurly burly as that's part of the fun too..

Dipping in to #etmooc #MoocsAndMe

Last week while on MOOC related activities mainly as part of the OLDS MOOC I saw lots of tweets about #ETMOOC.  I read through a few and then predictably, even though I'm meant to be only participating in two MOOCs (the OLDSMOOC and the Edinburgh E-learning and Digital Cultures one), went to the website.
I had seen information about the #ETMOOC and signed up with the intention that I will dip into it occasionally and see what happens.  Also I noticed that they have Blackboard Collaborate sessions which might be interesting and I like seeing how different people use either Blackboard Collaborate or Adobe Connect. Also there are twitter chats which are interesting to follow.
The #ETMOOC 'About' section describes how it is a Connectivist MOOC with a weak centre and that it is all about learners developing their own spaces for sharing, collaboration, reflection etc.  Somehow this is reassuring - I don't have any false expectations and I'm entering into this course very much on that basis. Also there is a lot of information about what is happening and how it is going to happen including topics and schedule and a calendar.  I'm not sure why I feel differently about this than I did when starting the OLDSMOOC - perhaps I have learnt very quickly what a Connectivist MOOC is about.  My enthusiasm is more focused but also it suits me to know exactly what's happening and preferably to have a list. I had decided with the OLDSMOOC and, from next week, the #EDCMOOC, that I was going to be committed to taking part and complete as many tasks as I can whereas I am happily dipping into the #ETMOOC just for fun. (one slight worry - why do they call the organizers 'conspirators'? - no matter)
So for Orientation week, I've looked at the #ETMOOC blog, I've followed the hashtag on twitter, I've joined the Google+ community, suscribed to the calendar and now I'm going to work out how to connect my blog.

Participating and Personal Planning #MoocsAndMe

OLDS MOOC Week 2 : Inquire
My strategy for week 2, after reviewing the ups and downs of week 1, is to plan my own levels of participation in the activities and own levels of collaboration.  
There is an addition to the instructions suggesting a short route 3+ hours which includes Activities 1,2,3,6 & 7 or alternative short route Activities 2 & 4 or you can do your own route which fortuitously  is the one I'm taking. 

Activity 1 - watch video introduction - Rose Luckin - Professor of Learner Centred Design at the London Knowledge Lab. She talked about Context - Personas - Ecology of Resource.  What defines the learner objectively and subjectively? What help/relationships/elements as well as people, places and things exist in the learners environment? The video was good as the content was interesting and was 3 mins which is the optimum time (for me) to engage with a video of a person talking online.
Next was an option to look at outcomes, activity overview to plan this weeks activities, use study planner calendar, use learning journal to plan week & assess progress etc. etc. but in my new spirit of personalisation I decided to sweep on regardless to an activity I wanted to do and that I thought would enhance my learning.
Activity 2 Contextualise Project - I don't really have a project yet although I have joined in with discussions on other peoples so I decided to revisit the dream bazaar to see what projects are out there and what people are saying and doing. I picked some interesting looking titles - I can't remember how to get back to the ones that I'd commented on before although I know they had something to do with Digital Literacies.  Looked at eMarking - a discussion going on there.  Looked at Teaching the Internet of Things Generation. Then I looked at Digital Literacy - with other ideas / potential projects I couldn't work out whether they had progressed to a project plan yet but this one has a link to a Google Doc workspace.  This was very interesting because of the content and also because the idea (cloud?) has moved into a project planning space. I read though the outline of the plan so far.  I also looked at another idea (dream?) about Digital Literacy and Personal Learning environments - it had a link to a cloud - this is the one that I looked at last week and I'll revisit it.
So that's the activities so far and I'm happy with my new approach for the following reasons:
I'm making decisions as to which activities I should spend time on
I'm aware that I can't participate in every activity nor in every environment that is available and connected to the course.
I've got a better understanding of what the format and structure of the MOOC seems to be, that I can understand parts of it but not all of it but that is enough at this stage.

I'm also going to look more at BibSonomy because although I'd dismissed it at first, it might be interesting.

Badge #MoocsAndMe #oldsmooc

I got a badge - yay
It's very strange how pleased I am by a virtual badge that has been electronically generated.......but hey, a badge is a badge

MOOCs and Me

As most people know MOOCs (Massive Online Open Courses) were the 'exciting new thing' in 2012 as far as education / technology enhanced learning are concerned .
The big question is 'will they still be the exciting thing during 2013'?
There is at least one new blog post or opinion published every day (every hour?) about how effective they are going to be, about the pros and cons, advantages and disadvantages, pedagogical factors etc. etc.
The only sure things are that firstly MOOCs are here and here to stay in one form or another, and secondly no-one knows if they are going to be successful or not.
I've done quite a few online courses both as a student/learner/participant and also as a tutor/facilitator.  Most of them have been through a VLE with a relatively small number of participants (less than 100).

So I've signed up for two MOOCs.
1. The OLDS MOOC
"Open Learning Design Studio MOOC"Learning Design for a 21st Century Curriculum" (www.olds.ac.uk) which is a free and open nine week course led by the Open University’s Institute of Educational Technology, in partnership with Goldsmiths (University of London), University of Greenwich, Heriot-Watt University, University of Leicester, University of London (Centre for Distance Education and London Knowledge Lab at the Institute of Education) and the University of Oxford"


2. The University of Edinburgh Coursera 'E-learning and Digital Cultures' MOOC
"E-learning and Digital Cultures is aimed at teachers, learning technologists, and people with a general interest in education who want to deepen their understanding of what it means to teach and learn in the digital age. The course is about how digital cultures intersect with learning cultures online, and how our ideas about online education are shaped through “narratives”, or big stories, about the relationship between people and technology". 

I'm looking forward to participating and seeing what the courses are like, what they include, what activities they entail, how engaging they are and how successful they are.
Will all of the many thousands of participants complete the course?  Have people signed up just see what it's like?  There is definitely an element of 'jumping on the bandwagon' and not wanting to miss out - every eLearning / TEL person in the world seems to have enrolled on a MOOC.  Is this the target audience?
Personally, I hope I have the time and inclination to dedicate to the courses - I always enthusiastically sign up for things and then find that I haven't enough time to do them as well as I would wish (but better to do a bit, than not at all).
I hope I don't feel lost among the thousands of people and the vast scale of the activities and environment. I hope that it is not too impersonal or perhaps my expectations are unrealistic for a MOOC and more in tune with a more traditional online learning environment.
Who knows?