The MOOC Diaries

Fanshawe College MOOC - Applied Sustainability Module 1

9am EST
The introductory video was short and informative, as was the corresponding written version. The written version also guided me to add a pin to a ZeeMap, but I have yet to figure out how that system works so will opt out of adding my location for now. The introduction also mentioned a link to module one, but I cannot seem to find it. I will try again later today.

What I did accomplish is a plan for my “Platinum Project”. The MOOC has four levels of completion: green, silver, gold and platinum. Currently, I am aiming at the platinum level (but will be happy with gold or silver). One of the options for the Platinum Project is to review an “eco” video game. I am going to propose Amerizone (by Microids)  - although designed with many other objectives in mind, I suspect environmental issues will arise in the game. I will post my idea and see what kind of feedback I get.

7:30pm
Module 1 is now available. There are three short videos (created by the makers of the MOOC) to watch, a few articles to read, and some artefacts (interactive online activities) such as an online tool for measuring you “water footprint”.  I was completely not systematic and tended to do whatever appealed to me. The – likely unsurprising result is that I only managed 50% on the quiz. For Module 2, I will follow the directions.

Action Research: One Moment Please

Chronos and kairos are classical Greek concepts perhaps more often associated with rhetoric. Chronos (after the Greek god of time) likely is the more familiar of the two terms, as it arises to this day in terms such as chronological and chronometer. Chronos thus is concerned with ongoing time, and measuring time. Kairos is a slightly more elusive concept. “Kairos, the qualitative aspect of time, is defined as the right moment, the opportune or due measure”(Artemeva, 2008, p.157).

During a lecture on these notions, I recall Carleton University assistant professor Natasha Artemeva used a unique metaphor to help illustrate the concept of kairos: the moment when the tip of an arrow meets the intersection of threads in the weave of a fabric. As I read Hadfield and Carson, these classical concepts came to mind, particularly in relation to the term moment and its significance in action research in each of the articles.

Simply stated, Hadfield’s concern is with an action research typology he sees as placing him in the role of second-order researcher (2012, p.575). His elegant solution is “to consider technical practical and emancipatory not as separate forms of action research but as ‘moments’ that could occur within any given programme” (p. 576).

As Hinchey point out, “teachers do this kind of analytical thinking all the time” (Hinchey p. 5). What action research does is take this tendency of teacher and make it a more intentional and structured entity “to formalizing the process” (p.5). In this way “the action research process focuses the participant’s attention to one area for an extended period of time” (p.5). Through extrapolation, I might suppose that what Hinchey is suggesting is that the teaching moment thus gets more than a moment’s attention.

 

Carson (2001) documents the workings of his “collaborative action research group” (p.168) in four action research moments.  Specifically, “the four moments in action research described…are examples of new insight into the meaning of developing a peace practice in the everyday life world of [their] work.” (p. 173-174). By focusing on moment, Carson’s group was afforded the opportunity to “reflect on the relationships between these different moments…to support the development of more critically aware practitioners”(Hadfield, 2012 p.576). Action research seemed a viable approach as “traditional educational research cannot tell any individual teacher what exactly will work best in a particular classroom at a particular moment” (Hinchey p.2). Carson’s group very much needed a research approach that would allow examination of moments.

What I thus draw from Hinchey, Hadfield and Carson is a notion that action research is not simply concerned with chronos, but with kairos.  “Action and reflection have made this possible”(Carson, 2001, p. 173-174). Action research involving reflection upon key moments makes this possible.

References

Artemeva, N. (2008). A time to speak, a time to act: A rhetorical genre analysis of a novice engineer’s calculated risk taking. Artemeva, N. & Freedman, A. (eds.) Rhetorical Genre Studies and Beyond. Winnepeg, Manitoba: Inkshed. Retreived from: http://http-server.carleton.ca/~nartemev/Artemeva%20&%20Freedman%20Rhetorical%20Genre%20Studies%20and%20beyond.pdf

Carson, T. (1990). What kind of knowing is critical action research? Theory into Practice, 29(3), 167-193.

Hadfield, R. (2012). Becoming critical again: Reconnecting critical social theory with the practice of action research. Educational Action Research 20(4), 571–585.




Hinchey, P. (2008). Action research Primer. New York: Peter Lang.

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.

Flipping School

Coursera

http://www.ted.com/talks/daphne_koller_what_we_re_learning_from_online_education.html

Marking Education

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Humans are by nature social creatures. Humans are also naturally curious. Hence, the nosy neighbour, gossip, reality T.V., and those brightly coloured magazines in the racks bracketing the grocery checkout line. Our schools, however, are oddly anti-social. They are predominantly designed for individuals to work individually on their individual assignment or test. Talking is often a no-no in class, and can get you kicked out of a test.

Web 2.0 and social media have evolved (relatively quickly) the Internet from a largely individual-receives-information-from-computer model to an intensely dynamic interactive online world where everyone is free – and often encouraged  - to participate. Schools, on the other hand, tend still to follow and archaic system dating back to the industrial revolution: an “expert” stands at the front of the room and imparts knowledge to the others in the room. The emphasis in this model is telling rather than teaching and learning.

This “telling” model dominates largely because it represents a teaching style you, your children, your parents, and even your parents ‘ parents most likely experienced. This is the model we know best, and so we have gotten in the habit of believing that being lectured at is the way to learn. Humans are creatures of habit, proven best again in an academic settings where students – even post-secondary where seating is typically self-selected – will sit in the same spot (or general area) for the entire semester. What if we gave up the habit of being told and regained the habit of asking?

Many theorists and great thinkers (Lev Vygotsky perhaps most notably) have studied young children in order to explore how humans learn.  We can do the same. Just watch a child interact with her or his environment; invariably (whether spoken or acted upon) their interaction is one of inquiry, exploration and discovery: Who is this? What is going on? How did that happen? Where are they going? And (worryingly) Can I eat this?

Case study: At the age of three, my brother’s vocabulary shifted from that typical for boys his age to one word: “Why?”. Regardless of the complexity and depth and completeness of the answer he was given, my brother’s invariable response was “Why ?”. My six-year old self found this perfectly natural, yet noticed adults were initially charmed yet ultimately annoyed by my brother’s quest to seek the answers to all in his universe. My parent’s frustrations came because they soon realized that not only did they not have all the answers, but even if they did there would always be more questions.

For many educators their relevance depends on their (perceived) role as expert, even though they too will never have all the answers.  In a telling model of education, questions are dangerous because the can undermine authority. In a telling model of education questions are often seen as best when contained within a Socratic system where questions may be asked ,  yet only as a means to reach the (known-by-the-expert) answer.

Curiosity is natural, and leads naturally to questions. This is how we learn. What if educators adopted the question mark as the symbol of education?  What if education dropped its preoccupation with experts trying to fill students’ heads with facts? What if education invovled inquiry and investigation and discovery leading to even more inquiry and investigation and discovery? What would we ask? What would we learn? Why?

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An Instructionist Walks Into a Zone of Proximal Development...

The School of Comparative Irrelevance

Where useless or impossible courses are given.

Mandate: To turn out scholars capable of endlessly increasing the number of unnecessary subjects.

Department of Tetrapyloctomy. This department of useless techniques has a preparatory function; its purpose is to inculcate a sense of irrelevance. Courses:

DUT0013 Tetrapyloctomy: The art of splitting hairs four ways

DUT0017 Potio-section: The art of slicing soup

DUT0019 Mechanical Avunculogratulation: Building machines for greeting uncles.

DUT0023 Pylocatabasis. The art of being saved by a hair.

Department of Adynata, or Impossibilia. The essence of the discipline is the comprehension of the underlying reasons for a thing's absurdity. Courses:

DOA9543 Morse syntax

DOA9654 History of Antarctic Agriculture

DOA9210 History of Easter Island Painting

DOA9191 Contemporary Sumerian Literature

DOA9123 Montessori Grading

DOA9444 Assyrio-Babylonian Philately

DOA9203 The Technology of the Wheel in Pre-Columbian Empires

DOA9111 The Phonetics of the Silent Film

DOA9876 Gypsy Urban Planning

DOA9321 Aztec Equitation

Department of Oxymoronics. Courses:

DOX1221 Tradition in Revolution

DOX3443 Democratic Oligarchy

DOX5665 Parmenidean Dynamics

DOX7887 Heraclitean Statics

DOX1001 Spartan Sybaritics

DOX2112 Tautological Dialectics

DOX4554 A Grammar of Solecisms

(Adapted from Umberto Eco’s novel ''Foucault's Pendulum''

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