Multilitteratus Incognitus

A little funny-Friday stuff here.  This comic was shared by a cohort-mate this week.  It provided some good levity while we wait for grades for EDDE 804. That said... I do wonder how one can go on the offensive in a Distance Education context where the dissertation is defended via Adobe Connect...

Back at the tail end of 2013 I had written a two part article, which I aimed to pitch to Learning Solutions Magazine. However, if memory serves me correct, the MOOC craze had been waining a bit, and corporate MOOCs weren't really talked much about; even today I would argue that corporate MOOCs are a non-starter - many seem to confuse and conflate a MOOC with self-paced eLearning. In any case, due to this cooling off on MOOC interest, and a directorial change (again, from what I recall) I don't think this two-part article was accepted.  The articles were stuck in suspension in my Google Docs account merrily forgotten, until I started looking for other documents yesterday and I stumbled upon them. I am not sure how much use these still are, but I thought I would publish them anyway ;-) Part I of What MOOCs can do for the traditional online classroom can be found here, and part II here.  I've also embedded part I in this post. What MOOCs Can Do for the Traditional On...

Here is the recording of the live session I was in where Matt Crosslin talked about the dual layer MOOC design.  I still question the notion of assessments in MOOCs :-)

For as long as I can remember (well...for the last 10 years anyway) I've been able to participate in at least 2 our of 3 virtual conferences that the OLC (formerly Sloan-C) put on.  I've never been able to attend in person (for a variety of reasons), but I've always liked to have the ability to participate, even remotely.   I am often on twitter during the live sessions tweeting away with commentary. It's a lot of fun, and I've "met" a variety of interesting individuals through this. A couple of years ago I was not able to participate in #et4online (now #OLCinnovate) because the school I work for didn't have the funds to "send" me virtually. I have to say that I really missed the opportunity to participate, even remotely, at this professional development conference. I kept an eye on the twitter stream but things didn't make as much sense. The reaction, and #OLCsnark didn't connect with me because I was missing a piece of the puz...

Finally!  I've made it to the end of the book!  It only took me nine months to do so (a couple of chapters each month?) but it's finally done!  This will be my final review of chapters in  Macro-Level Learning through Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs): Strategies and Predictions for the Future .  I was going to write two separate blog posts about this, one for each chapter, but I've sort of run out of steam, and I have a sense that I will be writing the same (or similar things) for the last two chapters. Today under the microscope are chapter 11, which is titled  MOOCs: Evolution and Revolution, and Chapter 12 which is titled  The Evolution of Online Learning and Related Tools and Techniques toward MOOCs . It should be noted that there is actually a chapter 13 and 14, but I had received those to review before I got this book, and I've written briefly about them, sometime last year - so no rehash in this post. The abstract for chapter 11 is as foll...

Chugging along (hey I can see the light at the end of the tunnel!) with my review of  Macro-Level Learning through Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs): Strategies and Predictions for the Future , which started some time last year.  Today under the microscope is chapter 10, which is titled  Redefining the Classroom: Integration of Open and Classroom Learning in Higher Education.   The abstract is as follows: The printing technology revolutionized the dissemination of knowledge at a pace never conceived of earlier. In recent times, radio and television brought education within the reach of masses. More recently, the multimedia technology, and Internet have revolutionized the delivery of education. Top universities of the world have collaborated to develop massive open online courses (MOOCs) that are made available to public either free of charge or at a nominal cost. Mainly supported by start-ups such as Coursera, Udacity, and EdX, MOOCs are mostly created ...

This morning, while commuting, I was able to read through another chapter in the book titled  Macro-Level Learning through Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs): Strategies and Predictions for the Future , which I started back in August of 2015 (or somewhere there about).  This time I am reviewing chapter 9, which is titled  Deceptive Promises: The Meaning of MOOCs-Hype for Higher Education.   The abstract is as follows: Since 2011, massive open online courses (MOOCs) fired the imagination of the general public as well as the academics, university administrators and investors alike. This chapter is an analysis of the main promises and expectations associated with MOOCs in higher education. This analysis is largely informed by a literature review of new extensive research reports, press releases, media articles, scholarly blogs and academic papers. Considering costs and benefits, ethical aspects and the impact on the landscape of higher education, the autho...

With the semester (almost) over it's the return of the crankypants reviewer  (hmmm... maybe I should get that as a badge and use it for all of my article reviews ;-) ).  Anyway, my goal this month is to finish reading the edited collection titled  Macro-Level Learning through Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs): Strategies and Predictions for the Future , which I started back in August of 2015 (or somewhere there about).  This time I am reviewing chapter 8, which is titled  What is Best for the Learner?: Are MOOCs the Answer?   The abstract is as follows: Massive Open Online Courses or MOOCs are increasing in use by universities, corporations and other organizations. The quality of instruction and learning is an ongoing topic of debate as to whether MOOCs are effective for learning. What is best for the learner is determined by multiple factors. This chapter looks at what is best for the learner and whether MOOCs are the answer. The authors...

Alright, so here it is, week 6 of NRC01PL. Even though I am technically  in the same week as everyone I guess I am still marching to the beat of my own drummer.  I wanted to join the live session on Tuesday, but other things intervened.  Oh well. The topic of this week is the personal learning assistant.  Hence my little callout to the four major virtual assistants (Siri for Apple, Alexa for Amazon, Cortana for Windows, and Google...for Google). I actually did try asking Cortana to "show me something to learn" but  I guess the bing search engine didn't know what the heck to do with my query. Google wasn't that much help either.  We haven't reached the point yet where they know enough about me in order to recommend something.  It's a little odd given how much data google probably "knows" about me. So, what is a Personal Learning Assistant (not to be confused with Personal Assistant for Learning)?  According to Stephen the PLA is a platfo...

I have a feeling this might be in my dreams in about 12 months ;-)

Note to self - save this for my own dissertation title naming ;-)

A couple of weeks after the last session of 806 for this spring aired  I had an opportunity to observe the proceedings from across time and space (aren't recordings grand?).  Looking at the (small) crowd that attended the live session maybe I should have attended!  Anyway! It does should like next fall, or perhaps next spring once I am formally in 806, there might be a ton of people attending, so the check-ins might only be for people who are done with 805.  I like the check-ins as it provides me with a sense of what others are going through (the whole "suffering together" bit), but I also don't want an 806 session that goes on for 2 hours (or more).  I would almost prefer to have more sessions but  have them seriously capped at 90 minutes rather than have marathon sessions.  Something for pedagogical planning I guess :-)  I plan on attending 806 sessions (at least some of them) while I am in 805, so we'll see how that goes. In any case, this s...