POST #1 to thread: Are you a learning technologist? Join this group
Hi,
As profession that often works at the interface between teaching, students and technology we could consider Activity 0.5 together:
With one or more fellow participants, organise a period of reflection and discussion over two or three days and see if you can arrive at a shared view of
* What can we tell about the range of experiences and preferences among ocTEL participants?
* What challenges does this present for the course?
* In what ways is a MOOC well or poorly suited to these challenges?
POST #2 to thread: Are you a learning technologist? Join this group
What can we tell about the range of experiences and preferences among ocTEL participants?
As with many collaborative cross-education meetups (like conferences) there is a diverse range of background and contexts that participants are working in. As a generalisation all participants have an interest or are inquisitive about learning, technology and MOOCs. For some this is their first time participating in a MOOC, others this is their third or more.
I notice there are some established names from the world of learning technology and plenty of people who are just getting started.
Some participants have a specific subject-focus – others are more concerned with some of the wider questions.
What challenges does this present for the course?
I feel the challenge for any diverse range of participants is to enable the individual interests and diversities to be catered for – but this can lead to conflicting priorities and ways of engagement.
In what ways is a MOOC well or poorly suited to these challenges?
A MOOC can enable a large diverse group of people to interact. The challenge is to both encourage individual responsibility for own learning and outcomes but also provide suitable and diverse facilities for people to contribute (or not) as they wish.
For example, some people don’t like the deluge of e-mails but may prefer to read discussion forums or follow a twitter feed for information – there is no right or wrong method.
Information overload is a definite potential problem from not only a MOOC but keeping up with modern flows of information on any topic. Activities and tools available provided by the MOOC platform need to work well in order to enable participants to contribute when they want to and to connect with others.
Differnt MOOC platforms that have emeregered have tackled this in different ways. It would be interesting to compare the ocTEL facilities with those from Coursera and others.