For the past few weeks, I have been participating in Stephen Downes’ cMOOC, E Learning 3.0.
So far, the course has addressed some really interesting and, I think, important topics, such as Data, Cloud, Graphs, and Identity. And Stephen has been addressing them in ways that are surprising and provocative. For instance, he discussed Identity as a philosophical issue. But it was embedded (all puns intended) in issues of trust and security from a technological perspective (encryption and block chain, for example). I had never made the connection between who I consider myself to be (my identity) and the expression of who I consider myself to be writ via the internet and the ramifications of security and trust. I hate to say it, but my mind was blown.
As an aside, I was engaged with these concepts and materials whilst stuck in my car in a snow storm for hours last week. I am sure my own sense of physical isolation really made these concepts come alive in so many ways. Serendipity indeed.
All of these ideas have been vitally important to me. As a teacher and education researcher, I am very interested in learning environments that can result in the emergence and evolution of personal learning networks. I know that self determination, authentic learning experiences, and openness are central to these networks. And this course is my way of deepening my understanding of all of this.
Despite being fully engaged by the course, I cannot shake the feeling that I have been doing it wrong. Because I have not watched every video, done every task, responded to every blog post. You get the picture.
I believe that this discomfort is somehow central to what I need to learn here. So, I will keep hanging in there.
Inventing Learning 
Hard to imagine any of this could be done wrong. I think it is built to engage when you can and we make decisions about what’s important or not to spend time on. Sorry to hear you got stuck, literally. And for hours? That’s a scary bit of the world. Glad you are safe and writing.
Kevin
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Kevin, thanks for the support. Have a great Thanksgiving.
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Thanks for the reassurance.
I live in Westchester County, New York. It started to snow last Thursday afternoon and roads were closed super fast. It was wild.
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My understanding has always been that MOOCs are designed to be accessed as and when it fits with your life circumstances, with no expectation that you will cover everything, but rather be selective and follow the lines of enquiry that are most relevant to you. And a key point about MOOCs (and when I talk about them I tend to mean cMOOCs) is that they are open and are intended as an open resource. This means that all the resources will remain accessible after the end of the course, so you can always come back to them when you have more time. So, I agree with Kevin. There is no right or wrong way to engage 🙂
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Jenny, intellectually I understand that, but was thrown into “good student” mode. In fact, I am planning to use gRSShopper for one of my courses this Spring because it is so open.
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