- May 2015
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opentextbc.ca opentextbc.ca
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the Digital Tattoo project prepares students for learning online in a number of ways: introducing students to a range of technologies that could be used for their learning, such as learning management systems, open educational resources, MOOCs and e-portfolios; explaining what’s involved in studying online or at a distance; setting out the opportunities and risks of social media; advice on how to protect their privacy; how to make the most of connecting, networking and online searching; how to prevent cyber-bullying; maintaining a professional online presence.
citation will be used in the ETEC 565A course materials
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- Apr 2015
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opentextbc.ca opentextbc.ca
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new educational medium or application might enable goals to be achieved that had not been previously considered possible
- and\or new educational medium may impose restrictions which previously had not been experienced
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There are probably other characteristics or dimensions of educational media that might also be identified, but three key characteristics or dimensions are particularly important: broadcast vs communicative synchronous (live) vs asynchronous (recorded) single vs rich media
- degrees of freedom, which people enjoy or lack depending on the technological solutions used for specific tasks (compare a computer game environment and online banking environment)
see Evgeniy Morozov, To Save Everything Click Here, chapter 6.
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the educational affordances of the medium
key word
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Technologies are merely tools that can be used in a variety of ways
- word processing
- video-streaming
- audio-broadcasting
- a calculator
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Media differ in terms of their formats, symbols systems, and cultural values
Woody Allen type of media - interactive book-reader
Arnold Schwarzenegger type of media - flight simulator
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online questionnaire that asked for just a few details such as where they lived, whether they were professionals in aging, or family, or elderly people themselves, and then used that data to automatically allocate participants into groups, so that there was a mix of participants in each group
a way to allocate MOOCs people intp smaller groups
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Perhaps the greatest value of MOOCs in the future will be for providing a means for tackling large global problems through community action.
the main point
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MOOC is not a replacement for formal education, but a rocket that needs formal education as its launch pad. Behind this MOOC are the resources of a very powerful institution, that provides the initial impetus, simple to use software, overall structure, organization and co-ordination within the MOOC, and some essential human resources for supporting the MOOC when running. At the same time, it does not have to be an educational institution. It could be a public health authority, or a broadcasting organization, or an international charity, or a consortium of organisations with a common interest.
examples of local implementation
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cMOOCs have the most potential, because lifelong learning will become increasingly important, and the power of bringing a mix of already well educated and knowledgeable people from around the world to work with other committed and enthusiastic learners on common problems or areas of interest could truly revolutionise not just education, but the world in general.
locally implemented (geographically or by specializations of knowledge areas)
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opentextbc.ca opentextbc.ca
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there is a choice between throwing more resources into MOOCs and hoping that some of their fundamental flaws can be overcome without too dramatic an increase in costs, or investing in other forms of online learning and educational technology that could lead to more cost-effective learning outcomes
or both
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The real test is whether MOOCs can help develop the knowledge and skills that learners need in a knowledge-based society.
Another test is: whether society can find the ways to benefit from having MOOCs - prepackaged results of the educational and research institutions work available to general public - creating new forms of cooperation and socially acceptable alternatives to neo-liberal economic imperatives.
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2. Is it reasonable to compare the costs of xMOOCs to the costs of online credit courses? Are they competing for the same funds, or are they categorically different in their funding source and goals? If so, how?
MOOCs is a community service for which, I expect, every university has a budget. It is the universities' moral obligation to serve the interested groups\communities\society with MOOCs. It is mutually beneficial - the universities get their brand, research and teaching practices distributed, while the public shares with them personal data and comments, and opinions (which are extremely costly, compare this with the cost of those massive public opinion surveys conducted prior to the election campaigns, or market research) ... Hopefully the universities and academia can add ethical rigor to the way the big massives of private data is used.
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MOOCs tend to attract those with already a high level of education, rather than widen access
MOOCs widen access for those who already have some higher level education and are looking for professional and intellectual development. Thus already privileged groups are getting better access to more educational resources.
a counterargument: MOOCs can be locally used as a well structured educational resource by local development organizations to serve the underprivileged groups; this will not become a social mobility device, but can potentially serve as a mass literacy tool (including various forms of literacy - basic elements of critical thinking; basic statistics, essential ecological literacy skills.
locally implemented MOOCs can become a valuable alternative to one-directional broadcasts, a way to organize local developments basing on scientific knowledge and research as opposed to propaganda and superstiions
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MOOC materials may be limited by copyright or time restrictions for re-use as open educational resources
where in a course description this is explained ?
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approaches
lagunita.stanford.edu/courses/StanfordOnline/O.P.E.N./CourseDesign/courseware
"SPOC
A SPOC represents a blended teaching approach that utilizes the power of online platforms in a more intimate, traditional course setting. In many cases, the online content is not created by the instructor teaching the face-to-face portion of the course but rather is adopted from a MOOC."
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it is difficult to see how publicly funded higher education institutions can develop sustainable business models for MOOCs;
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Coursera and Udacity have the opportunity to develop successful business models through various means, such as charging MOOC provider institutions for use of their platform, by collecting fees for badges or certificates, through the sale of participant data, through corporate sponsorship, or through direct advertising
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unlike credit-based courses, which run from anywhere between five to seven years, MOOCs are often offered only once or twice
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‘teacherbots’ that crawl through online discussion forums and direct predetermined comments to students identified as needing help or encouragement
crawling teacherbot: "i'm a robot-nanny, do your homework now, do your homework now, do your homework now, do your homework now... !"
A good or bad quality of the techno-social environments depends on the degrees of freedom which humans can enjoy while learning, including a chance to learn via ones own mistakes while mastering personal skills and individual unique ways of dealing with the environments. Here is the dilemma: whether technological solutions are needed to provide the most efficient way or learning some prepackaged material or should technology be used to better foster human creativity, which may flourish only if allowed as much mistakes as necessary for innovation
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