Take three minutes to watch this intro to MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) by Dave Cormier, who with some of his Canadian friends are running “Personal Learning Environments Networks and Knowledge 2010,” a free course that starts today. Then, consider the questions below:
Questions:
- How important is it that we make our students ready for these types of self-directed learning opportunities?
- How can we begin to weave some of these types of experiences into our current curriculum?
- How do we assess the learning that takes place here? Or, even, do we?
Add others as you see fit, but this type of learning has me thinking really deeply about how to help Tess and Tucker flourish in these environments.
(Note: For some extra context, see this post by Alan Levine that I blogged about a few months ago.)
A very interesting idea. I really like the fact that the learning is created from the learner. But what is exciting is also scary. My second thought- after thinking what a great way to learn- was assessment. If we accept that this type and style of learning is valuable and even essential for students then what does the assessment look like? And how do we do it? Not because we need to give a mark or to compare one student with another but because feedback and support are important for the individual in learning. How do we change the way we assess in order to recognise the value of this learning? How do we assess in such a way that it encourages and values more learning. On the other hand, the pragmatist in me recognises that we have a system that also requires measures of learning. So is there a way that we can develop feedback, measures of progression, opportunities for collaboration and further learning while at the same time meeting the needs of ed systems? I don’t have the answer but appreciate the opportunity to think about it.
Hate to sound crass, but what’s the business model for this?
OK, one more stupid question.
What is the course about?
Seriously?
Is it a course about coursiness?
Hey Gary,
Funny, I have a deadline on that very issue today. A couple of random questions that I posited at the start of my business model journey.
1. What is the business model for current k12 education?
2. What is the ROI for an organization to sponsor a MOOC?
3. How is a MOOC like a research project and how would that look?
4. How much would funding a MOOC as a research project cost?
5. What constraints do our current silly business models for education have on our thinking?
http://davecormier.com/edblog/2010/08/24/an-emerging-model-for-open-courses/ some other early thinking on the business model issue.
Dave,
I was not being snarky. I’m sure you agree that higher-ed has some real challenges ahead, not the least of which WHO PAYS?
I admire the spirit of what folks like you, Downes and Siemens are doing. My inclination is to offer free courses online myself, but I also need to generate a food pellet somehow.
I completely understand the value of openness online because I’ve been teaching that way since the first term of the Clinton administration.
I also understand that in the current (at least non-Canadian) economic client, university faculty are being treated more and more like part-time employees.
Hey Gary,
I didn’t think you were being snarky… sorry… its been a busy day, my normal filter must be broken 🙂
I’m looking to find ways to make the model pay as well. I think, for instance, that there are a number of american foundations who would be able to fund this kind of course.
Keep the stupid questions coming Gary. It’s a course on the PLE and PLN stuff. So yes, in a sense, it is a course about coursiness. Or… from the link above the video
“The Personal Learning Environments Networks and Knowledge course is part of the National Research Council of Canada’s PLE research. The project will examine the learning that occurs as a result of interaction and participation in the distributed community. The goal of the research is to follow and document what communities of learners do when they are learning in a sizeable open online course. ”
it’s about that.
To paraphrase Marvin Minsky/Seymour Papert (unclear who actually said it), you can’t think about thinking about thinking about thinking about something.
First of all, it was not clear that your course is a research project. That changes the discussion, but then raises the question of why a person would choose to be a student in a course that is about being a student?
Asked another way, could the research goals not be achieved in a course about something other than itself?
Why wouldn’t you want to be in a course where people were doing research on a topic? The research project has been going on for a few years and is funded for more… this is a small part of it (the PLE research that is) and is funded by the national research council
I am also part of a research project exploring MOOCs generally.
Students (or participants) are part of the research group. what better situation to be in than to be with people who are spending lots and lots of time researching a topic so that they are embedded in the idea and still willing to have you participate.
Not for everyone, I acknowledge, but the interwebs is a pretty big tent 🙂
So, it’s not a Seinfeld-esque course about nothing? 🙂
The more questions I ask, the more I begin to understand what you’re on about. I guess I was missing the big picture or the elevator pitch.
fair assumption… i sure feel like i’ve been in a few of those 🙂
Here’s my problem. If i can’t explain it to you…
meh. I’m just going to blame you. That way i’ll sleep better.
yup. Gary’s fault.
Blame away!
“How important is it that we make our students ready for these types of self-directed learning opportunities?”
Here is an even more important question, are we ourselves as educators ready to take such a course? I don’t know how you could go about getting students ready to leverage an opportunity like this, if as teachers we can’t leverage such things. I think that would be step one. Your second question; “weave some of these types of experiences into our current curriculum” is probably the best way to go about it. It is difficult to underestimate the gap between what most teachers view as instruction and the learning opportunity that such a course represents.
Interesting focus on the participatory nature of learning. A few questions. I assume there is a central reason for a group to come together in a particular course, a topic around which the participants’ interactions result in the rhizomatic knowledge construction you describe. Is there a function for recapping or noting what has been constructed? Are there any structures or bots in place to aid learners who may become lost in the multi-pathway networked construction of knowledge? I see immense possibility and wonder about human interface variables.
HI terry. I suggest that you go and check out the course page… http://connect.downes.ca many of your questions will be answered there.
There are some functions for aggregating what has been constructed, and we are working through ways to curate that work without ruining the networked nature of it… still thinking.
I signed up to see what’s cooking.
Hello Dave. I just found your site for PLENK and what a goldmine this is for me. I have seen my children (8yrs and 10) learn things I never imagined possible at their age. It’s all self initiated and self taught on the computer (things meant for adults like Flash, Photoshop and video editing). Some of the things they show me are jaw dropping.
Here’s an amazing and relevant Ted Talk you may be interested in:
http://www.ted.com/talks/sugata_mitra_the_child_driven_education.html
Are we ourselves as educators ready to take such a course?
As soon as I watched the above video I registered for the course without even having a clear idea of what it was about.
As an educator I want to learn how to best incorporate technology into my classroom. I thought I was pretty technologically advanced. Over the past few days since joining this course I have begun my very own blog and have reached out to mentors, colleagues, and friends to support me as I work through this course and attempt to create my own PLN.
I have to give this post the credit for starting me off on this path.