May 2, 2014
My Week One in LT101
(originally posted at student56790.blogspot.com)
DS106 was soooo different than any other class I have been in. I’m used to kind of cruising through the first week or even more, but we had to jump right in and take control! I may like this whole control thing. I feel like I can do something with my school work instead of just going along for the ride.
You can see the conversation I had with other students on link to my work above.
You can also go to Zoe’s blog post to see how I had conversations with her and others about her ideas.
April 28, 2014
Learning In A Networked World: Week 1
Welcome to the first week of LT101: Learning in a Networked World. Please read this post in its entirety, and make sure to complete all assignments for week one by the end of the first week as listed in the syllabus. This week, we will focus on a few things:
- Getting an overview of what this class is about
- Looking at the differences between cMOOCs and xMOOCs
- Getting enrolled in a cMOOC and completing the first weeks assignments for that class
- Introducing yourself to other students
- Blogging about your experience in a cMOOC
What is Learning in a Networked World?
The goal of this class is to immerse you in different forms of networked learning that are emerging in our culture. I am purposefully not going to tell you a whole lot about it, as the goal of learning in our modern world is often to create self-directed learners. But much of this class will be delivered in a connectivist manner. So, as the first act of learning to be a self-directed learner, go find some sources that talk about connectivism in learning.
Some resources that will help you to start framing these ideas:
Gardner Campbell: A Personal CyberInfrastructure (short article to read)
Please take note of how Campbell discusses what it means to be creating your own spaces online. This will be foundational for your work this week.
What are cMOOCs and xMOOCs?
MOOCs are big news in the educational world. Massive Open Online Courses. They have been further divided into different types of MOOCs. While there are many different versions of how how to classify MOOCs, the most popular seems to be cMOOCs and xMOOCs. You can search around the Googles to see differences between the two, but Wikipedia may be a good place to start.
The first three weeks you will be working in a cMOOC. So it might be a good idea to get to know how to survive in one:
An Example of cMOOCs: Digital Storytelling 106
The cMOOC you will participate in over the next three weeks will be Digital Storytelling 106, or ds106 for short. It has been taught in several different versions over the years, but recently was released as a headless, self-paced course. We will work through at least the first three open modules together, and that work will form the template for how we will interact over the rest of the course. So go take a look at the Open DS106 course, start working, and make sure to complete Unit 1 before the end of the week.
Introduce Yourself to Other Students
For one of your first blog posts, please introduce yourself to other students. Make sure that it posts to the Student Work page and also post on Twitter using the #lt101 tag.
Weekly Assignment
For this week, create a blog post that contains the following facets (this post should be in addition to introducing yourself):
- Links to the work you created for ds106 Unit 1
- How is ds106 different from other classes you have taken in the past? What are the pros and cons of this method? (you can also include this as an extra paragraph on the post you create for DS106)
- Examples of interactions with other students (copy and paste or include links)
Grading Rubric
For learners that are participating for a grade, this will be the rubric you will graded on. The point of the grade is not to compete or to play “gotcha!” with technical details, but to tell you how close you have gotten to convincing me you understand this week’s content.
| Criteria | Target Description | Pts | Comments | Earned |
| Introduction | Introduction post goes beyond just who you are and what you do. | 10 | (instructor comments would go here) | |
| DS106 Work | DS106 Blog post touches on all points in the “Check List of Unit Summary. At least one video from a “Daily Create” is included. | 30 | (instructor comments would go here) | |
| Reflection | Blog post for DS106 or separate one includes a substantial answer for the two questions above. Post response indicates | 30 | (instructor comments would go here) | |
| Interaction | Links to interaction with multiple other students and/or copied and pasted interactions were included. These interactions are substantial additions to the conversations and not just basic “good work” or “I agree because _____” comments. | 20 | (instructor comments would go here) | |
| Total Points: | 100 | Grade: | ||
If you have any questions, please contact me or post them here.
April 28, 2014
Announcement: Student Work Sign-Up
For those that are ready to get working, the student work sign-up form is online. Make sure to read the Quick Start Guide and Syllabus before signing up. This will be the method for turning in assignments for LT101.
April 8, 2013
Complete List of Tags From Across The Network
Another way to bring community together is to create a system that bring tags together from across the community. This could allow users to connect with people or organizations that have similar interests, both academically and personally.
We have created a site-wide tags and category cloud that pulls all tags from every site on the installation into one page:
This is a work in progress, but the idea is to create other avenues for community building through the website.
April 8, 2013
Community Hubs For Instructors and Students
Community Hub Sites are sites that connect content from across the whole network into their own area around a specific theme. We have created one for our prototype:
A Domain of One’s One project has also created several examples. Here are a few examples:
Domain of One’s Own Faculty Initiative
The Bullet (student publication)
The general idea is that any type of student or faculty group can create a common online area and then populate their area with content from multiple users. This would be in addition to courses that are created on the system and the personal portfolios that the students, staff, and faculty also own.