Rebecca J. Hogue

About the MOOC rather than in the MOOC (#edumooc)

In thinking about which "communities" I'd like to connect with during this MOOC, it occurred to me that so far my thought processes have all been about the MOOC – or about MOOCs in general – and not about the content of this particular MOOC. In essence, I've been engaging about the MOOC rather than in the MOOC.

Is this a bad thing? I don't think so, since what drew me to this MOOC wasn't the content – it was the fact that it was a MOOC. MobiMOOC introduced me to the concept of MOOCs and the power behind getting a bunch of like-minded people together to talk about a shared passion. Now I want to figure out how to create that "community" myself – even if it is just for 6 or 8 weeks. 

So, for now, I'm going to engage about the MOOC. Anyone want to join me? I've set up a discussion about the design of MOOCs in http://edumooc.wikispaces.com/Engaging+about+the+MOOC.

3 responses

  1. Touch groups to improve participant retention in MOOCs (#edumooc) | rjh.goingeast.ca

    […] is another post "about the MOOC", or more specifically a design idea for anyone considering hosting a MOOC. For the purpose of […]

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  2. Vanessa Avatar
    Vanessa

    Even the less distributed, more focused (PLENK, CCK, LAK, moobiMOOC) been about learning and teaching  with a lot of “about mooc” time ~ meta-moocs. Unless the genre plans to take up permanent, at some point there needs to be one NOT about moocs, plns, elearning or pedagogy.
    I gather the hosting uni is planning to offer a Civil War course in mooc. NYU’s open courses use a format with similarities ~ not massive though, whether by accident or design. Vance Stevens refers to his open ELT Multiliteracies courses as M(ini)OOCs. Subject specificity may be a naturally limiting factor. 
    If you want the focus to shift, then take it on yourself to give it a nudge instead of waiting for someone else to.
    So far, being mostly ‘about moosc’ is OK because even the developers are still trying to figure it all out and what works best for communication, content delivery and general cat-herding.
    Lines in the sand down the road: Distributed vs Structured and Open vs Institutional or Corporate Access
    ¿Few blogging mooc 2011? Not according to my overflowing rss reader. Trying to read as many as I can is getting in the way of blogging (more) about them…. that and other, unrelated blogs to tend. This time, I find myself commenting more and participating in group discussions. 

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  3. Benjamin Avatar
    Benjamin

    I've noticed too that #edumooc 2011 differs from say other MOOCs I've participated in (CCK08, 09, etc.) in that content in the former seems to be more distributed.  For anyone considering a MOOC for credit-seeking students, I would think this would be a harder sell.  That is, institutions who are providing accreditation services to learners would probably prefer to have content more structured (value judgments aside). I for one am enjoying the distributed nature of content and discussion, but it did take me a few days to adjust. 
    In my view, talking about the MOOC is important but it does get old.  The purpose of the MOOC (content and interaction with others) ultimately will drive me to continue on.
    Is it me, or are there few who are blogging about edumooc 2011?

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