According to The Chronicle of Higher Education,
What are MOOC’s?
MOOC’s are classes that are taught online to large numbers of students, with minimal involvement by professors. Typically, students watch short video lectures and complete assignments that are graded either by machines or by other students. That way a lone professor can support a class with hundreds of thousands of participants.
Why all the hype?
Advocates of MOOC’s have big ambitions, and that makes some college leaders nervous. They’re especially worried about having to compete with free courses from some of the world’s most exclusive universities. Of course, we still don’t know how much the courses will change the education landscape, and there are plenty of skeptics.
Webcast Viewing & Discussion
Please join us on Friday, February 1st from 10:00-11:30 a.m. in 143 McGaw Hall to view and to discuss together the first in a series of webcasts on Teaching Writing at Scale and Online. We’ll watch a pre-recorded webcast on Friday, “What does it mean to have a writing MOOC?”
The issue of MOOCs — and online learning in general — should be of importance to writing teachers and researchers, parents, rhetoricians, and administrators.
Michigan State University Department of Writing, Rhetoric and American Cultures
Webinar Series: Teaching Writing at Scale and Online
What can we learn about learning and teaching at scale and online? These are big questions in our field and we are thinking about them at MSU. Join us for three discovery webinars.
Hosted by:
Jeff Grabill, PhD, Chair,
Department of Writing, Rhetoric, & American Cultures, Michigan State University
Julie Lindquist, PhD, Director,
First-Year Writing, Michigan State University
Featuring:
Rebecca E. Burnett, PhD, Director of Writing and Communication, Georgia Institute of Technology
Scott DeWitt, PhD, Vice Chair of Rhetoric, Composition, and Literacy, Ohio State University
Kay Halasek, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of English, Ohio State University
Patricia James, Dean of Library, Technology and Distance Education, Mt. San Jacinto College
Denise Comer, PhD, Director of First Year Writing, Duke University
What does it mean to have a writing MOOC?
Jan 25, 2013 11 a.m.-noon eastern
Can writing be taught online and at scale? Should it? What are the pedagogical implications? Institutional and professional implications? By participating in this event you will hear the thoughts of some of the early MOOC experimenters with regard to the questions that frame the session. There will be opportunities to participate in the conversation on writing MOOCS that these sessions are designed to facilitate.
MOOCs as writing research platforms? What can we learn about learning?
Feb 22, 2013 11 a.m.-noon eastern
By participating in this discovery webinar you will hear the thoughts of some of the early MOOC experimenters with regard to how they are conceptualizing MOOCs as a platform for research. Particular emphasis in this conversation will be placed on the questions and concerns that participants have with regard to what we can understand about learning from MOOC use.
What does peer learning enable for teaching at scale and online?
March 22, 2013 11 a.m.-noon eastern
By participating in this webinar event you will hear the thoughts of some of the early MOOC experimenters with regard to what teaching writing at scale and online means for teaching, including issues of pedagogy, professional development, and labor issues. There will be opportunities to participate in the conversation on issues of teaching and teacher practice.
Register today at http:/tinyurl.com/MSUglobalWebinarSeries
D-WRD Background
Local D-WRD MOOC Webcast and discussion times:
- Friday, February 1st
- TBA
- TBA
- TBA
Suggested D-WRD Resources, for context:
- Thomas Friedman, NYT, Revolution Hits the Universities
- Responses, including Beth Rubin, Depaul
- Tamar Lewin, NYT, College of Future Could Be Come One, Come All
- Tamar Lewin, NYT, Students Rush to Web Classes, but Profits May Be Much Later
- Chronicle of Higher Ed.: What You Need to Know About MOOC’s
- EDUCAUSE, What Campus Leaders Need to Know About MOOCs
- * David Noble, Digital Diploma Mills: The Automation of Higher Education
- Andrew Feenberg, Distance Learning & Online Community
- nextrends, MOOC bibliography (PDF)
Platforms
- Coursera: MOOC course platform
- edX: Harvard, MIT, and Berkeley collaboration
- udacity: “audatious for you, the student.”
- Khan Academy: educational organization and a website
Questions? Ideas?
Contact Sarah Read or Michael Moore