THE MOOC DIARIES

One big question surrounding MOOCs is whether they are simply a trend, and so soon to die out, or a serious online education game changer. It does not seem that long ago that MOOC was just a funny sound. The Horizon Report (Johnson et al, 2013) admits the topic of MOOCs – arguably a worldwide phenomenon now "was hardly a thought bubble during the discussions for the NMC Horizon Report: 2012 Higher Education Edition" (p.11).  

Last year, I signed up for a Game Theory MOOC course through Coursera, but barely even lurked. The quality of the course was fine, as was the modularized content. The topic itself was of general interest to me, but not enough to do more than lurk briefly in the first module and then never return. I did remain somewhat connect to the highly helpful and informative e-mail updates on the course that continued to arrive regularly.

This spring, I am registered in Fanshawe College’s Applied Sustainability MOOC. This MOOC interests me on a number of levels, and so I intend to participate as fully as possible – starting with today’s (before the course has even officially started) introductory post.