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The author of this opinion urges caution in the rush to MOOC-ify higher education. He touts the benefits of (another version? of a MOOC called) a hybrid online-field course. I think this type of course is tailored for field-based disciplines such as his own (marine biology), but I am sure this could be modified for non-field science disciplines. I am almost positive, though, that such a hybrid course would fail to live up to the largest, most-inclusive (in terms of numbers of students enrolled) meaning of a MOOC.

Check out this sample flipped lesson that I created in just a few minutes on the TED-Ed (or is it EdTED) site. Currently TED-Ed has only a limited number of videos, but perhaps all TED lectures will be available for flipped lessons in the future. Interested in seeing what you can do yourself? Then go to http://ed.ted.com/ and click on the tour (or Learn More) links. Next, create your own account and get started. This speaker brings together the fields of mathematics, marine biology, feminine handicrafts, and environmental activism. Seriously!

A description of the Reacting to the Past educational role-playing game. This article talks about the mechanics of running a Reacting to the Past game in class; it links to a previous article in the series in which the author describes his experience playing the game.

Kenyon's own Harry Itagaki reports on his experience using mock NSF-type grant proposals and blind peer review as the major assignment in his 300-level courses. 

Kenyon's own Harry Itagaki reports on his experience using mock NSF-type grant proposals and blind peer review as the major assignment in his 300-level courses.

Written for school teachers (as in grade school, middle school, etc.), this article is not 100% relevant to pedagogical discussions in higher ed. However, the article got me thinking about how I still learn; what gets me intellectually excited; and what diverts me away from other activities in the interest of pursuing an idea. Could I turn one of these instances into an example for my students in order to show them my thought processes and how I go about exploring new pedagogical possibilities? Just et al. (2014) (http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0102976) shook the biology/paleobiology world when the discovery of two strange deep-sea species hinted at the possibility of a new phylum. I spent hours reading various accounts of this discovery, including a number of trusted blogs. I compared the article's figures of these enigmatic organisms with other figures in old references I pulled old off my shelves. I referred to dusty old descriptive texts to refresh my memory of basic taxonomic classifications. I drew diagrams. Letting my students see this process could be beneficial. Developing a project that might force them to perform similar procedures and then defend their actions, might be difficult, but it could teach them quite a lot about how learning continues.

Teachers at different levels have built bracket-style activities to add some variety to their courses and tap into student's enthusiasm for their home teams.