#MOOCMOOC Reflections

We are midway through MOOCMOOC and I’m struggling to find my place within the community. I think part of my struggle is with the timing. The scheduling of events seems to line up too much with the Eastern Time zone business day, such that I just barely finish my real work and it is time for the MOOCMOOC chat. With only one day per event, there is no time for me to get involved without it necessarly taking time out of my work day. This means that I haven’t really had an opportunity to look at any of the content since day one, as my paying work must take precidence over my MOOCing.

I do think there may be a little more too it than that. I’m also struggling with finding motivation within the MOOC itself. I’ve participated in other MOOCs, in those cases the cMOOC was a novel concept to me, and I was enjoying exploring both the topics and the novetly of the platform. Now that I’ve experienced MOOCs and co-authored several papers on MOOCs, I no longer find the platform novel. Without that novelty effect, the content itself must draw me get involved.

I have been participating in the evening chats. I do find the 6pm ones challenging as they often align with when I am preparing or eating supper. I really enjoyed last night impromptu 10pm chat. So, I am drawn to participate in the community, but I can’t really say that I’ve grown from this experience. Perhaps that is because the MOOC platform is not new to me, I watch the articles on MOOCs as they appear in the news and blogosphere so the content is not new,  and many people who are familar with MOOCs are lurking rather than activity participating (if they are there at all). It would be interesting to survey the folks that are on the 6 or 10 pm chats to see how many of them are first time MOOCers. 

That’s where I’m at right now. I’ll try to review the course material for tomorrow tonight, such that I might be able to participate in a more timely fashion. See you at 6 (or 10)!