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Review by Rob Jenkins on the Chronicle, 3.18.13, on why MOOCs are a massively bad idea for wait-listed community college students in California as proposed in new legislation there. Excerpt: "We know that succeeding in online classes requires an extraordinary degree of organization, self-discipline, motivation, and time-management skill. A simple Google search of "how to succeed in online classes" yields a plethora of Web sites-including many college and university sites-offering students such gems as "be organized," "manage your time wisely," and (my favorite) "stay motivated."" Excerpt: So to recap, California's plan (or to be fair, one senator's plan) is basically to dump hundreds of thousands of the state's least-prepared and least-motivated students into a learning environment that requires the greatest amount of preparation and motivation, where they will take courses that may or may not be effective in that format. Here's a prediction: Those students will fail and drop out at astronomical rates. Then the hand-wringing will begin anew, the system will pour millions more dollars into "retention" efforts, and the state will be in an even deeper fix than it is now. (Virtual cheating will probably run rampant, too, followed by expensive anticheating measures, but that's another blog post.) Look, I'm not a politician or an economist. I don't know the answer to California higher education's budget woes. But I'm pretty sure herding community-college students into MOOCs is not it.

Blog post by Stephen Downes exploring what a MOOC does and does not do--it does not replicate or build on past failed educational pathways where a person--adult or child--is not motivated enough to invest time in his/her own learning path. He mentions that online gaming is the best pre-MOOC and equivalent to MOOC for young people. Makes me wonder about my addiction to WordsFree and Scrabble on my iphone and desire to beat the computer again and again. Or enrolling in a MOOC where the opportunity to connect with smart, similarly-quested learners/achievers/doers must motivate me to overcome challenges of schedule, technology, serendipitous approach to learning, self-expression, etc. The MOOC is simply a much bigger playground where my motivation and my two feet (or eyes!) rule my behavior .

Reactions to badges for the hyperlinked library MOOC by Brian Kelly. He found all the badges he was awarded for various tasks: join a tribe; send a friendship request, accept a friendship request, update his MOOC avatar, plus, another badge just for receiving 5 badges. He found all this badge awarding for these simple tasks "cheesy" and that the system was patronizing him. However, he does acknowledge that it may motivate others. He also brought up the issue of cultural diversity. This MOOC has participants from all over the world. How will they find badges?

Reactions to badges for the hyperlinked library MOOC by Brian Kelly. He found all the badges he was awarded for various tasks: join a tribe; send a friendship request, accept a friendship request, update his MOOC avatar, plus, another badge just for receiving 5 badges. He found all this badge awarding for these simple tasks "cheesy" and that the system was patronizing him. However, he does acknowledge that it may motivate others. He also brought up the issue of cultural diversity. This MOOC has participants from all over the world. How will they find badges?

Very interesting assessment of participation and learning in Change 11 MOOC on Learning in the workplace blog by Caledonian Academy researcher Colin Milligan, December 2012 For me, the recurring theme from this research was that massive courses do need management (of learners, and their expectations), or at least a recognition of the diversity of learner backgrounds, preferences, expectations and motivations that come together in a MOOC, that is then reflected in the design of the learning space which is constructed. I suppose the prevalent (c) MOOC philosophy is that learners should be left to their own devices and they will find their place in the emerging learning networks(anywhere on the spectrum from lurking to leading). We certainly saw interesting evidence of self-organisation, especially among those who engaged with the course through the facebook group, and the twitter chats. But our findings indicate that some users either didn't find these emerging networks (or at least didn't identify a network that suited them), or didn't recognise the central role that these networks play in leveraging the value of the course. While I don't advocate creating rigid structures, I do think there are some simple things that could be done to make sure MOOCs such as Change11 are accessible by the full range of prospective participants.

19 minute presentation by Dave White, University of Oxford, on differences between internet visitors and residents, 2009. TALL blog Digital residents see web as social space; visitors see web as a collection of resources. Visitors are more goal oriented and ROI is a bigger issue for them in learning new technology which they are capable of doing when they want to do it than being on the net is for residents. Visitors do not value social aspect of learning in same way as residents do. A visitor needs content, will to learn, and expert. A visitor probably not wish to learn or value Twitter because it is a residential platform that is understood and appreciated only when used repeatedly. Similarly, we never got some educators to appreciate our conversation platform because they were in and out asap. They never got a sense of the place. White says that culture and motivation are biggest factors in people becoming more residentially inclined on the internet, not age or skills attainment. Interesting dichotomy that works better for me than the digital natives and immigrants model by Prensky in 2001

Blog by John Sui Fai Mak on #Change 11 where he refers to an article by Zimmerman. I believe this excerpt is important for eCH schools teaching their students because of the increasing reliance on online classes. Excerpt: "Traditional teaching methodology designed to educate through the assumptions of the past is no longer viable for more recent generations. The development of learning strategies, time management, goal setting, self-evaluation, self efficacy and intrinsic beliefs are key processes in promoting more self-regulated individuals who are capable of succeeding in the school context and in life (Zimmerman, 2002). Self regulatory processes as part of strategic learning that fosters reflection are teachable and are regarded as responsible for the increase of students' level of motivational performance (Zimmerman, 2002)."

Slide show by Harold Jarch on PKM--personal knowledge management--uses systems theory to show how we learn on mega (society), macro (organization), and micro (person) levels. (February 2010) It seems to me that a large part of a MOOC's value is forcing people to build a personal knowledge management process. They might have been able to ignore such a need before enrolling in a MOOC but cannot manage the avalanche of material otherwise. Not only do they need to become better organized in their seeking (this is where the MOOC departs from the day to day personal/professional learning sequence since it aggregates the begining content for them and continues to aggregate the work of MOOC participants), they then need to make sense of it (here again the social filtering and assessment are very helpful), and share their findings/unique perspective. As feedback is received, it motivates the first learner to keep trying to go forward. We all need an alliance of informed and thoughtful folks to keep up with the speed of change. The tools developed in the course of the MOOC can then be the core of PKM. This slide show also makes me realize that ALL online learning communities require some type of PKM and if one doesn't have a regular method for pulling information in and pushing tentative or firm opinions/conclusions out, full value cannot be realized.

website for Knowledge Communities. Look at this mission: Knowledge Communities trains community facilitators how to tap into the intrinsic motivation of individuals and groups to move a community or network forward toward more autonomy, productivity and sustainability. The outcome we aim for is improved practice. Over time, network members take over the role the paid facilitator has played, requiring fewer external resource to produce greater results. To learn more about our projects see our white papers.

Learner Weblog by Sui Fai John Mak on why people leave MOOCS. Believe that the list of reasons may apply to all online learning communities. Mak's reasons: 1. emotional (people afraid of revealing ignorance with technology and ideas); 2. lack of motivation; 3. feeling of chaos with too much info to deal with; 4. identity (in my words--where do I fit? What is my view uninfluenced by this rich abundance of ideas; 5. Threat to security and privacy and being overpowered by ideas of more influential, smarter people (my words) In comments: Ken Anderson--novelty; our neophilia keeps us from sticking around after the newness wears off; Brainysmurf--the "working on me" realization--what I have to understand and address "about how I learn or do not learn, how I perceive authority and control, how I manage or fail to manage info and filters and flow of information." Jeffrey Keefer--length (of commitment to course--12 weeks or 32 weeks?)

A Guide to New Theories, Methods, and Practices for Open Peer Teaching and Learning, written by the 21st Century Collective, which includes Cathy Davidson. Includes contributions organized by Motivations, Provocations, Invitations