Rethinking the “c” in MOOC

Aha!  I have had one of those Eureka moments and now I get it!  (Sometimes it takes me a  while to get with the program).    @courosa had it right from the beginning when he said in his first post about ETMOCC that the experience would be somewhere between a conversation and a course.  What does that look like?  That is our challenge and I truly believe that what we see unfolding is just that and for each of us it will  mean something different.

Academics (especially those of us with roots in science) love to label things and fit them into categories while in fact the thoughtful integration of educational technology and media into our teaching and learning “practices” allows us to do things we were not able to do before and to have experiences that we are not quite sure how to “experience” let alone  describe.

Let’s try to forget the categories – let’s try to forget the labels and debating whether or not this is a connectivist MOO-Course or some other kind of MOO-Course – this is not a COURSE and it is not even really what we would consider a traditional CONVERSATION.   What it IS is an experience that lies somewhere between that traditional version of a course and a traditional conversation – because it is happening in a space where we usually lurk and hoard – and now we are being challenged to collaborate and curate and filter and share.

Let’s try to forget the labels – I can not help but think that those of us participating in this “experience” are truly pioneers – just as our fore fathers were pioneers in physical spaces we are pioneers in this virtual space.

Let’s pause and reflect on the definition of pioneers: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/pioneer

pi·o·neer

[pahy-uh-neer] Show IPA

noun

1.

a person who is among those who first enter or settle a region, thus opening it for occupation and development by others.

2.

one who is first or among the earliest in any field of inquiry, enterprise, or progress: pioneers in cancer research.

3.

one of a group of foot soldiers detailed to make roads, dig intrenchments, etc., in advance of the main body.

4.

Ecology . an organism that successfully establishes itself in a barren area, thus starting an ecological cycle of life.

1. We are among the first to enter and settle in this space  – we are trying new tools (just check out what’s going on in Google+), going into spaces (blogs and google communities and twittersphere to name just a few) – thus opening them up for occupation and development by others

2. We are among the first or among the earliest in this field of inquiry (where the information is too big to know (David Weinberger) we are pioneers in the thoughtful use of educational technology tools and media (as Donald Clark so aptly describes in his TED Talk – pedagogy has changed more in the last 10 years than in the last 1000).

3. We are one of a group of “digital foot soldiers”  determined to make roads and dig intrenchments in advance of the main body of teachers and learners and administrators

I could write a lot lot more about this  – but –  my first meeting of the day beckons me.

There will be more to come about this – and for those of you who read this – what do you think the “c” in ET-MOOC is for you? How would you label  “somewhere between a course and a conversation”………………