I recently presented at the International Society for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (ISSOTL) and Tertiary Education Research New Zealand (TERNZ) conferences on my experience with connectivist, massive open online courses (MOOCs). The experiment with setting up and facilitating a mini open online component (mooc) of a course turned into a “connectivist disconnect.”

References:

Datt, A. (2014). The Connectivist Disconnect. Paper presented at Tertiary Education Research in New Zealand (TERNZ), Auckland, New Zealand. 26 November – 28 November 2014. [Online]
Datt, A. K. (2014). Casting a connectivist stone to generate networking ripples-cMOOCs and elearning professional development. Paper presented at International Society for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Conference, Quebec City, Canada. 22 October – 25 October 2014. Nurturing Passion and Creativity in Teaching and Learning. [Online]

Sometimes we are asked to choose between innovation and risk management. Doesn’t all innovation carry risk? Risks can be managed but if we become overly risk averse then there will be no or little incentive to innovate. Having a conversation about a novel approach to teaching can be frustrating – my plans on implementing a mini open online component (mooc) of the Postgraduate paper on elearning ACADPRAC 703 hasn’t exactly ammased cheer leaders. The open course is not considered a core business so getting inhouse IT support is unlikely. After considering the risks outlined to me (which are reasonable) e.g. server crashes due to too many users, slow response times, inaccessible content and enrolment issues, I have decided to offer the mooc using Google suite.

After the rigmarole of GSuite sign ups, we had a good first run of the pilot version. Important lessons from this experiential offer:
>> Choose a platform or technology that is user friendly, intuitive and/or participants are familar with.
>> Ensure a critical mass for ongoing interaction. Though a ‘mini’ offer, open courses do need a critical mass to ensure ongoing engagement.
>> Never hesitate to jump in to facilitate discussions if interest is waning. A lot to learn still.