What can we learn from MOOCs?Exploring New Directions

Eileen KennedyInstitute of Education

MOOCs in the society of the spectacle

The whole life of those societies in which modern conditions of production prevail

presents itself as an immense accumulation of spectacles. All that once was directly lived

has become mere representation.Guy Debord, The Society of the Spectacle, 1967

Image – Commodity – Consumption - Passivity

MOOCs as spectacles

Image“The language of ‘top universities,’ ‘world class education’ and ‘the best professors’ (Coursera, 2013) hardly conceals an assumed claim superiority of knowledge”Portmess (2013).

Video

courses consist mainly of lecture

videos, course materials, quizzes and assignments (Connole, 2013)

Myth

MOOCs could be part of the solution, but only if we start focusing on the problems we have. Free university education for highly qualified professionals is not one of them. (Laurillard, 2014)

Spectacles and affects

Spectacles and events can be seen as “affective magnets” (Grossberg, 283) reorganising people’s investments (e.g. in community and learning) around themselves

“no clear or single meaning or identity”

Online learning is very emotionalemotional language (Gilmore & Warren, 2007) shame; embarrassment; enthusiasm; excitement; anger, discomfort, anxiety; apprehensionaloneness, anonymity, nonverbal communication, trepidations and unknowns Reilly et al. (2012: 101) Kazan (2007) “there is always more than what we see on the screen, more than can be contained in those typed words” (Kazan, 2007: 266)

Complexities and potentials of communication in MOOCs

• Emotion• Isolation• Technology• Video – Intimacy and distance

• Addressed personally but on mass

Subverting the spectacle

What can we learn from MOOCs?

What can we do with MOOCs?Understanding the allure of the MOOC…

Mini-MOOCs (or MOOC-like courses)

for:Design-based ResearchTeaching teachers about online learning

International Learning Designs Challenges: Creating, sharing and reviewing learning designs

One week 10-14 February 2014

Learning Designer

Building community for impact and development

• Blackboard Coursesites: 346 enrolments

• + Wordpress blog visitors

• Silver badge – watch video tutorials

• Gold badge – watch videos, post challenge, create learning design, review learning design, reflect on learning design review

• 53 Silver badges • 26 Gold badges awarded• Reached target of 100 designs• 49 substantive reviews• 123 discussion posts • 84 Blog entries

The Value of The ChallengeA valuable experience• Just putting yourself into the

perspective of some else gives you new insights.

• Getting over organisational blindness by critique of peers.

• Getting to know other approaches in teaching and learning.

• Looking at the teaching preparation (design) of other people is a little bit like a look into their head (blogger5).

Value of live video I was pleasantly surprised to discover that there are live synchronous Google Hangouts on air in YouTube (blogger16).

Development of the toolIt would be good … if the designer was happy to have a conversation with the reviewer and that was indicated somewhere, a conversation could take place elsewhere. N.B. Just saw the information for Thursday and that there is already a 'message box' so my last sentence has already been achieved (blogger13).

Desire for community and communication It would be nice if could see what others are doing (blogger20).

The BLOOC

4 weeks beginning June 16

Week one - using audio and video

Week two -Encouraging student production with wikis and blogs

Week three - Virtual classes (web conferencing)

Week four – Quizzes for Deep Learning

To learn to teach online with Moodle: 220 enrolments

To learn how to create, share and embed video (and multimedia …)

BLOOC padlet wall BLOOC practice course

…and reflect on what it feels like to learn from video …

Critical reflection on the power of the spectacle in motivating participation in online events

Sensitivity to affective dynamics of learning online through technology