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The MOOC Business Plan- With millions of students taking high-quality MOOCs for free, schools and course providers are searching for a viable business model. Editorial: MOOC Shake- MOOCs will change higher education radically, but not in the way we expect right now. Assessment Tools for MOOCs- As MOOCs are made available for credit, scalable assessment options are essential. Building a Sense of Community in MOOCs- Massive class sizes can breed feelings of isolation, but they also enable more student interaction. Blended MOOCs: The Best of Both Worlds?- Combining in-class instruction with high-quality MOOCs may resolve some of the hurdles facing xMOOCs, but questions about cost and the impact on faculty remain unanswered. Watch video: Catheryn Cheal, AVP and senior academic technology officer at San Jose State, discusses how the school adapted a course for use in a blended MOOC. The Rise of MOOCs… What does it mean for higher education? Watch video: Cathy Sandeen, VP of education attainment and innovation at ACE, talks about the potential of MOOCs to increase the number of Americans gaining a post-secondary degree. cMOOCs: Putting Collaboration First- Alternative MOOC models are fostering creativity and collaboration with peers. How to Convert a Class Into a MOOC- The sheer size and diversity of the student body in a MOOC require a new approach to teaching. C-Level- The role of MOOCs in learner-initiated learning. MOOC News & Analysis- Georgia Tech's MOOC Degree

Read the full text - download available. Issue is MOOC as a "tool" for educators and learners, not as an end in itself - so assessment strategies must be above and beyond test scores, satisfaction and completion rates.

Don't get seduced by retention/persistence rates - it's about the design principles, stupid!

The purpose of this document is two-fold: - to offer an online history of the development of the Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) - to use that history to describe major elements of a MOOC Each chapter of this guide looks at one of the first MOOCs and some early influences. It contains these parts: - a description of the MOOC, what it did, and what was learned - a description of the element of MOOC theory learned in the offering of the course - practical tools that can be used to develop that aspect of a MOOC - practical tips on how to be successful Contribute to this Book You are invited to contribute. If you participated in a MOOC, add a paragraph describing your experience (you can sign your name to it, so we know it's a personal story). If you know of resources or can add information about an element of MOOC theory, add to or edit the text that already exists. If you know of tools, provide a link to the tool, a short description, and your assessment of the tool. If you have a tip, add the tip. In order to participate, please email or message your contact details, and we'll you to the list of people who can edit pages. Send your request to stephen@downes.ca

A terrific checklist for anyone looking to "build" a course: 1. Plan for 30 minutes 2. Develop content without technology (clarify goals, assumptions about students, objectives, assessments, learning outcome artifacts, sequencing, validation) 3. Implement your content using technology (inc prep to evaluate the efficacy of your course) 4. Pilot with your target audience

Includes codes/policies, case studies, assessment guide for departments and other institutions to start their own plan of action in promoting integrity on campus, calendar of events, resource database

Great article (published online 2010) with easy access to various components of each method: description, indications when to use it, contra-indications, special precautions, notes

Find the free stuff here - free Online Student Centers; Companion Sites; eLibraries; Online Writing, Assessment and Skill sites as well as video tool kids

Professor Jim Taylor, from the University of Southern Queensland, points out that the OER university will create a parallel learning universe to augment and add value to traditional models of delivery through open collaboration networks. "This is not theoretical speculation, it is entirely viable." said Jim Taylor. In this keynote address, Jim: Refers to the "gales of creative destruction" associated with technological change where old industry can be swept away and replaced by new ones. However, the OER university concept provides opportunities for "creative construction" for universities in a digital age. Demonstrates that conventional supply of education using traditional delivery methods will not the meet the demands for access to higher education. Consider, for example: the need for 18 million new teachers the doubling of post-secondary students in the next decade the need to build roughly one new university per week in India alone to meet the future demand for learning. Points out that we already have a critical mass of open access materials, but we don't have open curriculum, open student support, open assessment and open accreditation. Indicates that the OER university concept will provide a stairway to credible credentials based soley on OER.

he OER university is a virtual collaboration of like-minded institutions [Australia, New Zealand, Canada] committed to creating flexible pathways for OER learners to gain formal academic credit. The OER university aims to provide free learning to all students worldwide using OER learning materials with pathways to gain credible qualifications from recognised education institutions. It is rooted in the community service and outreach mission to develop a parallel learning universe to augment and add value to traditional delivery systems in post-secondary education. Through the community service mission of participating institutions we will open pathways for OER learners to earn formal academic credit and pay reduced fees for assessment and credit.

BadgeKit to create, design, assess and issue badges that easily move to the Mozilla Backpack - must download the code from GitHub and implement it on our own server

Article by Marc Parry on Unlocking the Gates (Princeton University Press), a new book by Taylor Walsh, is a research analyst with Ithaka S+R, the research division of the nonprofit Ithaka consulting group, which supported the project together with the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.

see esp page 7 re hating school since bored