Learning Tool: Massive Open Online Course

This post is inspired by Edumooc 2011: Online Learning Today... and Tomorrow. This 8 week MOOC, started by Ray Shroeder at the University of Illinois Springfield, has over 2000 participants from all over the World, and can be found here: http://sites.google.com/site/edumooc/home

"Online Learning Today... and Tomorrow" covers weekly topics ranging from the open source movement to technology to personal learning networks. Weekly resources consist of a live, recorded presentation hosted by a panel of experts, a collection of blogs, articles, and online journals, influential Twitter profiles, and pertinent Twitter hashtags. In addition to weekly resources, there are also Wikispace and Skype discussions.

MOOCs provide not only the opportunity to learn, but also to network with industry professionals. #edumooc participants can be found on this Twitter list.

More MOOC resources:
EduMOOC 2001 EduMOOCosphere
Tektrekker's eduMOOC Central
Explore a new Learning Frontier: MOOC via Learning solutions Magazine

Reference:
Cormier, D. (2010) What is a MOOC. Video by Neal Gillis. Retrieved from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eW3gMGqcZQc

Learning Research: Gaming Principles

"Some people think of learning in school - for example, learning biology- as all about learning "facts" that can be repeated on a written test. Decades of research, however, have shown, that students taught under such a regime, though they may be able to pass tests, cannot actually apply their knowledge to solve problems or understand the conceptual layout of the land in the area they are learning." (Gee, 2008) Games can be educational, engaging, motivating, and entertaining.

James Paul Gee, in his article, "Good Video Games and Good Learning", cites 16 learning principles that good games incorporate. I've chosen 10 of these principles to explain in more detail as follows:

Production - Players co-produce games with their actions.
Interaction - "Games do talk back." They react to players actions and decisions.
Risk Taking - The consequences of failure are low, allowing for more risk.
Well-Order Problems - The difficulty of problems is ordered in levels.
Challenge - Routine challenges allow for "virtually routinized or automated" solutions.
"Just in Time" - Players recieve information at the precise time of need.
Situated Meanings - Meaning is determined via actions, images, and dialogues.
System Thinking - Players need "to think about relationships, not isolated events."
Cross-Functional Teams - Each member of a team must master his/her own specialty, and then learn to work in collaboration with other players.
Performance before Competence - Players perform tasks until they are competent, not when they become competent.

Reference:
Gee, J.P. (2007) Good Video Games and Good Learning. New York. Peter Lang. Retrieved from: http://www.academiccolab.org/resources/documents/Good_Learning.pdf

Image: http://www.betaoutcdn.com/inbound/2013/08/gamification_vjgus.png

Learning Management: Creative Commons Licenses

Can you reproduce, copy, or create a new version of another's intellectual property? No, unless the owner has decided to allow for certain uses of his/her work through a Creative Commons license. “ Creative Commons licenses are an extension of copyright law”, and are “recognized as giving the holder of rights an ability to prospectively grant certain permission rather than limit use of their work by expecting all comers to request these permissions, again and again.” (Miller, Styles, & Heath, 2008) CC licenses give authors the ability to exercise copyright in the manner they so choose, and still retain their identity and ownership in the work through credits. For more information about CC licenses, visit the Creative Commons website here: http://www.creativecommons.org/

References:
Dylan, J (2008) - "A Shared Culture" - Retrieved from: http://youtu.be/1DKm96Ftfko

Miller, P., Styles, R., Heath, T. (2008). Open Data Commons, a License for Open Data. Proceedings of the 1st Workshop about Linked Data on the Web (LDOW2008).