It seems to me from the responses on this list (and from various other discussions ) that we are talking about at least three areas of potential activity - not necessarily mutually exclusive or in competition with each other. Its probably helpful to think about these as separate projects which different groups may want to develop: 

1. Using a MOOC-like (open and online but not necessarily massive) format to support the professional development of LD practitioners 
This is likely to be at the 'connectivist' end f the MOOC spectrum, using social media and a high degree of peer support to encourage each other to try out different ideas, share resources etc. This is the approach currently being explored by the ALDinHE Professional Development working group, with the recent 10 Days of Twitter and now LD5D (5 digital things for learning developers ) which Helen Webster recently announced.

2. Using a MOOC-like approach to support students' learning development, either within a single HEI or on a wider scale. As Peter said this might be a good way to encourage students to engage with existing open resources such as LearnHigher, and with their peers -  again using social media and within a loose framework designed to encourage online peer support. These might offer an educationally sound alternative to the more prescriptive study skills courses some publishers are marketing to universities. 

3. Following Andys suggestion, thinking about how we can help students to engage effectively with all forms of online learning, from highly structured courses to the looser MOOCs that tend to require high levels of confidence and educational and digital capital. 

None of these necessarily imply the need for course structures, completion or accreditation to be worthwhile. I find it more helpful to think of MOOCs as a way to negotiate various journeys through the dense landscape of online resources in the company of fellow travellers - some more congenial than others, and not all of whom are heading for the same destination, but who can offer a bit of support and encouragement along the way.

Best wishes
Pauline
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Pauline Ridley


On 18 Oct 2013, at 16:04, "Andy Mitchell" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

Hello,

Apologies in advance if any of this sounds rude, I'm more used to asking for help than sharing my thoughts on a subject to lots of people...

It is all very well to want to create a MOOC and it is good so many are curious, but to my mind this activity is not really challenging enough for learning developers and stays within your comfort zone.  Similarly, why create a MOOC for WP projects? This does not develop knowledge and better understanding, it simply uses the MOOC platform for delivering something that has been done before.

If I was getting into the business of MOOCs from a Learning Development perspective I would be much more interested in the learners, or users.  There has been some conversation about students not completing, and I agree that many will be using the pick and mix approach.  For example, I joined a course simply to get access to the GIMP training videos.  I had no intention of completing the course overall, but there are many others who will want to complete the course but don't because they are new to this style of learning and can't overcome a barrier.  As a learning developer I would want to find ways to support those people.  Too often I have seen those comments on Facebook, Google+ and blogposts of cries for help. Sometimes they are lucky, sometimes not, but they could be helped much more easily if there was a set of resources created specifically for MOOC learning.

I think this would be much more of a challenge to Learning Developers but ultimately, much more innovative, rewarding and useful.  It may well be that in the creation of the resources, we decide that the best way to deliver them will be in the making of a MOOC, but that needs to be discovered, it shouldn't be a starting point. Also, in taking this different approach we learn more about digital literacy within the discipline of Learning Development.

Andy





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London Metropolitan University


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On 16 October 2013 15:36, Andrew Doig <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
Dear All

I have just read the article 'Dial M for MOOC' in the Institute for Learning journal, 'InTuition' - I believe it is available online if you are an institute member. The article is written by Maren Deepwell,  the chief exec of the Association of Learning Technology and talks about the success for ALT in a developing and running a MOOC titled 'Open Course in Technology-enhanced Learning'  (OcTEL). This course was designed and run by members of ALT on a voluntary basis and had than 1,200 participants.

Some of you may have participated in this MOOC, or perhaps even been part of the team that developed and ran it. It is clear that a great strength of this MOOC was the ability to draw on a large expertise group. Indeed, Maren says so in the article, 'The positive side of our large team is that this enables us to draw on the ALT community and bring a broad base of specialist insight to bear on the course design and implementation.' It strikes me that in our LDHEN community we similarly have access to a 'broad base of specialist' insight, and this brings about real synergy in instances such as this mailing list and the Learn Higher resources.

So, I'm wondering if there is potential and interest for us as a community to develop a MOOC on a learning development subject area. Skipping gently over the question of where and how to host the course for the moment, I am interested to see if enough of you out there would be willing to spend some time scoping out this as a concept and perhaps going on to collaborate on the development and running of such a thing. My main interest would be to create a learning opportunity for students in order to improve their learning skills - some sort of study skills for higher education MOOC.

At Solent we have a couple of project ideas on the go  for what could potentially be open courses in areas such as:
  • Preparing Yourself for Postgraduate Study
  • A pre-arrival toolkit for international students

Wouldn't it be great to create something that has a practical impact for students studying in or making the transition to higher education - rather than some of the rather esoteric subject areas that seem to be coming out of the big name MOOC platforms (not that I'm knocking esoterica - I have signed up for, though never quite completed, a variety of MOOC courses - from an Introduction to Philosophy to Songwriting)?

Of course, it may be that there is more interest in developing something that is aimed at Learning Development professionals and Academics (in line with OcTEL which was primarily at teachers delivering higher education)

Perhaps too there are already developments going on in this field - if so I would really like to hear about them and get involved if there is any opportunity.

With curiosity

Andrew



Andrew Doig
Associate Professor
Instructional Developer
Learning Technologies
Southampton Solent University
[log in to unmask]
023 8031 9187
http://portal.solent.ac.uk/andrewdoig   
Companies Act 2006 : http://www.londonmet.ac.uk/companyinfo


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