I am exploring a MOOC today in E-learning and Digital Cultures by Jeremy Knox, Sian Bayne, Hamish Macleod, Jen Ross, Christine Sinclair 

Why would I be interested in MOOCs you ask? Well because they threaten/inform the current model of education – especially higher education. I like to know what’s on the horizon even if it’s only a sun rise and not the light of day. 

My current position, where I support faculty in the use of Blackboard Learn, allows me to work with faculty in course development as well as software support. That’s the part I like best. However, I couldn't do course development in isolation well in my opinion. This is because needing help with the application is what will drive faculty to consult us. It is the hook that lets us catch their attention in hope of working closely with them to develop high quality courses. 

What constitutes a high quality online or blended course is the question of the day. I'm serving as a course reviewer of exemplary course submissions for Blackboard. Yesterday I sat through the the training video. As a consequence of that video, I've been thinking about what makes a great course. The rubric they developed is great. Interpretation, not so easy!

I'm watching the Google+ Lecture. This MOOC has 40,000 students! There is a team of five lecturers and one doctoral student from Univ. of Edinburgh who are developing and teaching this course. They are using a variety of digital tools including Hangout currently in use. There are twitter feeds for discussion/comments. There are blogs and discussions forums. Interactivity is woven nicely into the course. However as an instructor, this seems to be almost impossible to keep up with - how they are doing it is an interesting question!


I found this nice list of resources on their site at:  E-learning and Digital Cultures  It's part of the final project in the course. One nice thing about exploring the online resources compiled by others is that you find things you've never seen.  I have used many of these but not all.

• Voicethread: http://voicethread.com  
• Storify: http://storify.com/
• Xtranormal: http://www.xtranormal.com/
• Pixton: http://pixton.com/uk/
• Issuu: http://issuu.com/
• Storybird: http://storybird.com/
• Weebly: http://www.weebly.com/
• Animoto: http://animoto.com/
• Prezi: http://prezi.com
• Wikispaces: http://www.wikispaces.com
• TedEd: http://ed.ted.com
• Google Sites: https://sites.google.com