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Twenty Thoughts on the Types, Targets, and Intents of MOOCs |
| Saturday, June 16, 2012 |
Fourth Post in Four Days (one more to go):
For the past three days, I have posted information here in TravelinEdMan about the Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) that I did for Blackboard with their CourseSites people. Let's recap:
Day One (June 13): Posted interview with Jarl Jonas, Director of CourseSites from Blackboard about the MOOC.
Day Two (June 14): Posted links to a series of MOOC-related interviews with Amrit Ahluwalia from The EvoLLLution.
Day Three (June 15): Posted links to all the archived resources from the 5 weekly sync events in the MOOC.
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Today's and Tomorrow's Posts:
Day Four (June 16): Posted 20 ideas (with help from Jay Cross) on the different types and potential purposes of MOOCs.
Day Five (June 17): Posted unabridged transcript of a Chronicle of Higher Ed interview on the MOOC.
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Ok, this is the Day Four post. And tomorrow with be the final post. That fifth post will include my full interview responses to Jeffrey Young from Chronicle of Higher Education that he asked me about the MOOC. You may have read the shortened version of that interview as well as his interviews with 3 other professors who have done a MOOC lately (Four Professors Discuss Teaching Free Online Courses for Thousands of Students).
Anyway, on to Day Four. This story begins when I was on a chartered plane with some IU information technology people back on Monday June 4th. One of them, Brad Wheeler, the IU CIO and Vice President for Information Technology (VPIT), asked me about the MOOC that I had helped run and the types of MOOCs that might emerge in the coming years as financially viable and/or educationally worthwhile. Brad was aware there that are many questions being raised about the business plans of companies and other entities offering or promoting MOOCs today like edX, MITx, Coursera, Udemy, Udacity, etc. On the way home, we discussed several recent trends and announcements. That discussion got me thinking.
Starting the List...
When I got home from that short half-day trip, I jotted down some ideas in response to his question. I came up with 12 types of MOOCs that are possible or that might be employed in the coming years. When done, I sent them off to my friend Jay Cross over in Berkeley for review and went off running. During that run, I came up with four more MOOC-related ideas, all of which started with an "R" word. And so my list stood at 16 types, targets, or intents of MOOCs. As per usual, fantabulous Jay wrote me back a few hours later. He had found my list and questions to him "interesting" and suggested four additional ideas which brought my list up to 20. But Jay had an important caveat--he suggested that my list might be difficult to differentiate from large-crowd online experiences. As a result, it might not fit with initial MOOC criteria or intentions. Perhaps he was right. So I kept thinking.
So perhaps the following list of 20 ideas may become 30 as well in a week or two. Perhaps in just a day or two. Or perhaps I am done. Keep in mind that this is simply a little brainstormed list. There is nothing really scientific in it at this point. There is a listing in Wikipedia which you might find to be much better. Also remember Jay Cross' caution that this list may overlap significantly with ideas related to large-crowd online experiences that have nothing to do with education or with the purpose and function of MOOCs (at least, as originally constructed). If it does overlap, I am sure that there will be extensive criticism of my 20 item list. Please be aware that some of the ones mentioned below lean more toward the higher education world and other ones lean heavily toward the corporate sector. Some simply address adult and informal learner needs in general.
Apologies if the list below does not jive with the existing literature on MOOCs, steps on anyone's toes, or is offensive to anyone from any of these camps; especially those who offered some of the initial MOOCs and laid out the principles or criteria related to them. Such individuals have thought much longer and harder about this topic than I have. They are the brilliant, creative, and risk taking people in this space, not me. I am just responding to the question posed by my university CIO and VPIT and playing with ideas here as that is what one does in a blog. Thoughts? Here are 20 of mine (with significant input, as noted, from Jay Cross on four of them).
Twenty Types, Targets, and Intents of MOOCs:
1. Alternative Admissions Systems or Hiring System MOOC: A MOOC (or series of MOOCs) is offered and high scoring or impressive MOOC participants get admissions privileges, job interviews, or points if they later apply for a particular degree program, certificate, internship, or job.
2. Just-in-Time Skills and Competencies MOOC: Like Coursera and Udacity, the course is given to the online masses and paid by a subscription or a membership fee or by advertisements. As a former CPA and corporate controller, I see this as a fairly sound business plan for now; however, more specific details are needed. It is clear that tens of thousands of people are more than willing to sign up for a massive course as a means to sharpen their skills. The revenues could be quite astronomical. Let's hope the learning is too.
3. Theory- or Trend-Driven MOOC: Course discussion or activities focus on an emerging theory, trend(s), hot topic(s), or idea(s) and the MOOC is the ideal platform to showcase such a theory, idea, or trend. Take, for example, the current Change MOOC or connectivist-related ideas and courses from George Siemens and Stephen Downes.
4. Professional Development (PD) (practical) MOOC: People come and select the content that they wish to explore as a means to foster personal retooling, extension, and reflection. In a PD MOOC, there is limited (or no) testing or assessment of some minor little skills; instead, there is extensive sharing of what one has done in the past, what one is presently engaging in, and what one hopes to do next given this course experience. Examples here include the Blackboard/CourseSites MOOC that I just facilitated on "Instructional Ideas and Technology Tools for Online Success" or the MOOC that Ray Schroeder from the University of Illinois at Springfield orchestrated last summer that was called "Online Learning Today...and Tomorrow."
5. Loss Leader (dip toe in water) MOOC: Give away one course in every department or program as a means to attract new students to that major, program, or department. This type of MOOC may become the most pervasive type during the coming 2-3 years and then it could die a quick death. For those in the corporate world, see #13 below which stands to last much longer, but is similar to this idea.
6. Bait and Switch MOOC: Create a fantastic name for the MOOC or description of it and perhaps have celebrities involved in teaching it, but use it as a means to sell a product or to turn the audience on to something else. See also #9 below.
7. Experimental MOOC: Here, the instructor, program, or organization might use a MOOC to test out new concepts, findings, or ideas. In effect, the MOOC is a test-bed for one’s research and ideas. These could be pedagogical test-beds (i.e., testing out different learning technologies and activities) or highly scientific ones or both.
8. Degree or Program Qualifier or System Bottleneck MOOC: If there are early or introductory college courses that students tend to drop or fail, perhaps let high school students take the course prior to college in a MOOC-like format with other high school students from around the country or the planet. New connections could be formed among students heading to college. If there is a common bottleneck or course filter that weeds out too many students, a MOOC might be offered during the summer to let current students complete it in a self-paced fashion.
9. Personality MOOC: MOOC experience is offered with the main goal of meeting some celebrity or expert. Though masked in a specific topic like personal passion or leadership, any content actually learned is an add-on bonus.
10. Name Branding MOOC: MOOC is offered to help push out one’s brand name. This idea overlaps with #5 of the loss leader MOOC, #6 (if celebrities are used), and #9, and perhaps every other idea listed here. This one may smell familiar to many people.
11. Goodwill MOOC: MOOC is offered as part of a mission to help educate the people of this planet. In effect, instead of "giving the world a Coke," educational opportunities are offered. Many non-profit entities and foundations have significant Web presence today and offer myriad online resources (e.g., Seeds of Empowerment, iEARN, Impossible2Possible, etc.). A Goodwill MOOC might extend that. In a way, this is what many people initially envisioned when the OpenCourseWare (OCW) movement arrived over a decade ago with announcements from MIT, Yale, and others.
12. Interdisciplinary MOOC: MOOC has a series of panelists or guest experts from around the world (or from different departments at the same university or company) presenting content from disparate yet somehow related disciplines. Creativity and innovation will be targeted in such a MOOC. Participants enrolled in them might envision new degree programs or college majors, start-up businesses or new ventures, life goals and opportunities, personal quests, etc.
As indicated earlier, Jay Cross added the next four insightful MOOC ideas.
13. Recruiting MOOC: Covers a skill in demand, say, advanced Python programming. Companies in need, pay for names/contact information of high performers. Set up specifically for recruiting, not recruiting as by-product. This is similar to idea #1 mentioned above.
14. Marketing MOOC: Jay noted that he had just talked with a company that helps middle managers improve their practice by providing content which becomes the catalyst for discussions among small groups of managers. To buy the idea, people in the company have to believe in self-directed learning. A MOOC on management development and/or informal learning would attract potential customers. I must add to Jay's point by saying that there will likely be myriad other types of marketing MOOCs that unfold in the coming years; this is just one example.
15. Conference MOOC: Jay also suggested that as an adjunct to a professional conference, one might document the back channel, share the content, facilitate discussion, and so forth. A MOOC could help stretch out the conference from a short-term event to a lasting process.
16. Learning Room MOOC: A friend of Jay's makes and markets virtual conversation software; sort of an easy-to-use, Second Life type of tool for business types. One thing that his customers love is having a persistent space online with posters on the wall, presentations at the ready, and the opportunity to just drop by. A MOOC could fill the same role. Different topics could be cycled through. Events here could include discussions of TED talks, debates of current events, or courses on social media marketing.
Thanks Jay! Brilliant stuff as always. Life is good when you have a friend like Jay. As I indicated, after sending Jay an email with my original list of 12, I went jogging and four more ideas popped into my head. So I added them to my list of types, targets, and intents of MOOCs and now I am at 20 such thoughts. Here they are...notice that they all start with the letter "R" and yet I fail to use the big R word--Relevancy. Humm...
17. Religious Revival MOOC: Some MOOCs will undoubtedly meet with extreme success. When they do, learning communities will form, and, with that, new friendships, social networks, and personal as well as professonal relationships. There will be extensive amounts of socially shared history and stories of personal as well as group success resulting from such experiences. And like eating yummy Godiva dark chocolates, people will crave more such experiences. They will look forward to the next time it is offered or something akin to it is announced. It will be a revival of sorts...a MOOC sought after with religious fervor. Remember the online course that Oprah Winfrey and Eckhart Tolle offered to some 2 million people a few years ago with spiritual and religious undertones? Now think 5 or 10 times that and even that might be too conservative an estimate for the highly successful MOOCs.
18. Rotating MOOC: Some MOOCs might rotate topics between a set of introductory topics within a program, department, or discipline. Alternatively, the rotation might be between institutions or oganizations that offer them. For instance, one year, the core expertise might be at the University of Iowa and then next year it might come from the University of Central Florida, and so on, depending on where the strong programs are housed. Or it might rotate between experts in North America, South America, the Middle East, Europe, Africa, Asia, and Australia-New Zealand. Those in corporate settings might see the MOOC leadership or organizers rotate between different branch offices or headquarters.
19. Repeatable MOOC: As with rotating MOOCs, repeatable MOOCs might be of at least two types. For instance, the MOOC might be repeatedly offered and prior participants might be allowed to take it again and again and receive a badge or some other type of signature recognition since the content is constantly changing. Another type of repeatable MOOC is one that is offered every so often (perhaps each month or every other month) with basically the same set of content, structure, and goals. Once such a course is created, it is highly cost effective; especially if technology/machine-based assessment is employed, instead of human assessment. See idea #2 above for companies offering repeatable MOOCs already.
20. Reusable MOOC: As I noted in my blog post yesterday, the course that I just completed for Blackboard/CourseSites people is a type of reusble MOOC. All of the content has been preserved, including all of the weekly synchronous sessions that we held. While we had some 3,500 people initially, enrollment has now climbed to over 4,000 people as the registration stayed free and open during the course and will remain so long after. Anyone can reuse or repurpose that content. In effect, the MOOC remains open for future students (i.e., you) to go in and learn and perhaps earn a badge or whatever. Good luck.
After completing the above list, I went running in the 91 degree heat we have today in Bloomingotn, Indiana. Fortunately or unfortunately, I did not think of any new ideas when running. So that is it for my starter list for now. These are twenty quick thoughts on the types, targets, and intents of MOOCs. I fully realize that I did not discuss the theory or principles underlying effective MOOCs. As I indicated above, many others write much more eloquently, forcefully, fervently, insightfully, and thoughtfully about all of that theory stuff than I do (ya, my graduate degrees are in educational psychology, but I sorta was forced to leave that field 6-7 years ago and so "my mind is a zero" as the song says). If you want to know the principles, philosophies, or criteria of MOOCs, read their work. Or perhaps read Dan Butin's thought provoking piece in eLearn Magazine this month on what he thinks MIT should have done.
This particular blog post is more on the practical or implementation side than the theoretical side. The audience, therefore, is perhaps more geared to practitioners and administrators than theoreticians and experts in the emerging field of MOOCism. Again, I am just trying to answer the questions raised by my CIO/VPIT as we flew home two weeks ago.
There is much still to discuss. Questions are being raised not only about the business plans of MOOCs, but also about who is taking these courses (i.e., demographics), the language surrounding MOOCs (i.e., terminology), the forms of assessment or credentialing (i.e., making it count), and so on. I think that understanding the various types, targets, and intents of MOOCs might help a bit in addressing those vital questions. Hence, I offer my list of 20 thoughts. Your lists will likely differ from mine. Best wishes.
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Note: Earlier blog posts that I made on the "BonkOpen" MOOC and MOOCs in general are below.
April 19th: A Close Up Look at an Upcoming May MOOC
April 29th: Video Intro for Upcoming MOOC and IU Press on the Event
May 1st: Open-access articles on the "Digital Campus" about open access
May 7th: There's a whole lot of MOOC'en going on! (or: "The Multimedia MOOC")Labels: Blackboard, Coursera, CourseSites, David Wiley, edX, eLearn Magazine, Jay Cross, Massive Open Online Course (MOOC), MITx, the Chronicle of Higher Education, TravelinEdMan, Udacity |
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There's a whole lot of MOOC'en going on! (or: "The Multimedia MOOC") |
| Monday, May 07, 2012 |
There's a whole lot of MOOC'en going on!
Seems much is happening in the MOOC (i.e., Massive Open Online Course) world and in open education in general. The field is brimming with VC announcements and partnerships. As these appear, there are juicy debates about what the field is and what it should enable people to do. Of course, some of the debate is coming from those who have had a MOOC-like experience in the past and have concerns about how it is being portrayed today.
Suffice to say, that the field, whatever its name, is
hot. Sizzle. Sizzle. Zap. Zap. If you don't watch out, you're gonna get your fingers burned (or so says the Alan Parsons Project a long time ago). Much about open education has been in the news the past week or two, including the announcement of edX. "MIT and Harvard have committed to a combined $60 million ($30 million each) in institutional support, grants and philanthropy to launch the collaboration." Did I hear $60 million? Yes, I did. Of course, edX comes after all the fanfare of other ventures like Udacity, Coursera, etc.
What is interesting or different here from previous news announcements and press releases is that the goal is not just delivery of online courses to the masses or the joint coordination of technologies to offer these online events. In addition to that, MIT and Harvard people also want to conduct research on human learning and the benefits, impact, and delivery methods of online instruction as well. Such "new" research directions and added attention definitely bodes well for those of us in instructional technology, distance learning, educational psychology, and learning sciences; especially those of us in the online learning trenches for the past couple of decades. Perhaps someone will actually read through some of it.
The Multimedia MOOC: Part 1 (News from Cyberspace)
So much to read, watch, and listen to since this month began. Yikes! As I stated in my previous blog post, it is getting extremely difficult to stay abreast of every news item, blog post, or seemingly major announcement. But attempt to keep up, we must.
There are many ways to try to keep up. I list a few of them below. You might notice that in parallel with the edX research focus, they address many senses or ways to learn. Let's start with the obvious area of text on the Web.
#1. Read: First, for those who relish text, there is plenty of that as well. There are articles in Huffington Post, the Chronicle of Higher Education, and the NY Times all covering the same event. The Washington Post's article on this story on May 2nd was titled "Harvard, MIT announce new partnership that will offer free online classes." They all pretty much say the same thing--there is a transformation happening in higher education today from all this online and open education material. I am not sure that is the case, or that it is so sudden. However, it is wonderful to see the awareness of open education rise among the general populace.
As the days pass by, op-ed pieces like one by David Brooks in the NY Times appear, The Campus Tsunami. And of course, there is debate about all the press; especially such op-ed pieces. Just read Joshua Kim's response in Inside Higher Education, "David Brooks Confuses MOOCs with Online Learning" which appeared yesterday morning. A few hours later, Wired magazine was commenting about the importance of the research componet in the edX announcement in a blog post, "Harvard-MIT’s edX Brings Research Focus to Cloud Ed." And the comments sections of each article add fuel to the virtual debate and conversation.
#2. Watch: For visual learners, well, there are many YouTube and other videos of this announcement, both long (37:35) and short (2:23). Engaget offers both text and that same short video (MIT and Harvard announce edX web education platform, make online learning cheap and easy, by Michael Gorman, May 2, 2012).
#3. Listen: For those who prefer to earbud learning, there is a piece
in NPR on "All Tech Considered" from May 2, 2012: Explosion In Free Online Classes May Change Course Of Higher Education. (Note: In a small update to my original blog post, on May 10, 2012, Inside Higher Education posted an article, "MOOCs and Machines" by Steve Kolowich. Steve also conducted an interesting and informative interview with Candace Thille, director of the Open Learning Initiative at Carnegie Mellon University and a leading advocate of intelligent teaching software. This interview is now available in a 19:49 minute podcast about "massive open online courses, data, and what we may soon know about how students learn.")
#4 Reflect: Article after article after article to skim or read more diligently. Video after video to watch and share with friends. Now mix in the NPR tidbit and other podcasts or blog posts and you have a corpus of knowledge and ideas that is bound to start people discussing, debating, and generally conversing. And debate and converse they are. This is a true multimedia type of experience--so much text, so much video, and an array of audio commentary, interviews, and speeches. If Harvard or MIT officials really wanted to study human learning, they might start measuring the recall from their various announcements and press releases.
As I told my dean, Dr. Gerardo Gonzalez, this afternoon, "Everyone seems to be weighing in
on this. If we are simply reifying the lecture on a more massive scale and
giving it the blessing of both MIT and Harvard presidents as well as Stanford,
well then, we may be in for a protracted debate. On the other hand, billions of
people have no educational option at present. So the comparison of what we
offer now to our present select set of graduate and undergraduate students may
be an ill-conceived comparison, or, at least, a highly limited one."
Then I added, "For some, a MOOC, and open
educational resources of many types, will be the first sign of access to
education. For others, it will be a unique chance for professional development
in one’s limited schedule. For still others, it will be an opportunity to
experience a global community of co-learners. And yet for others, they will use
these contents as a means to find new interests, hobbies, and careers. They
might go to college after sampling these educational materials. Too many people
are focused on the past and on what is happening today. They do not realize yet that we are in
the learning century; and, hence, the types and forms of learning are being
extended as well as transformed. Most focus on the transformation part and not
on the extension part. I prefer to start with a focus on new opportunities and ways to
extend learning in unique ways and to enable the billions of people on this
planet who previously did not have access to education a chance to learn."
Dean Gonzalez here in the IU School of Education informed me University Business is offering a discount on their UB Tech 2012 conference at the Mirage in Las Vegas next month (Note: This conference used to be called "EduComm"). More specifically, a discount of $200 will be given to anyone who enters their online competition, "Will edX Improve Higher Education?" They are collecting responses to one question (300 words max) on or before May 11th. They also note that: "One grand prize winner will be selected from all
responses to win free airfare to UBTech 2012 (up to a $400 value) and 3 nights
lodging at the Mirage in Las Vegas." I think you all should enter! Why not...?
So, they ask: "What’s your opinion? Do you believe edX will truly improve education for everyone?" Do you agree that "Everything we know about higher education is being
changed by technology?" If you have an opinion, you might give it a stab at it. The Mirage is fabulous. Great pools of cool water and plenty of sun outside to escape any gambling inclinations inside. More importantly, the Beatles Love show is still playing (now celebrating its 5 year anniversary). It's my favorite Vegas show. And UB Tech 2012 looks to have some great speakers, including Temple Grandin who "has been the subject of numerous profiles, books, magazines and radio and television specials." See above link and read why she is so famous and popular. I can also recommend this conference since I keynoted it two years ago when at the Mirage and had a grand time in a lovely corner suite. EduComm (i.e., UB Tech) people know how to run a conference packed with information as well as entertainment.
The Multimedia MOOC: Part 2 (My Personal Contribution)
As I started reflecting on the events for the past week or 2, I realized that I have been contributing to the Multimedia Mooc monster. No, not just with with my 54 page monster emerging learning technologies syllabus, but with various interviews and videos. There are articles to read, videos to watch, and audio files to listen to.
#1 Read. For instance, I told my dean that there are many benefits to all this open education stuff. In fact, back in 2009, I wrote an article for eLearn Magazine with 30 reasons why it is an interesting and important trend, "The World is Open for a Reason: Make that 30 Reasons!." (see also PDF of that article). Among the 30 are 10 reasons why colleges and universities would get involved in open
education; 10 reasons why instructors or instructional designers would; and 10 reasons why students or
potential learners would use it.
I also informed Dean Gonzalez about the Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) that I am doing for Blackboard/CourseSites people now. I thought he might like to know why I am still very much in teaching mode despite our spring term grades being turned in yesterday. And I am not just teaching a few students hanging around for the summer. Nope. This course, "Instructional Ideas and Technology Tools for Online Success," now has over 3,600 enrolled. Dean Gonzalez is Catholic and I think he is saying a prayer for me the next time he goes over to St. Paul's. I hope so anyway given that over 500 people attended the first of five synchronous sessions last week Wednesday. We will have 4 more synchronous sessions during the month of May, each at 4 pm to 6 pm EST. This week, we talk about addressing learning diversity and learner preferences or styles. My Read, Reflect, Display, and Do (R2D2) model is among the focal points for that discussion. There will be dozens of examples shared.
#2 Watch: If interested, anyone can still register for the MOOC. If not sure, perhaps watch my video introduction to the MOOC. Still not sure? Why then, perhaps enroll and watch session #1 from last week in Blackboard Collaborate/Elluminate and see if anything is interesting. That session addressed online motivation and retention with my TEC-VARIETY model. Need more incentive? Well, if you enroll, you will find three free chapters from my upcoming book on online motivation and retention in the MOOC with 30 ideas or activities for online motivation and retention. There are no requirements. Your learning, your interactions, your selection of resources, and your attendance is totally up to you.
#3 Listen (or read): Many people might be wondering what a MOOC really is. Others might wonder why I agreed to do this one. Well, you can listen to an interview, “Audio/Massive Open Online Courses: Taking Learning to a New Level” that I gave a few days ago to Amrit Ahluwalia who is a writer for The Evolllution. If you want the condensed version of that phone interview, you can simply read the 2 page article that Amrit generated from it or flip through The Evolllution.
#4. Reflect: Seems much is happening in this space. Many people are contributing to it. To understand my perspective on MOOCs, you might listen to the longer audio file above or read the shorter article (see link above). You might scroll further up and watch the video introduction I did to help you gain some insights into the MOOC I am doing with Blackboard/CourseSites people. in contrast to some MOOCs that might be aimed at understanding a particular theory or technology trend, this one is more of a professional development experience in how to teach online. You might also read my article with 30 reasons for the emergence of this open education movement. In fact, as I recommended to Dean Gonzalez, you might use some or all of these 30 reasons as a starting point or as talking points for conversations about online courses and programs or strategic planning meetings for this world of openness and sharing. Or perhaps take a look at the free stuff we have posted at my World is Open book Website.
So much happening all over the world. Multimedia can help us learn--text to read, videos to watch, and audio files to listen to. Seems a few short years ago, this was definitely not the norm. But today with bandwidth widening, storage capacity going up while storage costs plummet, and accessibility increasing, there are many learners demanding such multimedia access. Some want animations, some simulations, some audio with their text, and others just want to see it in video format.
We can also access content when hiking, when on a boat, when out on polar ice, or when simply walking down the street or running the Rails for Trails here in lovely Bloomington, Indiana. You can get content when flying above the earth at 30,000+ feet. For instance, you might check out the May issue of Delta
Sky Miles Magazine.
Special Issue: The Virtual Classroom: What’s new—and
what’s next—in the brave new world of online higher education and corporate
training.
Article: " Learning Revolution: The gurus of online higher education
make the case for distance learning and weigh on where it’s headed, "by Steve Calechman. ( single page view).
I was fortunate to be interviewed for it (see page 101). There were a slew of my colleagues and friends are in this article as well. These e-learning gurus or heavyweights include: Larry Ragan from the Penn State World Campus, Chris Dede from Harvard, Margaret Riel from Pepperdine University, Mark Milliron from Western Governors University (WGU) Texas, Joel Hartmann from the University of Central Florida, and many others. Many of these people have contributed to the online learning world for a decade or two or even longer. To have us all assembled in one issue sure is cool to see. Equally cool is that they included a picture of each of us. It is certainly great to reconnect with all these thoughtful and warm people, even if just in print or in a cyberspace article.
Unlike the MOOC stuff above, there is just text to read--though in both virtual and physical formats. Someday soon, such articles will have QR codes for an augmented reality experience. Taking your iPod, iPhone, Droid, or some other mobile device, you might hover above one of our pics and get an audio file to listen to or a video or animation to watch. Such technology already exists and is finding increasing applications in educational settings. For instance Craig Kapp from NYU often showcases augmented reality with children's books with his company ZooBurst ( video). You might also look at the Aurasma Demo for the learning possibilties. Those interested in museum learning, might watch this piece from the BBC last week, " Top Gear presenter James May meets his virtual self."
Anyway, it was great to see Delta becoming aware of the importance and impact of online learning. If you look at the ads on the side, they are not losing any money on this one. After a dozen or so not so great experiences flying Delta and United last year (including times when they could not find the runway), I can now finally say, "Thanks Delta Airlines!"
Unfortunately, I am not flying in May. Please let me know if you see the article when in the air. Happy readings, listenings, and watchings. As you do, you will see that "There's a whole lot of MOOC'en going on!" Yes, there's a whole lot of open ed going on...The world is truly becoming open for learning. Labels: All Tech Considered, augmented reality, Blackboard, Coursera, CourseSites, Delta Airlines, edX, Harvard, massive open online course, MIT, MOOC, multimedia, open education, R2D2, TEC-VARIETY, UB Tech 2012, Udacity |
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