Monday MOOC News

Not much MOOC news since last week's post, but I thought I'd point you in a few different directions; some analysis articles, people I listen to about this subject, and some fun stuff.

One blogger's analysis of another blogger's post, in another blog
Jimmy Daly over at EdTech Focus on Higher Education wrote a post about the recent MOOC for credit brewhaha, and mentions Johnathan Tapson's article at pandodaily and his application of the Gartner Hype Cycle to MOOCs. Tapson makes a number of good points defending MOOCs (the completion rate boogeyman being one) and gives plausible predictions as to the future of MOOCs, and Daly takes the Gartner Hype Cycle a bit further by adding a more detailed graph. Give Tapson's article a read, and Daly's a once over.

Stephen Downes
Stephen Downes is a Canadian education researcher at the National Research Council of Canada. His blog discusses education news, MOOCs, education technology, and plenty of other good stuff. In the face of the hype machine of new technologies and new ways of educating, Stephen's skepticism is refreshing. His experience in the field, and his background in logic, makes his analysis of MOOC news reasoned and thoughtful. He can pick apart press releases and tell you what will work, and what won't.

Dan Meyer
While not being solely about MOOCs, Dan Meyer's blog dy/dan takes a look at math education, education in general, and education technology. His TED talk and some of his posts are constructive take-downs of certain players in education, and what they should really focus on. The work he has done on Three-Act Math Problems has been great, and has helped me reexamine how I present authentic questions to students.

Every Day Carry
The Every Day Cary (EDC) subreddit is about the things we carry with us on a daily basis. People post pictures of their EDC and usually a short description of their work or their daily lives. There is an element of taking an 'inventory' here that appeals to me, but also an appreciation of the tools we carry and how these tools change us, as we change them.


My MOOCs

My status hasn't really changed since last week. I have been participating in Teaching with Moodle: An Introduction more in the forums than in the actual work. I'm thinking I might wait to plunge head first into a Moodle MOOC, at least until they offer a course covering material I don't know, or more prominent credentials are offered. Still looking forward to Big Data in Education MOOC.
Monday MOOC News comes out every Monday (hopefully) and contains my thoughts on current MOOC news, and a brief summary of the MOOCs I am taking. Feel free to join the conversation.

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