Re: [eduMOOC] Digest for edumooc@googlegroups.com - 9 Messages in 6 Topics

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Scott Johnson

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Aug 3, 2011, 9:24:32 PM8/3/11
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Hi Anil,
Why does does the art of cultivating a personal learning network sound so much like a school assignment? I think people develop learning networks because they need something richer than a plan-for-success kind of life. Wonder what characteristics distinguish a personal learning network that serves career needs over a network that our deeper learning needs?
Scott

On Tue, Aug 2, 2011 at 8:57 PM, <edumooc...@googlegroups.com> wrote:

Group: http://groups.google.com/group/edumooc/topics

    Scott HJ <scot...@gmail.com> Aug 02 08:04AM -0700 ^
     
    Hi Anita,
    Sorry to be late here. Figures on the high drop out rates among
    distance students are out there but not publicised. My experience has
    been institutions do not understand my needs as an online student and
    don't know that they should care (there are a few exceptions). This is
    a very complex issue and here's some reading I've found:
     
    >Student Retention in Distance Learning: Why do Students Drop Out?
    http://www.distancestudies.com/article.cfm?artid=6997
     
    Taking Student Retention Seriously
    Vincent Tinto
    Syracuse University
    http://www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/fsd/c2006/docs/takingretentionseriously.pdf
     
    “Conditions for Student Retention
    Five conditions stand out as supportive of retention, namely
    expectation, advice, support, involvement, and learning.
     
    First, students are more likely to persist and graduate in settings
    that expect
    them to succeed.
     
    Second, students are more likely to persist and graduate in settings
    that provide clear and consistent information about institutional
    requirements and effective advising about the choices students have to
    make regarding their programs of study and future career goals.
     
    Third, students are more likely to persist and graduate in settings
    that provide academic, social, and personal support.
     
    Fourth, students are more likely to persist and graduate in settings
    that involve them as valued members of the institution. The frequency
    and quality of contact with faculty, staff, and other students is an
    important independent predictor of student persistence.
     
    Fifth, and most importantly, students are more likely to persist and
    graduate in settings that foster learning. Learning has always been
    the key to student retention. Students who learn are students who
    stay. Institutions that are successful in building settings that
    educate their students are successful in retaining their students.
    Again, involvement seems to be the key. Students who are actively
    involved in learning, that is who spend more time on task especially
    with others, are more likely to learn and, in turn, more likely to
    stay.”<
     
     
     
     
    On Jul 5, 5:40 am, Anita Crawley <acraw...@comcast.net> wrote:

     

    Maryanne LeGrow <maryann...@gmail.com> Aug 02 09:59AM -0700 ^
     
    Anita,
     
    You might be interested in a study of student retention and completion
    related to prior learning assessment (i.e., credit evaluation of
    college level knowledge that students have gained outside the formal
    higher education classroom). It's online at
    http://www.cael.org/publications/article.php?category_id=3 (title is
    "Fueling the Race" but there are other retention-focused papers
    available as well).
     
    Maryanne
     

     

    Rebecca <rjh...@gmail.com> Aug 02 06:51PM -0700 ^
     
    Hi Anita,
     
    Sadly, there is no economic incentive for institutions to have
    students succeed with distance ed. Most of those institutions charge
    tuition up-front - they get paid regardless of whether the student
    succeeds. In some cases, they even make more money off of students
    that fail than those that succeed. I blogged about this issue about a
    year ago here: http://rjh.goingeast.ca/2010/06/25/the-conflicting-motivations-of-online-schools-and-student-success/.
     
    The only motivation of the institutions is reducing costs and making
    more money. They spend money on marketing to get more students rather
    than spending it on quality. It is sad, but until their is economic
    incentives for them to change, it is likely they won't.
     
    Cheers,
    Rebecca

     

    Rebecca <rjh...@gmail.com> Aug 02 06:45PM -0700 ^
     
    Hi all,
     
    I just posted a list to my blog on various ways I cultivate my PLN
    (http://rjh.goingeast.ca/2011/08/03/cultivating-my-personal-learning-
    network-edumooc/) including blogging, twitter chats, twitter hash
    tags, and outreach.
     
    How do you cultivate your personal learning network?
     
    I'm looking forward to sharing at Jeff's MOOC hangout tomorrow!
     
    Cheers,
    Rebecca

     

    Jeff Lebow <jeff...@gmail.com> Aug 02 03:58PM -0700 ^
     
    Hello EduMOOCers,
     
    We'll be MOOCasting again on Aug. 3 1400GMT global times: http://bit.ly/ru7qBq
    Video stream and text chat at: http://edumooc2011.blogspot.com/p/moocast-studio.html
     
    All are welcome to join in the conversation. We'll be using Google+
    Hangout again and once we've started, the 'join hangout' link can be
    found on my G+ profile page at: http://bit.ly/rr73Nv If the 'join
    link' is not there, we will also be posting it in the text chat room.
     
    We'll be talking about our PLN's (this week's topic) and how they
    converge with MOOC's, but as with previous MOOCasts, this will be an
    open-ended opportunity to share resources, ideas, and feedback about
    any topics of interest. Archives from past MOOCasts can be found at:
    http://edumooc2011.blogspot.com/search/label/moocasts
     
    Thanks,
    Jeff

     

    "Jose I. Icaza" <jos...@gmail.com> Aug 02 01:40PM -0700 ^
     
    In a blog post titled "How can be make education as open as the open web"?
     
    (
    http://new.hastac.org/blogs/cathy-davidson/how-can-we-make-education-open-open-web
    ),
     
    Cathy Davidson from [HASTAC] asks readers to transform Tim Berners-Lee
    "Nine Principles for an Open Web" to same nine principles for an open
    education. Berners-Lee developed these principles while he was designing
    what would become the World Wide Web. I took the challenge using part of
    Ackoff''s Idealized Design process.
     
    I copy here my transformation of the first principle:
     
    *Berners-Lee:* Remote Access Across Networks - being able to find
    information anywhere, anytime
    *Transformation:* Being able to find OERs from anyplace, anytime, just in
    time...
     
    *The ideal:* I must be able to either pose a question, state a concern,
    define a problem, or specify a project I would like to undertake - and be
    directed to the best set of OERs that help me answer my question or concern,
    solve the problem or carry out the project, all of that either alone or with
    others. Of course I would also need to state the context in which that
    question, concern etc. are relevant. An OER may be a digital object, or
    another human being whose expertise is known to the system, including the
    evolving students or users of the system.
     
    *The real:* Currently, OERs are distributed in myriad incompatible
    repositories, each using different metadata, and even within one repository
    OERs are not easily found given context, concern, question, problem or
    project - i.e., *by what matters to the user*. The titles of the objects or
    even the pretended Outcomes are not enough. Some OERs are either too big or
    too small for my current needs. Humans are not considered OERs and state
    their metadata in widely incompatible formats - how many personal Profiles
    do you have on the web?. I must search myself the OER universe; nobody or
    no system directs me to the best set of OERs that satisfy my needs.
     
    For the other principles and a brief descripion of Idealized Design, please
    see
    "Berners-Lee principles applied to Open Education"
    http://new.hastac.org/blogs/cathy-davidson/how-can-we-make-education-open-open-web#comment-18040
     
    --jose

     

    Lisa M Lane <lisah...@gmail.com> Aug 02 09:27AM -0700 ^
     
    The "neutral ground" approach, however, might encourage the portrayal
    of MOOCs as being nebulous and ungrounded.
     
    I prefer to focus on the "C" -- it is a course, designed by one or
    more instructors. Whether there are set readings or activities, there
    are always two factors -- an organizer and a set period of time for
    the course. If it lacks these, it's a learning community instead.
     
    Lisa
     

     

    Scott HJ <scot...@gmail.com> Aug 02 12:06PM -0700 ^
     
    Every time I mention the word "course" in relation to MOOCs there's
    always an argument so I try to avoid the c word. This is new ground
    and we are bound to have a certain amount of confusion over taking an
    old term that is perceived to be well understood and applying it a new
    activity.
     
    Verónica Vázquez Zentella covered this a bit in her blog <http://
    consaboreducativo.blogspot.com/2011/01/problem-with-free.html> on what
    "free" meant and it might be useful declare which aspects of a course
    appear in a MOOC?
     
    Purpose is always declared in the title and resides in the published
    content--regardless if it is expected/encouraged that user generated
    content will emerge, there is alway initial content.
     
    Design is evident in the ordered progression of topics contained
    within a fixed period.
     
    Place exists at first and a home site acts as a portal to the
    activities.
     
    A MOOC is informed by a philosophy of learning that may be in dispute
    as to its identity as a "theory" but nonetheless feeds the conception
    and operation of the activities within a MOOC.
     
    A MOOC can be taken for credit.
     
    What other aspects of course-ness are covered by a MOOC?
     
    Scott
     

     


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