#CFHE12 How do I leverage the "massive" part of the MOOC?

I am really enjoying the speakers each week and appreciate the content and resources.  One of my goals is to figure out how to leverage the "massive" part of the MOOC. I am open to suggestions.  Here are some of my strategies:

1. I think I have figured out how to connect my blog to the course and have started to post some blog messages of my own.
2. I want to respond to some blog posts of others that appear in the course newsletter.
3. I have downloaded TweetDeck at the suggestion of my colleague, Penny Kuckkahn. This has helped me view just the tweets from the course. 
4. I'd like to submit my own Tweets.

I listened to the informal discussion by the course facilitators last Friday.  It was interesting to understand the rational for offering some many different ways to access and interact.  The idea is to offer all these options so participants can chose the one(s) they are most comfortable in using.  Caroline Haythornthwaite will be speaking on Thursday. In her paper SOCIAL NETWORKS AND INTERNET CONNECTIVITY EFFECTS she explorers different characteristics of social networking ties and the impact on group interaction.

FridayLive! Second #CFHE12 MOOC follow up

FridayLive! Second #CFHE 12 MOOC follow up
My notes from the October 26th sMOOChers (Smart MOOCs Higher Education Research Subgroup) midterm conversation about #CFHE12.

Nan Zingrone - Atlantic University coined this phrase in the chat “ loveless Moocs (xMoocs) have no discussion in them.”  Nan credits Nellie Deutsch of Integrating-Technology For Active Online Learners (www.integrating-technology.org) for the term loveless in reference courses with lectures plus exams only. “ No chance for participants to build relationship in loveless Moocs.”

We had a good discussion about the synchronous and asynchronous elements of the MOOC, who was using which ones and why.  We also talked about building community and different ways to accomplish this.

Priscilla Stadler persistently asked about how best to characterize MOOC pedagogy.  I’m not sure we really answered this question.

A summary of some of the MOOC tips, observations, and recommendations to help others learned as shared in the text chat.

• Nan Zingrone - Atlantic University:i get turned off by the volume of the tweet feed; I have subscribed only to the introductions that I'm responded to, and otherwise it's using the Newsletter to remind me of what I'm interested in and where that can be found
• Ilene Frank - The presentations have been eye-opening for me! One that Ilene recommended, October 22 session with Debra Quazzo
• Andrea:Match content to learning outcomes that are stated on the Contents page.
• Dale Parker:I have found resources on there that are useful ie the blended learning toolkit and some sites like Open Culture that I will share with other faculty and students
• Steve Gilbert, TLT Group:IF: finding most recent webinars with $ focus "awakening!" - helpful.
• Molly Baker:Is the role of the leaders of a MOOC to facilitate process and content is created by the community? Or is content created and communicated as a structure for the course and the dialog is directed at that structure/content?
• Henry Merrill:Mooc concierge? If my purpose in participating in a MOOC is to get immersed in the content , then I need to dive in. If I'm wanting to skim it for best practices and new ideas, then a concierge would be helpful.
• Nan Zingrone - Atlantic University:sort of like categorizing stuff up in Scoop.it or Pinterest, that's curation. Perhaps when a MOOC is set up, at least the loaded materials can also have click-offs leading you there in a table of contents, or at the learning objectives spot for each of use
• Steve Gilbert, TLT Group:HOSTS for beginners
• Ilene Frank:Teaching undergrads to develop a personal learning network can be one of the purposes.
• Nan Zingrone - Atlantic University:that's what Moodle for Teachers in www.integrating-technology.org training courses have done for me: connected me to online educators all over the world, and then they become my PLN with a really rich cultural dimension to it (I've been taking these Moodle training courses on and off for several years, some of which were MOOCs)

Goals for the second half of the MOOC. Results to be shared During FridayLive on November 30th, 2:00 pm ET Third sMOOChers Cohort Follow UP Register for free here.

• Beth Dailey:I want to try to leverage the massive part of the course. This past week I tried expanding my social networking skills within the #CFHE12 MOOC by connecting my own blog, twitter account & Google Reader. Next week I plan to learn how to use TweetDeck.

• Dale Parker: I just see this as a cultural revolution and I just want to watch and learn about the changes.
• Nan Zingrone - Atlantic University:I love the MOOC, and I love the sMOOChers add on, but I'm building Moodle training for my faculty and students at our online grad school at the minute so can't be anything but verbal in the webinars I can get into; but I owe you guys and will try to help in the future. Maybe Nan would be willing to further elaborate on this comment: Nan Zingrone - Atlantic University:but if you read and respond to introductions or blog posts you can get a conversation going and that helps build community, so that's what I've been doing.
• moy@sepche.org: This is Beth again. Perhaps keep a running list of the roles that faculty would play in a MOOC and the skills they would need to play the roles effectively. Beth agreed to synthesize, summarize list of good/useful intermediate roles for faculty making MOOCs more useful to learners, colleague?
• Priscilla Stadler: I'm interested in the possible value of MOOCs for teaching and learning at an urban community college (LaGuardia /CUNY)
• Henry Merrill: I'm going to register for the Ed Future MOOC - a session to reflect on that experience after it closes might be be useful?

sMOOChers: Smart MOOCs Higher Education Research Subgroup [#CFHE12}

The TLT Group is offering an opportunity to explore a MOOC and talk together not only about the topic but about the MOOC experience. The MOOC we have chosen is the "Current/Future State of Higher Education" (#CFHE12).  This is the second MOOC that I have participated in and one of my goals is to better understand and leverage the social networking aspects of the course.
If you want to pop into the sMOOChers discussion please join us later today, 2:00 pm ET at tlt.gs/login.  It's midterm in CFHE12 and here is what we will be discussing.

Dale Parker will summarize and evaluate our 3 categories for reflection as we participate in CFHE12 and comment on implications for adult learners: Process:  Reflection about Experience (about our shared experience in a MOOC as it happens - focus on process) Content:  Adaptation and Application of Resources (to our own institutions and individual situations of the information and resources provided by the MOOC - focus on content) Support:  Develop New Roles (to help students learn from MOOCs) Nancy Smulsky will review and extend her comments about the quality and variety of resources within CFHE12, the effectiveness (or lack) of interactivities within CFHE12, and the significance of being unable to view/use MOOC resources prior to the week for which they are designated.   Jane Harris will be unable to join us live on Oct 26, but will share some of her notes and list of recommended readings based on her experience within CFHE12 (and elsewhere). Steve Gilbert will invite more discussion about the role of scheduled synchronous events within MOOCs and other online educational activities.  He will ask participants about their own experiences with synchronous online elements within larger courses, MOOCs, programs, including these and other questions: ·       In what ways are scheduled synchronous online sessions helpful to learners who prefer or need more external structure and guidance for their own learning, even when those learners are highly motivated to master the course content?  In what ways does it matter, if at all, if the synchronous sessions are required, recommended, or purely optional? ·        In what ways do scheduled synchronous online sessions deter learners who prefer or need flexible schedules from participating in online courses, MOOCs, et al. ? In what ways does it matter, if at all, if the synchronous sessions are required, recommended, or purely optional? ·       In what ways does it matter, if at all,  which media are used and which kinds of equipment are required for synchronous sessions?  Pure text?  Multi-way voice via telephone?  Webinar?  Two-way video?  Etc. We will also discuss additional plans and questions to enhance our participation in the last weeks of CFHE12 and guide our preparation of final comments during FridayLive!  November 30, 2012.  NOTE:  Jane Marcus offered to prepare some notes and comments - based on her recent observations of MOOC-like developments at Stanford and elsewhere -  in time for the final session.