Friday Morning with MOOCs

Good morning!  It's MOOC Madness!!  Check out this article that appeared in just yesterday's US Today!!  It seems that more and more universities nationwide are turning to massive open online classes (MOOCs) as a means to offer more students a sense of their course offerings.  But is this the only motivation?

To explore what these MOOCs are all about, I would like the three of you to explore three MOOCs that have recently received quite a bit of attention.  Please just go to one of these below sites.

• MIT Open Couseware
• Coursera
• edX

As a cohort, I'd like you to jigsaw our general findings about MOOCs by answering these questions about your selected MOOC:

1. What college(s) are affiliated with the MOOCs?
2. What types of courses are offered?
3. What is required to sign up?
4. Are there any costs or potential costs associated with the courses?
5. What are the associated general time requirements?  Is there flexibility?
6. How about associated course expectations (projects, quizzes, tests, etc.)?
7. How is the curriculum actually delivered to the student?
8. Is there any interaction with the professor?  How about with other peers taking the course?
9. Could a student earn undergraduate/graduate credit for successful completion?  If not, any certificate?
10. In your opinion, what is the value of this MOOC?

For a counterposition to the "MOOC craze," please read this article from the School Library Journal. Some of these MOOC statistics are startling!

Thursday into Friday

Okay... we're into the home stretch now.  Tomorrow morning we will cover the remaining major topics, namely:  the use of social media by educators, 1:1 initiatives that are becoming more commonplace, and some of the MOOCs (massive open online courses) that are popping up everywhere!  I will also cover some of the legal/ethical considerations of some of these new technologies.

After lunch will be your final presentations.  If you need anything, don't hesitate to email or call me!

Until tomorrow AM, take care.... and enjoy this snapshot of "Sixth Sense" technology of the future courtesy of the MIT labs.  Fascinating!

For Thursday, July 11

Partnering... Will It Save K-12 Education?

Good morning!!  Based upon the first six chapters of Marc Prensky's Teaching Digital Natives, please respond the the following prompt with a quick write in the comments section below.

Is Prensky's idea of partnering realistic? Could a teacher (particularly one faced with high-stakes testing, pressure to achieve AYP, etc.) realistically set up his/her curriculum and instruction to use this approach daily? Why or why not? What could you do as a school leader to foster the partnering approach?

For Wednesday, July 10

For tomorrow:  Only three simple things!

1.  Read Chapters 1-6 in Marc Prensky's Teaching Digital Natives (pp. 9-110).  The value here is to get a sense of what the partnering pedagogy is all about!

2.  Please leave a written, verbal, (or better yet!) a video comment on my demonstration Voicethread.

3.  Please email me what you're thinking about for your Final Project on Friday.

Safe travels and have a good night!!

For Tuesday, July 9

For tomorrow we will have a text-based discussion on chapters 2 and 3 in the Collins and Halverson book, Rethinking Education in the Age of Technology.  So please read pages 9-48 in advance of class and I ask that you mark up the text with lines or passages that really resonated with you.

In the interim, please comment below with a quick reflection on the following prompt:
Collins and Halverson detail cogent arguments why schools MUST change to include new technologies and why they WILL NOT due to institutional resistance. Based upon these arguments, are you a technology optimist or a technology skeptic?  Or a combination of each?  Why?  Explain... 

Welcome to EIT Summer 2013!

Welcome to the blog for the Emerging Instructional Technologies class!  I hope you will find this class to be thought-provoking and helpful to improving your practice.  I greatly look forward to partnering with all of you so we may further our learning.

I have established this blog for two key reasons- 1) So you may have the experience to blog using one basic tool, and 2) to have an online forum we may use to communicate and reflect upon class readings, presentations, and content.

Now.... it's time for a little practice on Blogger!!

The Partnership for 21st Century Skills has detailed recommendations for the types of Learning Environments that are conducive to student acquisition of 21st century skills.  In light of these recommendations and the seven essential survival skills accrording to Tony Wagner, how should schools be restructured to better address them?  Think about schools at the level which you work.  What role could technology play?  Share some thoughts below!