A MOOC to explain MOOCs

The MOOC Shop by Flickr user
Alan Levine (CC BY 2.0)

I recently read a ProfHacker post, discussing a MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) about MOOCs that was being launched by Hybrid Pedagogy.  The goal of the project, which will only last 6 days, is to examine the pedagogical and institutional implications of these new courses that are emerging everywhere.

This was apt timing, I had just returned from a two-day retreat with the Curriculum team I am a part of, and we had been discussing MOOCs, and how we might implement them in some of our programs.

So I’ve signed up and I look forward to learning more about this emerging instructional model.

I'll try and post my reflections each day, so make sure and come back!

If you're want to learn more about the project and how you can join in, check out the original MOOC MOOC announcement from Hybrid Pedagogy.

Join me Sat June 16th for the "PD in your PJ's" conference

Join me for my session "Cloud computing in education" on Saturday, June 16, 2012 as part of The State of Tech "PD in your PJ's Online Conference"

- You will be able to watch my session (and all the sessions) streaming live on the conference website at:http://pd.thestateoftech.org

- Or you can sign up to join my live session as a guest panelist to ask questions and offer comments. You can sign up to be a guest on my session webpage at: http://pd.thestateoftech.org/schedule/cloudedu

- The State of Tech "PD in your PJ's Online Conference" is a Free Online Ed-Tech Conference on Saturday, June 16, 2012 - Noon to 5pm (EST)

- There will be over 25 sessions covering a variety of Ed-Tech topic from Google Apps to BYOD to digital textbooks and more, done by teachers, technology directors, and other Ed-Tech leaders from around the world.

- Please share this with other educators you know!

The future of virtual worlds

We've been discussing the virtual reality and virtual worlds and their uses in distance education recently in my (surprise, surprise) Distance Education class that I am taking this semester.  On Sunday, The Chronicle of Higher Education filed the following story, After Frustrations in Second Life, Colleges Look to New Virtual Worlds, under it's Technology category.

Image from hiperia3d

This interested me since just a few months ago I was posting about the University of Texas's major investment in Second Life as reported by the Chronicle.  In this new article the Chronicle does not completely toss Second Life to the side but instead raises some of the issues campuses and faculty are finding with the virtual world.  The number one complaint is that Second Life is hard to navigate and that a lot of non-academic activity taking place in SL, not to mention the online graffiti. 

While I feel that these complaints are typical of new users who are still getting their "virtual" legs under them as many of the problems can be solved quickly with proper permissions controls.  I was interested to read about Duke University's Open Cobalt project, which is a education-friendly virtual world.  The vision of the project is that it will operate with data stored on people's computers rather than rely on centralized servers which is a major departure from shift to cloud computing we are currently seeing in higher education.

The final piece of the article discusses OpenSimulator, which as Young puts it "is essentially a free knockoff of Second Life".  I haven't had a chance to play with it but I might have to find a spare server and give it a shot.

Those of you who have worked with either Second Life or OpenSimulator, what have been your experiences?  Passing fad or here to stay?