I’ve decided to sign up for the AAC&U Faculty Collaborative’s Open Learning Connectivist MOOC, which starts this Monday. Let’s see if I can convince myself that this is a type of procrastinating…
See ya, with more blog posts on open learning and such.
Edit: The RSS feed for Blogger that the friendly people at http://openlearninghub.net/the-stream/i-have-a-blog/specific/ suggest doesn’t work
I’m trying this out for use in the OPEN LEARNING: A Connectivist MOOC for Faculty Collaboratives!
This is only a test. In the event of a real blog post I will hopefully have something interesting to say!
I’m trying this out for use in the
OPEN LEARNING: A Connectivist MOOC for Faculty Collaboratives!
This is only a test. In the event of a real blog post I will hopefully have something interesting to say!
Hello, all. My name is Erin Crane, and I’m a librarian. This is my first post to get started.
or, too verbose for Twitter R Us.
So I read on twitter that “Open educational resources (#oer) and open source software are the single best way to ensure #equity for all students.”
Ensure?
Let’s talk about ‘equity’ and the adult ed folks in need of basic literacy and numeracy.
Ensure?
OER are starting to serve some people well. IT’s an awesome adventure.
However, when I talk about adult ed and literacy and numeracy, I’m referred to OpenStax and OpenEd and… no, those materials are not designed for these folks. The designers for learning MOOC is a single example of a real effort to get OER materials designed and delivered to adult ed providers who need it, but it only chips at a few ice flakes on part of the iceberg.
I’ve been encouraged to give the #openlearning cMOOC a chance because it might not be as dry as I fear… but then I read statements like that.
It’s analogous to having an amazing library that’s “open to everybody” — well, except it’s in the nicest part of town, with no infrastructure for access and — erm, you don’t even want to be walking down that street if you don’t look like you live there and don’t know the hidden social rules. (And of course you have to have time to get there between shifts, and…) Still, it’s OPEN!!!
It is open. IT’s wonderful. However, it isn’t equity. (Sorry, that’s my mathiness showing.) And y’all wonder why only folks with graduate educations do MOOCs.
WHen I ask about adult ed and equity, and the answers are all about LTI and sharing protocols — again, I need time and training to even know what that means. And frankly, based on my experience w/ Canvas… knowing what they mean doesn’t help. They’re utterly inadequate. Getting units after an amount is asking too much. Logging in? THat’s our first weedout of the unworthy. (The first of *many.* )
Only Canvas is the venue that *is* more open. MOst “open” stuff that I learned about at the OER conference? Oh, it’s open … to … faculty. To major efforts at institutions. Oops. Equity. Right.
THen there’s UDL, and all the preaching that it’s best not to apply it retroactively. This is a golden opportunity, people…. if you really mean that stuff about equity. LEt’s do!
(And sigh, I did go back and do a note to self on Canvas. YEs, I was told that ‘don’t assume people who insult and belittle you mean to be negative!’ and I do understand that that’s the culture… but I also know that nobody’s going to so much as notice whether I lurk or not… it’s so much like cycling communities, where people will drop you in a heartbeat and then wonder why no beginners ever go on the rides… they don’t *mean* to put you down but you’re such a Fred!)
Seems there will be a “cMOOC” about this. cMOOC being an open course that’s focused on ‘connectivity,’ somehow. We’ll see. The syllabus is pretty dry and academic, going through the history of ‘open.’ Guess my main beef with the ‘open’ community is that it’s so imbued with academic culture, as in “let me pontificate about equity and open” in theory. http://openlearninghub.net/ is the door and it’s out of Virginia and … am I destined to return there? It’s so *in the grid.*
I’m also wading through the convoluted directions for how I should tag my blog posts for it. I did hte best I could… thought about using ds4oer so I could be “the whole blog is about this thing” but … that’s my blog to my self. So
TAG openlearning 
(It feels like one more dead end distraction but … let’s see right now about finding that wretched flash drive and getting my ‘five things on the course’ started…)
Got a heads-up email from a faculty member in my graduate program this week, Stephanie Blackmon. It was a forward from Gardner, advertising an upcoming cMOOC on open education with an emphasis, or at least a leaning, towards goings-ons in Virginia. Now, I am scrambling to finish my dissertation and teach a course already this semester, but how can I, with any sense of confidence, avoid this course? That would be crazy. So here goes. More at http://openlearninghub.net/
Opening line
I confess, I am a slow adopter when it comes to new technologies. I never had an iPod or iPad, I only occasionally post to Twitter and Facebook (and I quickly deleted my Instagram and Snapchat accounts), and I get Netflix via DVDs rather than streaming. It isn’t that I take pride in being behind the times. (Well, okay, sometimes I do.) I just like simplicity. And I don’t like spending money, time, or energy on things unless/until I can see the value they hold for me.
I have started this blog as part of an online course I will be taking on “open education.” I wasn’t especially eager to sign up for it, partly because I knew it would involve setting up a blog and that really isn’t my thing. In the end though, I decided this would be a good challenge for me. I enjoy learning new things, and I believe in pushing myself beyond what is comfortable. So I am opening myself to the “open” movement, trusting that something interesting and valuable awaits.
Virginia’s Faculty Collaboratives “Innovation Hub,” the site of an upcoming connectivist MOOC called “Open Learning,” is now open! (Makes sense, yes?) Please visit our Faculty Collaboratives/Open Learning hub to join up and explore the journey that awaits.
You may wonder, “what’s Faculty Collaboratives?” I put that very question to the AAC&U’s Dr. Susan Albertine, designer and leader of this initiative. In part one of our conversation, Dr. Albertine explains the history, mission, and aspirations of the project.
Click on the image above to access the interview with Dr. Albertine
In part two of our conversation, coming soon, Dr. Albertine expands on the idea of “mind-liberating” education at the heart of Liberal Education and America’s Promise (LEAP).
Virginia is proud to be one of those thirteen LEAP states Dr. Albertine describes. We’re also a Phase 2 Faculty Collaboratives participant. And because Virginia!, we’re doing something unique with this cMOOC learning opportunity.
Join us!
