The official start of this MOOC on „Data, Analytics and Learning“ (DALMOOC) is on Monday 20th, but a lot of activity has already taken place, e.g. two Google hangouts – at not such perfect times for Middle Europe… Therefore I watched the archive of the Course Design Explanation session (October 17th) on YouTube http://youtu.be/b2gSd6oxEBM which was quite intereresting.
Why I joined this course
- Mainly, because of an introduction to the topic „Learning analytics“
- Because of the course concept experience „2 MOOCs in one“: Guided Learner Path (Blue) & Social Learning Path (Red)
Some time ago, I bookmarked these resources : http://www.elearnspace.org/blog/2014/05/06/multiple-pathways-blending-xmoocs-cmoocs/ (May 6th) / http://www.edugeekjournal.com/2014/09/26/visual-flow-of-learner-tools-in-the-dual-layer-mooc/ (Sept 26th)
I already looked at the course in edx.org (whose user interface I already know very well) and was surprised that the first thing I saw in the Courseware section was a special DALMOOC Course agreement about participation in a study – I am still not sure what’s the difference if I say yes or just ignore it (which I did for now). Afterwards I watched the „How DALMOOC works“ video which emphasized on „It’s about connections & creation not content“ and that it might be a little disorienting at the start for someone who has taken MOOCs that were more structured. For DALMOOC in edx.org, 4 points were mentioned to help orientation: the visual syllabus, a daily email, hangouts/recordings and edX forums.
Course Tools
In the course, many tools beyond edX will be used – for my orientation I add these URLs in the blog post:
- https://linkresearchlab.org/dalmooc/tools/all/ (it’s nice that in edx.org you also get the links to the tools‘ privacy statement websites)
- https://linkresearchlab.org/dalmooc/tools/ (graphic chart for different pathways)
- http://dalmooc.prosolo.ca/prosolo/ (especially relevant for the red path)
- https://linkresearchlab.org/dalmooc/assignments/ (especially relevant for the red path)
- https://linkresearchlab.org/dalmooc/tools/social/ (Social learning guide for DALMOOC)
I am looking forward to the official start of DALMOOC on Monday. I don’t know yet how much time I will spend, because the course is parallel to the busiest time of year with the beginning of the winter semester at our University. Besides the edx.org course portal https://www.edx.org/course/utarlingtonx/utarlingtonx-link5-10x-data-analytics-2186 I will have a look on what happens on Twitter (#dalmooc https://twitter.com/dalmooc ) and maybe Google+ https://plus.google.com/106806974410074176435/posts