Monthly Archives: October 2012

Reflection 10/22/12 – 10/26/12


Accomplishments:

  • Prof Dev
    • New MOOC called An Introduction to Interactive Programming in Python officially started this week.
      • Didn’t complete Rock-Paper-Scissors-Lizard-Spock assignment b/c of time
      • Having a hard time keeping up with the couse b/c of all of the other things that I have going on right now.
      • Meeting with Wade next Tuesday to see if I can get caught up
  • Fall ’12 Courses
    • IST 250
      • More edits
    • IST 402
      • Issues with the gradebook
  • Fall ’12 revisions/developments
    • IST 230 (Newcomer)
      • Greg has the app working, and we should have table 6 to show to Larry byThursday
    • IST 420 (Ocker)
        • Rosalie decided on using pdf’s of the readings for the course.
        • Checked in about what needs to be turned into pdf’s
    • IST 402 (Saab)
        • David is working on adding content
        • Met on Oct. 18 to talk about course piece by piece
          • Meeting spiraled into a work session
          • Decided that Peggy and I will go through the Modules and build the wiki based upon what David has given us and what we have built in ANGEL. First session is on Monday 10/22
            • Tons of questions based upon what we saw in the wiki today
            • Peggy wrote notes during the meeting
            • We’ll process and send a note out to David
        • Planning to meet on Oct. 26 – Cancelled to focus on course. Peggy and I put together a prototype in drupal
          • Chris will put together a prototype for a talent tree
          • Good meeting that will propel us forward.
          • Made more adjustments to the drupal site which is what we will use going forward. Need to work on navigation at the bottom of the page to eliminate the forum topics from showing.
  • Course Committees
    • IST 210 Committee meeting on 10/16 – Postponed
  • Spring ’13 Course Prep – Mapped out on my outlook calendar courses to work on so that I’m done by the first week in December. Going to be difficult since we have to go 1 section at a time. Plan has been in motion and seems to be working well. I finishe up the population of the sites early in the week. Then I contact the next courses instructors to start other courses.
    • IST 110
      • Sec 001 (Mahar)
        • Contacted on 9/27
        • Will use section 002 to populate
        • Received a note that is causing me to delay
        • Completed setting up my end of the course on 10/1
      • Sec 005 (Mike M) – Cancelled sections 2-4 and made 5-7
        • Contacted 9/27
        • Will use dev section to populate
        • Completed on 10/25 and sent out note to Mike
      • Sec 006 (Mary L)
        • Told about this by Amy S on 9/27
        • Added Mary L on 10/1 to dev section
        • Will use dev section to populate
      • Sec 007 (Jim F)
        • Contacted 9/27
        • Met Jim this week f2f on 10/9 to give him some background
        • Will use dev section to populate
    • IST 111S
      • Sec 001
        • Contacted Deirdre
          • She said to move Fall ’12 materials
          • Need to updated category weightings and then grading section of syllabus based upon her feedback (90% done)
    • IST 210
      • Sec 001 (Gary)
        • Contacted on 10/2 about the course
        • Completed setting up the Spring ’13 course space
      • Sec 002 (Fred)
        • Contacted on 10/2 about the course
    • IST 220 – Hyunjeong and Mike M are teaching in Spring
      • Sec 001 (Mike)
        • Contacted on 10/3 about the course
        • Completed setting up the Spring ’13 course space
      • Sec 002 (Hyunjeong)
        • Contacted on 10/3 about the course
    • IST 230
      • Sec 001
        • Contacted Larry, & he will populate his section
    • IST 240
      • Sec 001 (Fred F)
        • Contacted 9/27
        • Will use dev section to populate
        • Walked Fred through the course in the dev section on 10/1
        • Populated course on 10/1
        • Sent note to both Fred and Hal to follow up
      • Sec 002 (Hal S)
        • Contacted 9/27
        • Populated course on 10/17
    • IST 250
      • Sec 001
        • Populated on 10/22
        • Will meet with John on 11/2 to finalize
    • IST 260W
      • Sec 001
    • IST 295A
      • Sec 001
        • Populated based upon Spring ’12
        • Sent note to Lisa B on 10/22
    • IST 301
      • Sec 001
    • IST 302
      • Sec 001
        • Populated course with materials from Spring ’12 on 10/16
    • IST 402 TIE-
      • Sec 001
    • IST 421
      • Sec 001
        • Populated course by following plan that John and I worked out last Friday on 10/15
    • IST 440W – Filled up quickly, so opening a second section
      • Sec 001
      • Sec 002
    • IST 495
      • Sec 001

Ongoing Projects:

    • Updated google spreadsheet for Spring ’13 

Immediate Decisions / Issues:

    • None

Back Burner:

    • Gaming, Simulations, and Virtual World Research Committee

Important Dates:

  • WAH in AM (8-12) Dates: 10/15, 11/6, 11/19, 12/3, 12/17
  • October 15 – December 8 An Introduction to Interactive Programming in Python MOOC
  • October 18 Vacation 1 h (Simeon Parent-Teacher Conference)
  • October 19 Vacation 8 h
  • October 26 Vaca time leaving early (1.5 h)
  • Octobrer 29 Vacation time coming in late (2 h)
  • Nov 1 AM Sick time for Dental Appt

Reflection 10/15/12-10/19/12


Accomplishments:

  • Prof Dev
    • New MOOC called An Introduction to Interactive Programming in Python officially started this week.
      • Finished Lectures 1b and completed Quiz 1b this week.
      • Need to work on Rock-paper-scissors-lizard-Spock Assignment
  • Fall ’12 Courses
  • Fall ’12 revisions/developments
    • IST 230 (Newcomer)
      • Called Larry to get feedback on 10/15
      • Greg has the app working, and we should have table 6 to show to Larry by next Tuesday
    • IST 420 (Ocker)
        • Rosalie decided on using pdf’s of the readings for the course.
        • I’m going to check in on Monday 10/22 about what needs to be turned into pdf’s
    • IST 402 (Saab)
        • David is working on adding content
        • Met on Oct. 18 to talk about course piece by piece
          • Meeting spiraled into a work session
          • Decided that Peggy and I will go through the Modules and build the wiki based upon what David has given us and what we have built in ANGEL. First session is on Monday 10/22
        • Planning to meet on Oct. 26
          • Chris will put together a prototype for a talent tree
          • David may try to put together a prototype
  • Course Committees
    • IST 210 Committee meeting on 10/16
  • Spring ’13 Course Prep – Mapped out on my outlook calendar courses to work on so that I’m done by the first week in December. Going to be difficult since we have to go 1 section at a time. Plan has been in motion and seems to be working well. I finishe up the population of the sites early in the week. Then I contact the next courses instructors to start other courses.
    • IST 110
      • Sec 001 (Mahar)
        • Contacted on 9/27
        • Will use section 002 to populate
        • Received a note that is causing me to delay
        • Completed setting up my end of the course on 10/1
      • Sec 002 (Mike M) – Not sure what’s up, Section 005 showed up but one is not filled
        • Contacted 9/27
        • Will use dev section to populate
      • Sec 003 (Mary L)
        • Told about this by Amy S on 9/27
        • Added Mary L on 10/1 to dev section
        • Will use dev section to populate
      • Sec 004 (Jim F)
        • Contacted 9/27
        • Met Jim this week f2f on 10/9 to give him some background
        • Will use dev section to populate
    • IST 111S
      • Sec 001
        • Contacted Deirdre
          • She said to move Fall ’12 materials
          • Need to updated category weightings and then grading section of syllabus based upon her feedback (90% done)
    • IST 210
      • Sec 001 (Gary)
        • Contacted on 10/2 about the course
        • Completed setting up the Spring ’13 course space
      • Sec 002 (Fred)
        • Contacted on 10/2 about the course
    • IST 220 – Hyunjeong and Mike M are teaching in Spring
      • Sec 001 (Mike)
        • Contacted on 10/3 about the course
        • Completed setting up the Spring ’13 course space
      • Sec 002 (Hyunjeong)
        • Contacted on 10/3 about the course
    • IST 230
      • Sec 001
        • Contacted Larry, & he will populate his section
    • IST 240
      • Sec 001 (Fred F)
        • Contacted 9/27
        • Will use dev section to populate
        • Walked Fred through the course in the dev section on 10/1
        • Populated course on 10/1
        • Sent note to both Fred and Hal to follow up
      • Sec 002 (Hal S)
        • Contacted 9/27
        • Populated course on 10/17
    • IST 250
      • Sec 001
        • Contacted John O on 10/18 – replied that it was okay to populate and we will meet next weekn on 10/25 to discuss
    • IST 260W
      • Sec 001
    • IST 295A
      • Sec 001
        • Contacted Lisa B on 10/18 – replied that it was okay to populate based upon Spring ’12
    • IST 301
      • Sec 001
    • IST 302
      • Sec 001
        • Populated course with materials from Spring ’12 on 10/16
    • IST 402 TIE-
      • Sec 001
    • IST 421
      • Sec 001
        • Populate course by following plan that John and I worked out last Friday on 10/15
    • IST 440W – Filled up quickly, so opening a second section
      • Sec 001
      • Sec 002
    • IST 495
      • Sec 001

Ongoing Projects:

    • Updated google spreadsheet for Spring ’13 

Immediate Decisions / Issues:

    • None

Back Burner:

    • Gaming, Simulations, and Virtual World Research Committee

Important Dates:

  • WAH in AM (8-12) Dates: 10/15, 11/6, 11/19, 12/3, 12/17
  • October 15 – December 8 An Introduction to Interactive Programming in Python MOOC
  • October 19 Vacation 8 h
  • October 25 Vaca time in the AM
  • Nov 1 AM Sick time for Dental Appt

Reflection 10/08/12 – 10/12/12


Accomplishments:

  • Prof Dev
    • Finished the Gamification MOOC through Coursera
      • I received my final written assignment feedback and grade. Both were great
      • I’m expecting to get a certificate soon 🙂
      • Great experience; I would suggest anyone who is interested in learning more about the topic to take this course.
    • Attend a webinar on 10/12 called The Future of MOOCs: Motivation, Models, and Monetization. Here my notes: https://sites.psu.edu/rep129blog/2012/10/12/the-future-of-moocs-motivation-models-and-monetization/
    • Started a new MOOC called An Introduction to Interactive Programming in Python.
      • This course has started out much better than the earlier MOOC from which I un-enrolled for several reasons
        • There is a browser-based solution to writing code called CodeScultor.
        • The course is being treated as a fun and informal experience
  • Fall ’12 Courses
    • IST 250 
      • More edits
  • Fall ’12 revisions/developments
    • IST 230 (Newcomer)
      • Working with Greg, Will, & Toni on interactive pieces
        • Working on Truth Table app
          • Greg created prototype
    • IST 420 (Ocker)
        • Awaiting Rosalie’s decision on which direction to move text or articles
    • IST 402 (Saab)
        • David is working on adding content
        • Meeting planned for Oct. 18 to talk about course piece by piece
        • Planning to meet on Oct. 26
          • Chris will put together a prototype for a talent tree
          • David may try to put together a prototype
  • Course Committees
    • IST 230 Committee meeting on 10/10
    • IST 220 Committee meeting on 10/11
  • Spring ’13 Course Prep – Mapped out on my outlook calendar courses to work on so that I’m done by the first week in December. Going to be difficult since we have to go 1 section at a time. Plan to start the 1st week of October
    • IST 110
      • Sec 001 (Mahar)
        • Contacted on 9/27
        • Will use section 002 to populate
        • Received a note that is causing me to delay
        • Completed setting up my end of the course on 10/1
      • Sec 002 (Mike M)
        • Contacted 9/27
        • Will use dev section to populate
      • Sec 003 (Mary L)
        • Told about this by Amy S on 9/27
        • Added Mary L on 10/1 to dev section
        • Will use dev section to populate
      • Sec 004 (Jim F)
        • Contacted 9/27
        • Met Jim this week f2f on 10/9 to give him some background
        • Will use dev section to populate
    • IST 111S
      • Sec 001
        • Contacted Deirdre
          • She said to move Fall ’12 materials
          • Need to updated category weightings and then grading section of syllabus based upon her feedback (90% done)
    • IST 210
      • Sec 001 (Gary)
        • Contacted on 10/2 about the course
        • Completed setting up the Spring ’13 course space
      • Sec 002 (Fred)
        • Contacted on 10/2 about the course
    • IST 220 – Hyunjeong and Mike M are teaching in Spring
      • Sec 001 (Mike)
        • Contacted on 10/3 about the course
        • Completed setting up the Spring ’13 course space
      • Sec 002 (Hyunjeong)
        • Contacted on 10/3 about the course
    • IST 230
      • Sec 001
    • IST 240
      • Sec 001 (Fred F)
        • Contacted 9/27
        • Will use dev section to populate
        • Walked Fred through the course in the dev section on 10/1
        • Populated course on 10/1
        • Sent note to both Fred and Hal to follow up
      • Sec 002 (Hal S)
        • Contacted 9/27
        • Will use dev section to populate
    • IST 250
      • Sec 001
    • IST 260W
      • Sec 001
    • IST 295A
      • Sec 001
    • IST 301
      • Sec 001
    • IST 302
      • Sec 001
        • Contacted Shawn about populating the course next week
    • IST 402 TIE-
      • Sec 001
    • IST 421
      • Sec 001
        • Contacted John about populating the course next week
        • Met on 10/12 & made a plan for how to roll out the course
    • IST 440W – Filled up quickly, so opening a second section
      • Sec 001
      • Sec 002
    • IST 495
      • Sec 001

Ongoing Projects:

    • Updated google spreadsheet for Spring ’13 

Immediate Decisions / Issues:

    • None

Back Burner:

    • Gaming, Simulations, and Virtual World Research Committee

Days off / Conferences:

  • August 27- October 5 Gamification MOOC
  • October 15 – December 8 An Introduction to Interactive Programming in Python MOOC
  • October 19 Vacation 8 h
  • October 25 Tentative Vaca time in the AM
  • Nov 1 AM Sick time for Dental Appt

The Future of MOOCs: Motivation, Models, and Monetization

The biggest reason that I am interested in attending this session is that I personally like the thought of having a place to learn more at no cost, but I’m not sure how this model can continue forward since there are no costs for students.

Fundamentally, I don’t get or pretend to understand the idea of how money and education can coexist. To me education is a fundamental need of anyone who lives in a country like ours that is based on freedom and equality. Otherwise, how do we allow for everyone the chance at life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Personally, I wonder how much the institutions of learning that I attended deserved my hard-earned cash, time, and intellect. They still are trying to pry more money from me. It has also made me reconsider the idea of continuing on my formal learning. Why shell out more money for something that requires so much time, money, and effort when I can do most of the heavy lifting myself. It seems like the accreditation is the biggest sticking point. With all that is going on right now, I’m wondering is this is something that will eventually go away.

Here are a few of my notes from the session:

At the beginning and end of the session the presenter talked about participation of those enrolled in MOOCs.

Here is a quote from an Educause publication. “Typically, only a fraction of enrolled students complete the course, and an even smaller subset (e.g., 5 percent) pass.” If you are interested in reading more, here is the link: http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/PUB4005.pdf.

Chris mentioned that in his MOOC that he was experiencing 20% participation. It just goes to show that the MOOC is an interesting place, but there are many who choose to participate at different levels. Business and other priorities often get in the way of completion. Not sure how I feel about all of this.

MOOCs allows for experimentation (teaching & learning)

Some of the MOOCs are bringing in serious cash, Coursera (22 Million in venture capital).

Open does not necessarily mean free. Free is more like free speech, not free beer.

Used Drupal as an example of how open has a monetary backbone. Not sure if I understand what the Drupal model is. Is seems like the building blocks are free, but the money that can be made is from creative and entrepreneurial people who take what’s free and make it into something awesome. Or they offer their skills at a price to others who need them. This all goes along with the caveat that as you are creating that you give back to the larger community.

How should schools consider the creation of MOOCs?

MOOC MOdels (Flexible)

  • Structure and autonomy
  • Credit and Non-credit
  • Timed and Open-Ended
  • Content-only & Facilitated
  • Faculty controlled and Learner controlled
  • Social connectedness
  • Network effects

MOOC Styles

  • Formal & Informal
  • Academic Research
  • Public Showcase/Exhibition
  • Knowledge-gathering
  • Branding
  • Promoting your Cause

Creating a network of learning

Monetizing MOOCs

  • “New” business models
  • “Hidden costs”
  • $50,000 for an online course – There was a good question about whether schools with large endowments were trying to get rid of state schools with this model. It’s worth a thought from where I sit. But I guess the better question is why are so many drawn to this? Is there something that is missing from a generic education that drives many away from it?
  • Notariety can increase more opportunity for instructors (Werbach’s book)

Great point brought up that teaching and learning cannot be about video lectures. It needs to be about connecting and engagement.

A MOOC provides a flexible platform for teaching, learning, sharing, communicating, and collaborating

From MOOCs to MOONs (courses to networks) – next session

Reflection 10/01/12 – 10/05/12


Accomplishments:

  • Prof Dev
    • Still working on the Gamification MOOC through Coursera
      • I evaluated 5 others for Assignment 3 and self evaluated on 10/1
      • Watched videos for Lessons 11 & 12 on 10/1
        • These videos are full of good information but they are too long. I’m still watching them double time to get through them.
        • There have to be ways to leverage those taking the course to create content
      • I’m completely out of the discussion forum part of the course b/c it’s too crazy there. Also, I don’t see how talking to others is something that can be evaluated. For instance, I’ve been talking to many ppl about the course and getting a better understanding, but these conversations are happening outside of the course. They are also customized to my needs. If the discussion forum is a way to help someone, great! I’m just not one of those ppl.
      • Completed Final Exam on 10/1
    • Worked on MOOC called Introduction to Computer Languages.
      • Planned to use vlabs to complete assignments
        • When I accessed Python in the Vlabs environment, I was unable to do the programming b/c when I saved a file the program crashed. I tried this three times with the same result.
        • I tried going back to 2.7.3, but I was unable to replicate what was showing in the course videos.
        • B/c of being stuck with technical issues, I decided to un-enroll from the course. I’m a bit disappointed, but it’s a valuable lesson to learn without having to spend money on the course.
          • Things that I learned:
            • Be clear about the technical requirements of a course. Before I entered the class, they should have let me know that I needed to download version 3.2.3 to complete the work. When I had problems with that, I would have not enrolled.
            • The virtual environment that we have here is a bit glitchy. I wasn’t trying to do anything crazy in the environment, yet it was unable to respond in an appropriate manner. It’s nice to have an environment, but it’s better to offer one that works capably. Otherwise, it’s probably better for students to download the free software onto their own machines.
            • There may be one more option. I just enrolled for another course that has a browser-based programming interface that I can use.
  • Fall ’12 Courses
    • IST 110
      • Received note from Larry that he was being added to google docs from Lesson 4 assignment.
        • Contacted Marcela and she remedied the situation quickly.
      • More notes about customizing course from Jan. Amy responded.
    • IST 250 
      • More edits
  • Fall ’12 revisions/developments
    • IST 230 (Newcomer)
      • Working with Greg, Will, & Toni on interactive pieces
        • Larry is going to supply some problems to work this week
          • sent a note on 9/27 as a reminder
    • IST 420 (Ocker)
        • Awaiting Rosalie’s decision on which direction to move text or articles
    • IST 402 (Saab)
        • David is working on adding content
        • Meeting on 9/21 to talk about gamification was great
          • Plan to meet on 10/2 to begin going through the course from the beginning – David never showed for the meeting, so I sent an email. He responded that his transition hasn’t been as smooth as anticipated.
              • Rescheduled meeting for 10/18
          • Plan to meet on 10/5 about gamificaiton framework
            • Need further progress in the course before we can more much further here.
            • Planning to meet on Oct. 26
            • Chris will put together a prototype for a talent tree
            • David may try to put together a prototype
  • Spring ’13 Course Prep – Mapped out on my outlook calendar courses to work on so that I’m done by the first week in December. Going to be difficult since we have to go 1 section at a time. Plan to start the 1st week of October
    • IST 110
      • Sec 001 (Mahar)
        • Contacted on 9/27
        • Will use section 002 to populate
        • Received a note that is causing me to delay
        • Completed setting up my end of the course on 10/1
      • Sec 002 (Mike M)
        • Contacted 9/27
        • Will use dev section to populate
      • Sec 003 (Mary L)
        • Told about this by Amy S on 9/27
        • Added Mary L on 10/1 to dev section
        • Will use dev section to populate
      • Sec 004 (Jim F)
        • Contacted 9/27
        • Will use dev section to populate
    • IST 111S
      • Sec 001
    • IST 210
      • Sec 001 (Gary)
        • Contacted on 10/2 about the course
      • Sec 002 (Fred)
        • Contacted on 10/2 about the course
    • IST 220 – Hyunjeong and Mike M are teaching in Spring
      • Sec 001 (Mike)
        • Contacted on 10/3 about the course
      • Sec 002 (Hyunjeong)
        • Contacted on 10/3 about the course
    • IST 230
      • Sec 001
      • Sec 002
    • IST 240
      • Sec 001 (Fred F)
        • Contacted 9/27
        • Will use dev section to populate
        • Walked Fred through the course in the dev section on 10/1
        • Populated course on 10/1
        • Sent note to both Fred and Hal to follow up
      • Sec 002 (Hal S)
        • Contacted 9/27
        • Will use dev section to populate
    • IST 250
      • Sec 001
    • IST 260W
      • Sec 001
    • IST 295A
      • Sec 001
    • IST 301
      • Sec 001
    • IST 302
      • Sec 001
    • IST 402 TIE-
      • Sec 001
    • IST 421
      • Sec 001
    • IST 440W
      • Sec 001
    • IST 495
      • Sec 001

Ongoing Projects:

    • Updated google spreadsheet for Spring ’13 

Immediate Decisions / Issues:

    • None

Back Burner:

    • Gaming, Simulations, and Virtual World Research Committee

Days off / Conferences:

  • August 27- October 5 Gamification MOOC
  • October 4 United Way Day of Caring
  • October 19 Vacation 8 h
  • October 25 Tentative Vaca time in the AM
  • Nov 1 AM Sick time for Dental Appt