Success in a MOOC

This is a great video by Dave Cormier, one of the facilitators of the #change11 MOOC. As a first-time MOOC participant, I'm very excited to be in a MOOC that he's facilitating!

#change11 - Growing Pains

After having just graduated with a master's in cyber anthropology, I am very excited to be a part of Georgia Tech's MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) or #change11. My excitement also speaks to the fact that I am once again in the working world and, inevitably, miss being a full-time student.

Anyway, I'm trying to dive into this MOOC but it's a bit overwhelming. However, I get the sense that that's kind of the point. By nature, a MOOC is constantly evolving according to the instructors and (mainly) the students. Participants heavily affect the flow and substance of the course and, in doing so, produce a large amount of content. Being raised in a fairly traditional education system (as I'm sure most of us were), a MOOC's dramatically different approach to learning will naturally produce some growing pains (emphasis on the word "growing").

My first instinct (as the "good" traditional student that I was) is to try to digest all the information that this MOOC is producing. However, attempting to stuff myself with the vast amount of content coming out of #change11 soon leads to a stomach ache. I'm trying to adopt the advice of the course facilitators: namely that it will be impossibly to read/watch/listen/respond to everything out there. That being said, I'm going to try to post blog reflections on how I'm interacting with the course and what I am learning. Also, instead of brushing a wide surface by trying to read/interact with as much material as possibly, I'm going to attempt to go deeper with a smaller amount of material.

I think one education's challenges in the 21st century is going to be whether they can change and adapt to new technology. Moreover, whether education can embrace new forms of technology to drive different types of learning and increase international collaboration. I think #change11 is going to be a fascinating experiment for all involved.

(note: the picture is from http://zaidlearn.blogspot.com/ - a great blog to learn more about MOOCs and innovations in education)

The Machine is Us/ing Us

I've always liked this video.

I joined a MOOC/#change11

So I just joined a MOOC, or a Massive Open Online Course, at Georgia Tech called #change11.

Just to catch everyone up, I recently accepted a position at Tech as the PR & Social Media Officer for the College of Computing. One of the new things coming out of this college is C21U or the Center for the 21st Century (they just LOVE their acronyms around here). This living laboratory is examining the changes in higher education and the incorporation/disruption of technology in the classroom. One aspect of C21U is this online course, #change11, which is open to the public.

Anyway, being the lifelong learner that I am and a lover of all things new and innovative in social media/technology, I decided to enroll in this class. One of the ways to earn participation is to interact with the course content via your blog. So that is exactly what I am doing. We'll see where it takes me.

Speaking of C21U, Georgia Tech is hosting a launch event for this living laboratory on Sept. 27. It is open to the public and anyone who is interested in higher education, new media, technology, etc. should definitely attend. There are going to be some amazing speakers and opportunities for people to get involved.

More to come on the rest of my life later.