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Interesting blog by Sui Fai John Mak on February 20, 2012 from CCK12 on online leadership and comparing it with transformative and servant leadership practices.

Paper by Mandia Mentis on assisting practitioners to navigate the "changing and complex terrain of e-learning and topography." (2008) The graphics depict clearly the continuums (and choices!) that exist on traditional to emergent technology, pedagogy from homogenous to diverse, and context from formal to informal that make up elearning. This paper explores the issues that affect the role of online learning facilitator. ***

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 .

Mixed results for Udacity Moocs at San Jose State University.

Love this cogent blog post by Jonathan Rees on why MOOCs are failing --because people need the social supports of learning online or in the classroom. published November 15, 2013.

For the first time, a reputable institution, the Georgia Institute of Technology, will off a master's degree in computer science through MOOCs for a fraction of the on-campus cost, a first for an elite institution. If it even approaches its goal of drawing thousands of students, it could signal a change to the landscape of higher education.

Interesting NY Times article on a new direction for MOOCs.

Great videos on e-learning with such topics as: How does one get started as Instructional Designer? Does Social Media Selling Works? How to build your digital footprint. What's your learning style? Knowledge Creation Digital Age. Embrace the digital communication age. What we're learning from online education. The educators is as site that has resources and blogs about learning. You can spend days here!

article by Alan Finder in NYT, September 2013--reprinted in Tampa Bay Times October 21, 2013 Excerpt: "they share several main elements. Courses are available to anyone with access to the Internet. They are free, and students receive a certificate of completion at the end. With rare exceptions, you cannot earn college credit for taking one of these courses, at least for now. "

Blog post by Mark Athitakis, September 8, 2014 on a statewide association building a MOOC to educate health care workers. "One executive at a state association has taken the lead on educating healthcare workers on a pressing national issue via a MOOC. How do you get more attention for your association? Maybe it's a membership drive. Maybe it's a meeting or an ad campaign. For Jan Grimes, it's meant building a lot of partnerships and putting together a must-attend online course. "

The Future of Online Learning, Stephen Downes

Fabulous discussion by Siemens on how their DALMOOC that started recently was designed to solve certain problems such as the 1. students floundering for lack of timely support 2. Learners having limited engagement in developing knowledge together 3. Learners not getting to know each other 4. Availability of MOOC resources after course is finished 5. Lack of adaptivity of content for learners to start where they are and proceed with their interests

Excellent article on MOOCs and creating pedagogy for human beings to learn

"Change: Education, Learning, and Technology" assessment of MOOCs by Lisa Chamberlin and Tracy Parish, August 2011. Interesting pro/con assessment of MOOCs--participation, distributed learning, credit or no credit, commitment, facilitation. Conclusion: jury still out!

I enrolled in the MOOC that the authors helped to lead and it was wonderful. They are both speaking at the Networked Learning Conference in Edinburgh in April

Interesting link from Steven Downes' Daily about where education and venture capital funding are colliding. According to Clarence Fisher, a classroom teacher blogger, most venture capital funding is not going to increase technology learning and future learning, but is going to reinforce the "basics". He exempts Coursera, but Downes questions them somewhat, too.

Interesting article on where venture capital is going in education-not to online, DIY, make your meaning kinds of learning but to reinforce basic skills learning.

Jane Hart referenced this presentation in one of her posts this summer. It shows what is published in the course of one second on the Internet. What bearing does this have on learners' skills?

Interesting blog post on a business MOOC out of Case Western Reserve in Entrepreneur, Jane Porter, April 25, 2014. Received $69,000 grant to design and deliver it.

Howard Rheingold interviews George Siemens on MOOCs, May 2011, 21 minutes long video Youtube based, Week 1, September 12, 2011 EXCERPTS that intrigue me: At 2.12 into interview: "We encouraged people to create their own spaces. Our assumption was that educational institutions need to stop providing spaces for learners to interact, and allow learners to bring their spaces with them which means they have an archive. So people were setting up spaces in Second Life. We had the course syllabus translated into 5 languages, we had 2,300 people signed up to join. We let people do basically what they wanted." At 3:22 -"We wrap the social elements around the content. That's how traditional education is done. Here is your text, here is your readings, now talk about it. Our assumption was partly that we wanted the social interactions to actually produce the content which doesn't mean that we wanted to run through open meadows learning randomly. We still started off each week with readings, literature that we wanted them to engage in, videos, we wanted to keep everything open. We did have a closed journal but those were optional." 4:11 "The content isn't what you are supposed to master at the starting point. The content we provide you with at the start is the catalyst to converse, to form connections with other learners in the course, with other academics around the world, to use the content as a conduit for connections. Because once the course ends, the learning experience typically in a university setting typically stops. It's done. And even if you are really passionate about it, the university severs those connections on your behalf. But with the internet, those connections exist well past the course." But if your colleagues are blogging ... or are active on the internet, it's easy to stay connected. 6:05 HR question: In regard to Moodle are you using a Discussion Board or chat board, what parts of Moodle are you using? 6:12 "We are continuing to experime