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audiocassettes

four principles that you should apply to thought or action that involves information and communications technology

bias,

“open source learning” — a variation on inquiry learning or passion-based learning –  is about helping students choose their own learning path

classroom centers around the publication and maintenance of students’ personal blogs. The blogs themselves are a requirement, but the content and medium used in many student responses—be it text, video, audio, or some combination—are often the result of students’ own creative vision

To keep this discussion from getting too complicated, I have so far only focused on evaluating summative and formative learning outcomes.  Things gets a lot more complicated when considering the how assessing learning with badges might be used to transform existing ecosystems or create new ones.  This is because the “learning” associated with transformative assessment defies conventional characterizations of learning.  The learning associated with transformative outcomes is really systemic change.  Such learning is highly contextualized within the social and technological practices that collectively define a specific learning ecosystem.

But the larger the MOOC, I propose, the more it destabilizes the centrality of the teacher's role within the course. This may appear counter-intuitive: the larger the group of learners, the more the facilitator may stand out at first as the only identifiable figure in a sea of unknown names or faces. However

If enough people try MOOCs, and begin to see themselves as learners with agency to contribute knowledge and determine what they take from a course experience, this may effect a gradual sociocultural shift towards participatory, communicative concepts of learning.

Communication is key to successful online teaching as well. Being present on the course site and answering questions directed to me are a given, but I also work at consistent updating. If I’m traveling to speak at a library or conference, I let my students know. If I’m at a conference, I’ll share links and insights. My students have done the same, using Twitter or their class blogs to share their own opinions and takeaways from attending professional conferences. The sharing and communication can be informal, and it strengthens the feeling of community. The best teachers understand that technology use in coursework is not just for the sake of technology but to extend and enhance the learning process. Recently, Michael Wesch from the University of Kansas responded to an article about his advocacy for participatory technologies in coursework. His eloquent statement resonates with me: “My main point is that participatory teaching methods simply will not work if they do not begin with a deep bond between teacher and student.  Importantly, this bond must be built through mutual respect, care, and an ongoing effort to know and understand one another.” The sage on the stage in giant lecture halls is giving way to a collaborative, hyperconnected world of newer methods and channels of learning, but the human connection can and should remain. Bring yourself to your online teaching – share, be authentic and connect with students via the heart and the keyboard.

Once learning is institutionalized under a central authority, both freedom for the individual and respect for the local are radically curtailed. 

is the belief (as Kolowich suggests) that increasing the “human” element of an online course is best done by either showing the face/voice of the teacher

Asynchronous communication links with my local time, my skills, my preferences, my interests, my agenda. So it is focuses on ME. Synchronous communication links with teachers and other learners, it is spontaneous and lets you know how is your GROUP.”

In our survey, convenience was one of the main reasons people preferred asynchronous learning