OLDS MOOC Week 3 done!

Wow, this MOOC seems to be going by pretty quickly! We are already at the midpoint!

This week I feel my participation in the MOOC was a bit more muted. I did want to participate more in the in the discussions but I got side-lined with start-of-the-semester things I needed for my day-job ;-)  I did get through my stated activities (1, 2, 3, 4,  10) and I did do one of my optional ones (5); so I guess participation wasn't all that bad, but it was "solitary participation †" not really engaging a ton with others.

Oh well, such is the nature of the beast, I guess ;-)

In any case, I did download a number of templates this week, and added them to my design toolbox, but by far my favorite one was the card activity: Pedagogical Features Card Sort. I printed them out, cut them up, and experimented with them.  I have to say that cards, for me anyway, are much more conducive to thinking about the various aspects of the course. Having a list of items that you can pick from is always nice, but once you make your selection I think it's important to be able to clear the working surface so that your planning isn't cluttered by the items that you didn't pick.  This is one of the reasons I really like card sorting.

As far as sharing these with students, I think it's important to share some aspects of this with learners in your classroom. I think that many learners believe that they come to school to be lectured at, that this is the modus operandi of education.  This isn't the case.  I think that if we explicate to some degree how our course is structured, and why, it gives the learners some background as to why they are doing what they are doing, and perhaps it allows them to better relate. This also allows them to see that we don't have a one-size-fits-all pedagogy, which could motivate them to be active participants in their own education.

OK, now ready for week 4!

† I wonder if "solitary participation" is a better term for "lurker who works on his own" ;-)

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