midweek magic mayhem — what the heck’s a MOOC or sometimes reality isn’t just strange, it’s super COOL

~ Stephanie Barbé Hammer

Dear Friends — Accessing a website posted by a friend on facebook about online education at CalState I fell through the rabbit hole and ended up here (if you click on it it will get much bigger):

courtesy http://edudemic.com/2012/12/a-quick-guide-to-the-history-of-moocs/
courtesy http://edudemic.com/2012/12/a-quick-guide-to-the-history-of-moocs/:

And then I went here:

I ended up in the molecular universe of MOOCS.

In a nutshell, MOOC = Massive Open Online Courses

And now, I’m somehow taking two MOOCs. One is a Duke course called Surprise Endings, that I’m auditing and the other is a MOOC about MOOC’s. The second class is over already, but the archive is up, and I can go through all the information to learn what I can (and can’t do) with these course-event-discussion-forum-collaborative-learning-thingies that Moocs seem to be.  The first class meeting of the Duke course has just happened so we’ll see how that one goes….Oh, and the Duke course led me to the MOOCS about MOOCS course, and well — it’s kind of a wild circular networked ride…

Apparently there’s an awful lot going on with internet education above and beyond the University of Phoenix and Blackboard.

It’s kind of thrilling.

So — I just thought I’d share. I have to go read more about this stuff.  I’ll report back or see you over there in MOOCVILLEs (it’s not centralized).

Happy Midweek MOOCalizing…

love —

Magically Real Management.

PS — there’s real potential here, and there is also danger.  See Crib Chronicles for a very intelligent discussion of Foucault and MOOCs.

PPS — Patricia Morton has called my attention to a good discussion of MOOC’s and the University of California.  I’ll have more thoughts on this as I proceed along the PROCESS OF MOOC DISCOVERY.

Published by Stephanie Barbé Hammer

Stephanie Barbé Hammer is a magical realist prose fiction writer, novelist, occasional essayist, and a committed, intermittent poet, as well as a passionate instructor of writing. A 7-time nominee for the Pushcart Prize she has published work in Hayden's Ferry, Pearl, CRATE, Rhapsoidia, NYCBigCityLit, the East Jasmine Review, Apeiron, Inlandia, Literary Alchemy and the Bellevue Literary Review among other places. She is the author the fabulist novel THE PUPPET TURNERS OF NARROW INTERIOR (Urban Farmhouse Press), a novelette, RESCUE PLAN (Bamboo Dart Press), a prose poem chapbook collection, SEX WITH BUILDINGS (dancing girl press), and a poetry collection, HOW FORMAL (Spout Hill Press). Stephanie's new novel PRETEND PLUMBER is available for order from your favorite bookstore, and her poetry chapbook CITY SLICKER appeared in July 2022. Stay tuned for her novella, JOURNEY TO MERVEILLEUX CITY, coming out in 2023!

4 thoughts on “midweek magic mayhem — what the heck’s a MOOC or sometimes reality isn’t just strange, it’s super COOL”

  1. Interesting. I just heard a report on NPR that said some families are rebelling against the cost of college education by choosing not to take a second mortgage to pay for their kids’ studies. The kids are choosing smaller or community colleges, or choosing to forego college completely. Enrollment is down at many schools, although not at the elite institutions. But maybe the MOOCs and the families will send a message. Flashback: when I went to college, I paid something like $500 a semester to attend CSULB. Now it’s $2700. Okay, it was the 19th century, but still…

    Reply

    1. Thanks Joe. Yes, I saw a transcript of that discussion. Lillian Behrendt has opined that while a MOOC may not be as good as a 12 person seminar, it is certainly as good as if not better than a 500 seat lecture hall where the prof drones on next to a PowerPoint. I think the potential is exciting, and will share more as I learn.

      On Thursday, January 17, 2013, Stephanie Barbé Hammer @ Magically Real wrote:

      > > New comment on your post “midweek magic mayhem — what the heck’s a MOOC > or sometimes reality isn’t just strange, it’s super COOL” > Author : jpon (IP: 71.205.1.167 , c-71-205-1-167.hsd1.mi.comcast.net) > E-mail : otnip@thirdreader.com > URL : http://www.joeponepinto.com > Whois : http://whois.arin.net/rest/ip/71.205.1.167

      Reply

  2. thanks for the link, Stephanie. yep, i am both excited about and wary of the implications of MOOCs…and i think getting educators involved is key in shaping them. check back my way for more on that come Friday. interesting document about to be released.

    Reply

Leave a comment