Change11-week4-summary

#Change11 MOOC
This week I facilitated week 6 of the #Change11 MOOC (Massive Open Online Course http://change.mooc.ca/post/220). The focus of the week was #collective learning. Georgia Tech cloned the MOOC and made a personalised version.

Here’s an overview of the week.

• The week 4 position paper on Connected Knowledge Collective Learning outlined initials ideas http://littlebylittlejohn.com/change11-position-paper/
• These ideas were elaborated in a short  presentation (18min) http://littlebylittlejohn.com/connected-knowledge-collective-learning/
• Recorded discussions of key issues (collective learning, sensemaking, open knowledge) were released http://littlebylittlejohn.com/interviews/

Each day a task was released through ‘The Daily’ (email to circa  1800 participants with RSS feeds around #change11) and  participants joined in these tasks through your tweets, blogposts, etc. – by using #change11 and #collective.

Task 1: Examples

• Examples of collective learning were seeded into the discussions and participants added case studies http://littlebylittlejohn.com/change11-position-paper/collective-learning-examples/

Task 2: Sensemaking

• Participants explored and discussed sensemaking processes.  How do learners navigate and make sense of the collective knowledge while they are learning?  What factors bring individuals and knowledge fragments together?
• There’s a blogpost on  on How do learners navigate the collective knowledge?

Responses include

• Does collective learning = organiztaional exploitation and Initial Reactions by Jefferey Keeler;
• Examples of Collective Learning by Michael Keele;
• Comments by Bendigo victoria;
• In Learning;
• Connectiv’s On connectivism and learning;
• Jenny’s blog on Connectivism and Connected Knowledge and her paper on Online Resonance

Task 3: Learning

• Participants considered how people use collective knowledge to learn.  We focused on how knowledge workers go about their own professional learning in the workplace and explored ideas around self-regulation.
• Paper on Learning and development in the workplace: learning at transition for new and experienced staff
• Typology paper on  What is learned through work

Responses include

• Collective learning by Jeff Merrell http://purplelineassociates.com/category/collaboration/ ;
• Collective Learning by Irene Meade http://svmoose.edublogs.org/2011/10/03/collective-learning/;
• Mary Karpel’s blog http://mary-karpel.blogspot.com/2011/10/collective-learning-my-learning.html;
• Robert Maxwell’s reflectons http://bioram-changemoocresponse.blogspot.com/2011/10/collective-learning-final-thoughts.html

Task 4: Practices and literacies for using collective knowledge for learning

• We  then considered the practices and literacies learners require for collective learning. Do leaners have the confidence and mindsets to structure their own learning?Is the collective knowledge space too large and unstructured for learners to make use of the collective knowledge space? What are the knowledge resources within an open participatory learning ecosystem? Do learners have the competencies (and mindsets!) to make sense of it?
• There’s a blogpost on  on The Dynamics of Learning Ecosystems: literacies and resources

Responses include

• Collective knowledge to collective action: OERs and Literacies;
• Reflection on collective learning connected knowledge;
• Do we need to know each other when sharing?

Task5: Technologies for collective learning

• We  examined the  toolsets needed for collective learning, the tools currently available and analyse the gap between these.

Responses include

• Paul’s Collective Learning and Expanding Knowledge Spaces http://gettingsmarter.posterous.com/collective-learning-and-expanding-knowledge-s;
• Mike mcChange’s comments http://mikemccchangeblog.wordpress.com/2011/10/07/a-few-thoughts-on-complexity/
• Greg Walker’s reflections  http://gregaloha.wordpress.com/2011/10/06/seeking-meaning-to-collective-knowledge/

Live meetings

A live Fuze meeting  (12.00ET, 17.00BST, 18.00CET) on Tuesday4th October had technical difficulties . It was repeated in Ellumiate on Thurday Oct 6th   (11.00ET, 16.00BST, 17.00CET) – YouTube powerpoint of session and audio

A live plenary  in Elluminate  (12.00ET, 17.00BST, 18.00CET) on Friday 7th Oct highlighted trends and issues arising during the week – audio

Facilitator reflections

Here are my reflections on being a MOOC facilitator. It was a fantastic experience full of highs and lows. I enjoyed to discussing ideas that have impacted my thinking and  sharing outputs from our research (from the Caledonian Academy in the UK). The feedback – whether in agreement or countering my views – was really exciting and helpful for me. At times I wondered if MOOCs are better for facilitators than for participants!

There was a great deal of uncertainty.  Prior to the week I knew little about  the best way to structure activities and trigger freeflow exchange of ideas and knowledge. Although there was limited advice from George et al, the only way to learn was ‘in the deep end’ – to experience and experiment with the MOOC. Frustratingly some experimentation led to technical issues – the live sessions were technically challenging. Isnt it frustrating when people WANT to connect but something hinders the connection?!?

Overall  I felt  very connected to others in the MOOC. It felt like walking a learning pathway together, though out goals and start and end points were different. Thanks to everyone who particiipated. I’ll continue browsing your blogposts.

I learned a great deal from the blogposts, tweets and other responses throughout the week. I was swimming in an ocean of feedback – which felt amazing. Thanks to everyone who joined in, lurked, gave feedback and to George, Stephen and Dave for hosting. Here are crtitcisms of MOOCs,  counter arguments- (first argument  and second argument) and reflections on the Stanford AI MOOC.

Personally, I’m hooked on the MOOC.