A few years ago, I participated in a Massive Open Online Course (an educational technology MOOC: #etmooc). The MOOC was organized and run by none other than your OLTD 505 professor, Dr. Alec Couros. I believe there were well over a thousand participants (Alec, feel free to correct me here), and participants registered from all over the world. It was truly an enlightening and transformative experience. I was able to gain a global perspective on education, and yet it became evident that education is fundamentally education, no matter where in the world it occurs.
At first, I filled the role of an #etmooc lurker, and I must say, I filled this role masterfully. However, Alec had managed to enlist the assistance of many ‘co-conspirators’ to help with the course, and through regular encouragement and support, #etmooc participants moved from being lurkers to actively engaging and learning, and thereby supporting the learning of others.
Personally, I developed some really great connections with educators, and these connections continue to this day. For example, when I had to deal with a disclosure by a student, I was able to get expert advice from an Alberta participant - I actually created the following Haiku Deck as a result of our discussions.
Through The Noise - Created with Haiku Deck, presentation software that inspires
As a result of #etmooc, I also received some terrific advice with regard to blended learning from a participant who works as a technology coordinator in California. However, although there were many, many wonderful connections, I’d like to note one specific connection relevant to this course. I was lucky enough to connect with a philosophy professor at UBC, Christina Hendricks (see about Christina here). Christina joined #etmooc with some online experience, but without realizing the true benefit of a Personal Learning Network (PLN). Like me, Christina was tentative at first; however, she truly soaked up all of Alec’s ‘lessons’. Christina guided herself, with the assistance of Alec and others, to truly exemplify what open education is all about. In fact, Christina knows so much about open education that she is able to provide expert guidance and insight to others - via her networks that exist as a result of #etmooc (i.e., via Twitter, Google+, Wordpress, etc.), and by way of her online and in-person presentations. Christina has truly shown us how to learn in the open!
Below is a tweet referring to Christina’s blog What is Open Education?; a blog representative of learning which may not have occurred or become visible if Alec hadn’t brought this diverse group of people together to connect and learn … all possible because of the Internet and the World Wide Web… a true example of OPEN EDUCATION.
A terrific blog by @clhendricksbc, an #etmooc participant inspired by @courosa: What is open education? http://t.co/xFlY6qYbZw #oltd #opened
— Fenella Olynick (@folynick) May 13, 2015
“We all decided to walk through the same door on the Internet so we could think together.”
#etmooc