Group items tagged

By Richard A. Schwier and published June 2011. This page offers free download of the .epub. Schwier is at the University of Saskatchewan and studies virtual learning communities. For more, see the scheier tag.

A program of the College of Fine Arts, University of New South Wales (Australia), this is an online project that aims to help teachers "gain a working understanding of successful online teaching pedagogies that they can apply in their own unique teaching situations."

Posted by Stephen Downes, 2001, this guide is written as a Wiki, with an invitation for users to participate, adding their own experiences. The chapters are roughly chronological, with each describing a MOOC, it's learning goals, and any innovations that it included. This guide can be helpful in understanding the concept of MOOCs, and also in planning a MOOC of one's own.

By Irene Hanraets, Joitske Hulsebosch & Maarten de Laat in Educational Media International, vol 48 (2) 2011. Looks at the idea of teacher professional development networks and networked learning. Abstract only available from this page. For full article, check with your library.

By Marybeth Green and Lauren Cifuentes in Journal of Interactive Learning Research, vol 22 (1), 2011. The major finding of this article seems to be that "online follow-up with peer interaction increased the likelihood of completion of the professional development task." Abstract only available on this page. For full article check with your library.

"Corporations use TWO process form, BOTH missing entirely from dowdy lazy sloppy dishonest (Harvard) universities; a) process weaves----emediated process flows PUNCTUATED with mass workshop EVENTS b) pulsed systems---rhythms of engagement with disengagement, sameness with difference, local with global---so that mere addition of connectedness is not allowed to destroy all creativity. "

By Oliver Dreon, PhD in Online Education section of Faculty Focus website, May 13 2013. Citing research titled Critical inquiry in a text-based environment...from The Internet and Higher Education (2000), the author have 5 steps to improve the community aspect of online classes, including introductions and a "common area" for students to meet for discussions that are off-topic.

Confirming much of what we've learned with our communities.

"An LMS for Elite MOOCs? March 7, 2012 - 3:00am By Steve Kolowich Google artificial-intelligence guru Sebastian Thrun made a splash last month when he left Stanford University to start a company based on an A.I. course he made freely available last fall to tens of thousands of students on the Web. Now, two of Thrun's former Stanford colleagues who conducted similar experiments have spun off their own free online courses into a for-profit venture."

by Cecelia Foster on Prezi, July 6 2010. This is not the most intuitive presentation to use, but Foster seems to have collected many, many great Moodle resources from across the web.

Mashable.com is a very popular site for learning more about important social media tools, with information on trends, lists (e.g. 11 Essential Social Media Resources You Might Have Missed), and how-tos, included guides to Twitter and Facebook.

Pronounced "haystack," this is the website for the Humanties, Arts, Science, and Technology Advanced Collaboratory. The site has all sorts of interesting features, including online groups (by topic) with open membership, notices of a wide variety of calls for papers and interesting blog posts and events. One of HASTAC's founders is Cathy Davidson (follow davidson tag for more). Membership is free and open to all.