Category: PCTHE

How do we sustain participation in open online courses

First, sustaining participation is a design question. Thought has to be given to this question. You have, at least to consider the do-nothing option. This question was asked in etMooc over here (maybe) in a Google+ community. I replied: Tell me about it, and I am an experienced MOOCer & online course runner of things. … Continue reading How do we sustain participation in open online courses

re Furedi: The Unhappiness Principle

This is a version of a letter that I wrote to the editor of the THE, which they did not publish, further to Frank Furedi's rant against learning outcomes. I am the course leader for Oxford Brookes University's Postgraduate Certificate in Teaching in Higher Education. We were very pleased to see that when Professor Furedi … Continue reading re Furedi: The Unhappiness Principle

x v c: falsifiability or hybrid learning in, through and about MOOCs

[This is my abstract for OER13] Two thousand and twelve was the year of the Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) (Creelman 2012). The MOOC has become a complex phenomenon leaving aspiring designers and conveners with many questions and decisions to make. Speaking loosely, observers notice two broad categories of MOOC. cMOOCs are the earlier form, … Continue reading x v c: falsifiability or hybrid learning in, through and about MOOCs

The limits of navigation: how far does the online go?

Reflections on New Lecturers Courses at Oxford Brookes Among the practices, which have emerged through the New Lecturers Programme in 2011-12, there are three that challenge the limits to online learning: massive open on-line courses (moocs), virtual conferences as a means of assessment, and distributed collaboration as a means of working in learning sets. While … Continue reading The limits of navigation: how far does the online go?

Blog conversation on FSLT12

The feeds are starting to come in to the FSLT12 blog aggregator. And it is already a rich source of information and potential conversation. Questions are being asked about what makes a good teacher, and what makes a bad one! Jenny Mackness addresses the issue of blog aggregation generally in a MOOC. We are struggling … Continue reading Blog conversation on FSLT12

Learning objectives or not?

Jo Badge pointed me to a post by Stuart (no other id given), "Learning objectives or not?", which started with this intentionally provocative statement, "A good teacher states clear Learning Objectives. The best don't. Discuss." I commented on the blog and repost my comment here. My perspective is from higher education. Courses are required to … Continue reading Learning objectives or not?

MOOCs and chaos

Dave Cormier has written a thoughtful critique from a cynefin perspective of massive open online courses (moocs) as an approach to learning the "basics". I reduce his argument almost to absurdity, but it is extremely relevant to a massive open online course that I, Jenny Mackness and Marion Waite are developing. Our mooc is called … Continue reading MOOCs and chaos

Teaching across two sites using “Classroom” audiographics – trials and tribulations

Audiographic tools can enable teaching and the support of learning across two or more sites but our university's classroom computing infrastructure cannot support audiographic tools: local hardware is not up to the job. I conducted a trial this week to test these propositions. Context Our University has four main campuses. We are structurally divided into … Continue reading Teaching across two sites using “Classroom” audiographics – trials and tribulations

Back to the simple e-portfolio

Further to my comment in an e-portfolio CoP discussion on Cloudworks (http://cloudworks.ac.uk/cloud/view/5020 7 April 2011), a colleague raised a question about whether presentation tools can be an aid to reflection. This, led her to wonder about the distinction between reflection and presentation when developing e-portfolio practices. Is there that much of a distinction between reflection … Continue reading Back to the simple e-portfolio