Amok in the MOOC

I'm running amok!  This week, with respect to the eduMOOC, I'm running amok and going rogue.  I listened to the discussion of What the Research Tells Us, but was not inspired with any thoughts.  I've read other people's postings, discussions, blogs, wikis, etc and don't have anything to contribute.

On the other hand, the few discussions that I inserted myself into in the last few weeks have exploded!  This one:  here has 16 replies and 85 views about K-12 Virtual Learning.  I seem to be one of few self-proclaimed "experts" on the subject, and all I know is what I have learned about TPLC!  

Several participants have experience in K-12 online learning, but they have not shared their experiences yet.  I joined the discussion hopeful that others with successes AND failures would share.  So far, I've not learned much from others, but they seem to be great resources for my future learning.  I hope to steer the conversation away from my school and toward others' schools.  It's fun to talk about myself, but I want to learn from others too.  

In the process of explaining how and why things work at TPLC, I have been able to examine my own knowledge and thoughts.  It has been a good ride this week, in my own head, but I'm ready to hear from other people.  

More MOOC - We'll See How It Works Out

It's been over a week of following rabbit trails of eduMOOC discussions, adding myself to Plurk, WikiSpaces, learning new terms and acronyms and generally stumbling around this monolith of a class.  I've commented, re-commented, even been quoted, 'liked' and rebutted a few times, and tried to start a few long-term collaborations.  We'll see how it works out.  


I've found lots of links to online rubrics, rubric makers, evaluation tools, and evaluation procedures.  


One of the interesting threads where I hope to make a few long-term contacts is on WikiSpaces, discussing K-12 online and distance learning here: here .  I'm intrigued to learn what others' experiences are.  So far, participants range from former home-school parent/distance learner/substitute teacher/religious educator to teacher of online classes and faculty educator at community colleges with 10 years experience to a guy with 25 years experience as an independent school educator taking a year off to explore course design.  Yes, I copied their bios straight from introductions.  I am hoping to deepen the conversation into what works and doesn't work in K-12 online education.  Right now, it feels like we are all still searching for others to join the discussion.  We'll see how it works out. (Note: do you notice a theme here?  If not, keep reading)


This week's topic is "What the Research Tells Us".  Pre-broadcast discussions seem over my head, to be frank.  I see lots of people talking about their own research, but nothing concrete that seems like it would benefit the whole.  As with last week, it looks like my interest is going to be on a tangent to the advertised subject.  I think this is maybe the whole point of this Massive course: to get people to collaborate on different topics of their choosing.  We'll see how it works out. (Get the theme yet?)


Oh, and I signed up for a 1 hour webinar tomorrow about WikiSpaces for K-12 Education.  Yes, it is a shameless plug for their product.  I know that.  I'm genuinely interested in exploring if this might be useful to us next year at TPLC.  Again, we'll see how it works out.  (I couldn't help but to continue the pattern).

So, that's about it for now.  I'll keep you updated on how it works out.

What in the world is an eduMOOC? Do they have a pill to help cure it?

Today starts my meandering into the world of eduMOOC  (Massive Open Online Course).  Here's the link if you are interested in learning more:  https://sites.google.com/site/edumooc/ .  It was suggested by someone at my new school, Turning Point Learning Center (Thanks Mindelei!) as an interesting project to participate in.

At first, I was a little skeptical.  I didn't know how it might be useful to me, if I would like it, how it would fit into my current reality, how it might help me this year or in the future, if I had time, etc.  I began to wonder what in the world I was getting myself into at TPLC.  

Whew!  After I calmed down, I talked to two of my friends who are also teachers, one public school and one higher ed.  They both had the same reply: "That sounds awesome!".  Not at all what I expected.  I was looking for someone to agree with me that it sounded weird.  Failing that, I actually listened to their thoughts and then explored the course for myself.  It still seems a little "out there", but I'm excited to be in this uncharted territory with lots of other people.  There were over 2400 registered participants as of Saturday night!  Holy cow!

This morning, I started reading blogs.  I know, the official webcast/discussion doesn't happen for a few hours, but I saw a few posts that sounded interesting.  (That's part of the course description, finding like-minded people to collaborate with.)  I found a lady that sounded like she was in the same boat as me.  She was looking for clear learning objectives, but couldn't find any and felt lost.  Oh boy, here we go!

So she made up her own.  And posted them.  And asked for comments/discussion.  So I did.  Sound easy?  Yes, it was!  I'm anxiously waiting for others to add their input.  This is going to be so cool!  I think I will learn a lot cool stuff through this course and maybe even find a few people to correspond with.  Oh, that was in the course description too.  It all sounds so ethereal, but really, it's natural.

I'll keep you updated as I learn more.  As always, have a good one!

Start

Today is the start.  Maybe The Start.  I'm not quite sure how often I will update or what will be here.  Stay tuned and join me on this meandering journey through my thoughts, ideas, and experiences.  I'll see you at the end!