My First MOOC!

This week I signed up for my first MOOC aka  “massively open online course”. The course, Instructional Ideas and Technology Tools for Online Success, is both open enrollment and cohort based with a start and an end date - not to mention free. As of today I am learning along with over 1800 others from Dr. Curtis Bonk who is an expert in course design and how people learn. Dr.Bonk not only designed the course but has also provided quite a bit of the content where learners also contribute and act as teachers. Using the tools within the course, along with social media outside the course, we are encouraged to collaborate with our classmates through the sharing of our own experiences, ideas, thoughts, and resources.The sheer number of students is overwhelming but we are able to choose how to connect and share what we are learning with others. The course is delivered using CourseSites by Blackboard which is a free, hosted online course creation service available to any educator who wants to use it. Using the latest Blackboard technology this course is also demonstrating the capabilities of Blackboard with regards to course design and effective collaboration.

I will be posting my thoughts and what I am learning over the next 5 weeks. Registration ends on 4-30 so it’s not too late to join me on the journey!