As planning gets underway to run a mooc based in the first instance on OCSLD’s First steps into learning and teaching (#fslt) in higher education I have been struck by a couple of questions. First is when does a mooc start? Second is how open should the mooc planning process be? The questions are related. We have been committed to openness from the start (with a caveat). As soon as it was written the bid was posted to a public blog. The caveat is that unlike Joss Winn, we didn’t write the bid in public. Five years ago I and others in the Emerge project tried to get the community to shape one big bid to the JISC. So, openness is still imperfect. But, now, there will be an event running the last 2 weeks of May and first 3 weeks of June. This event will be an intro to learning and teaching in higher education (note to Steve Wheeler referenced here not a mooc about moocs). But for some of us: Jenny, Marion and me, the thing has started. In a separate and unrelated – may the zeitgeist be with you – development I have been following, at a distance, the development of #mededmooc, a mooc for health care professionals [see here and here and here]. There it appears that it is all in a wide open planning phase. Everything is up for discussion and negotiation. I like this, but with some more caveats. The openness has to be bounded. It is not about everything. There are themes for the mooc we are planning: learning and teaching in HE, OER, the HEA UK PSF; there is a base curriculum. But, within these parameters, I would like to widen the discussion as much as possible. Call it a needs analysis. What do you want to see in a short 50 hour/5 week open online course about learning and teaching in higher edication?
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