My primary reason for signing up for ocTEL was because I wanted to experience a cMOOC. I have tried to get along with this format before, but have always dropped out quite early, overwhelmed by the quantity of material and the unstructured nature of the ‘course’.
I suspect that this is because my existing PLN is well developed and largely meets my CPD needs. It is well focused for my interests, but I wonder if I am in danger of not hearing alternative voices/ideas.
In contrast with my previous experience of cMOOCs, I’ve really enjoyed a couple of xMOOCs that I’ve taken. On reflection, this may have been because I went into the cMOOCs in an exploratory way – let’s see what this is about – rather than with a learning aim in mind, whereas I joined the xMOOCs because I was interested in the specific content. So this time I will follow the advice “Set your goals, so that they may guide your path” and then try to be more structured in my engagement.
I have decided to take as the focus of my study in ocTEL, my ‘big question’:
In relation to technology enhanced learning in higher education, what is ‘enhanced’ and how do we know?
This question is addressed specifically in a recent paper by by Kirkwood & Price (http://dx.doi.org/doi:10.1080/17439884.2013.770404), but I think it also provides a good framework for general reflection.
And this makes my ‘small question’:
What is a cMOOC and how does it work?
E for Enhancing 
Good luck with ocTEL! I’m trying to engage as both a tutor and a participant. Last year I was a tutor but only really got involved with the two weeks I was ‘teaching’ (moderating?). I’m also hoping to experience a cMOOC properly, although already I feel a little overwhelmed with the different number of spaces in which we can interact. I’ve seen requests for LinkedIn, Facebook and Google+ groups, plus there’s Twitter, blogs etc.
I’ve completed three xMOOCs and whilst I enjoyed them, I found the discussion was mainly between participants and moderators rather than between participants.
Thanks, Julie. I hope you enjoy it too.
The current xMOOC that I’m working on (The Analytics Edge from EdX – https://www.edx.org/course/mitx/mitx-15-071x-analytics-edge-1416) includes quite a lot of helpful discussion amongst participants, mostly focused on specific activities/learning.
One really good aspect of this course is an online competition (http://www.kaggle.com/c/the-analytics-edge-mit-15-071x) where we use the skills we’ve learnt so far to address an analytic problem. This has resulted in lots of participant discussion – in fact the moderators are not active on the kaggle forums at all – and lots of learning.
Participating in the competition has been great for consolidating what I’ve learnt up till now – both the practical skills and the underlying theory. And I’ve found it really challenging and enjoyable.