#EDCMOOC Week Five: The Assessment!!

Quick intro:

This post begins with the assessment and link to my artefact. I link to some online tools that others can use to make their own… and also share some of the resources produced by other MOOCers and a link to those produced by the students on the MSc in E-Learning and Digital Cultures. Finally I have put links to all the videos and readings that we have had access to over the duration of this brilliant short course – just in case you want to see for yourself how you might build your own MOOC.

You are joking? Produce a digital artefact - me?!

It has to combine at least text and images… And it will be peer reviewed. Also - each of us will be required to review three artefacts against the criteria set for the course – writing 250 words saying how and why the artefact has done so…

There was a little flurry from some MOOCers worried that any old person was going to mark their work. But I’d been in the FaceBook group since November and had only been impressed by the quality and calibre and commitment of my fellow MOOCers – so have no worries on that front. (Of course, if I get a low mark that will change toot sweet!)

There was also some concern – not least from the not very techie people like me – about how to make an artefact – and just how artefacty it had to be … Did it have to have text, pictures, music – and oh god no – movement – please not movement! And what about interaction? Or clever cutting and editing tricks with online tools that I have not yet heard of?!

Thank goodness that my old mate Andy Mitchell was also taking this MOOC and he helped by giving me critical feedback on my first draft (“I must say I’m really disappointed…” I think Andy missed his true calling as a diplomat!) – and by helping with some of the technical bits. I am not content that I still have to reach out for technical support – so am playing with the idea of doing the whole MOOC again – but next time focussing on tools rather than the content…

Online tools

Talking of tools - we were told that there were several online tools that we could use to make our artefacts:
Voicethread: http://voicethread.com
Storify: http://storify.com/
Xtranormal: http://www.xtranormal.com/
Pixton: http://pixton.com/uk/
Issuu: http://issuu.com/
Storybird: http://storybird.com/
Weebly: http://www.weebly.com/
Animoto: http://animoto.com/
Prezi: http://prezi.com
Wikispaces: http://www.wikispaces.com
TedEd: http://ed.ted.com
Google Sites: https://sites.google.com
… or any blog, web space or wiki site …
More ideas: ‘50+ web 2.0 ways to tell a story’: http://50ways.wikispaces.com/

Other possibly useful resources:
Wordle: http://www.wordle.net/
Bubbl.us: http://bubbl.us/

*** In space no one can hear you scream!! ***

Here’s one I made… 

I have been overwhelmed by the quality of the artefacts that I have been looking at this week – and slightly terrified that I must assess and give critical feedback to at least three made by any of the 44,000 people out there who are in this MOOC!... But anyway, here is my artefact:

#EDCMOOC – in YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EX282KWbesg

And a short one Andy made in GoAnimate of some of my text: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfx1_fVZbyI

And here are some cool examples from my classmates:

With apologies to all the other brilliant ones out there that I have not seen – or that I did see and forgot to copy and paste here…

Angela’s thinglink: http://www.thinglink.com/scene/360982057624535042#tlsite

Ary’s stunner: https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=II_1nwaTZBQ

Andy’s subversive one: https://twitter.com/HamishAMacleod (can you see what it is yet?)

Two-minute video: Log In: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-akQl-e1Awk

David Hopkins’ one: http://prezi.com/e9y6ipsovanb/digital-artefact-edcmooc/  

(And his whole blog on the topic: http://www.dontwasteyourtime.co.uk/elearning/digital-artefact-for-edcmooc-wk-5/ )

Fran Monaghan’s VoiceThread: http://voicethread.com/?#q.b4186028.i21377601

And June B’s blog plus vimeo artefact: http://www.jubo.co.uk/blog/2013/02/edcmooc-digital-artefact/  

And Ess Garland’s timeline: http://www.tiki-toki.com/timeline/entry/101035/Edmooc-Digital-Artifact/#vars!date=2013-02-28_06:07:26!

Kevin Eagan’s unique take: http://digitalmarginalia.tumblr.com/post/44112018112/why-digital-marginalia-matters  

Theo Kuechel’s PinBoard: https://pinterest.com/theok2/education-and-digital-culture/

The University Bog’s post and artefact: http://theuniversityblog.co.uk/2013/02/25/digital-interactions/

  

Cathleen Nardi’s, Change your thoughts: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jOC_BDhdMM&feature=youtu.be

Amy’s Digital Life artefacts:

§         The video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RO0-7YAxxDY

§         The process: http://amysmooc.wordpress.com/2013/02/23/digital-life-an-augmented-music-video-parody-edcmooc-final-artifact/

Predicting the future: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXF8Q9nX2vg

Responses to #EDCMOOC by MSc students:

https://class.coursera.org/edc-001/wiki/view?page=MScDigitalArtefacts

**** How lucky we have all been to be in such a wonderful immersive and creative MOOC with fellow travellers who were all prepared to give so much and do so much. If you want to see what inspired us – there follows links to the four weekly topics and the viewings and readings that we were asked to do. ****

Course Materials

Week one – four

I did not put the full links to the videos and readings in all my #EDCMOOC blogs – so this post offers a quick summary for those who might be interested – and for me when I re-visit this part of my blog to be inspired all over again:

Week 1: Dystopias 

Film 1: Bendito Machine III (6:35): Watch on YouTube 

Film 3: Thursday (7:34): Watch on YouTube 

Film 4: New Media (2:21): Watch on Vimeo

The readings:

This is ‘my’ Noble http://brentmblackwell.com/courses/engl210_StealThisUniv_Ch2.pdf 

This covers the arguments in the set text (the journal version) – but for me it is more cogent, punchy and powerful – and it has more passion. It also discusses notions of ‘education’ versus ‘training’. Love it! And it influenced our: ‘A journey into silence: students, stakeholders and the impact of a strategic Governmental Policy Document in the UK’ in Social Responsibility Journal, Vol. 5 No. 4, 2009 pp 566-574 – which critiqued the UK govt e-learning policy – and which at some point I shall shamelessly plunder for a blog post!

Chandler paper: https://spark-public.s3.amazonaws.com/edc/readings/chandler2002_PDF_full.pdf

Useful as a primer with students interested in Sociology or sociological perspectives…

Reading Dahlberg:

http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol9/issue3/dahlberg.html

Liked the introduction and references to the Frankfurt School & kulturkritik … pessimism and focus on high culture, Birmingham Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies, oppositional politics and popular culture (Kelnner 97) and Audience reception theory – Fiske (1987) and polysemy – drawing on Barthes = a text when read… More to follow.

Daniel, J. (2002). Technology is the Answer: What was the Question? Speech from Higher Education in the Middle East and North Africa, Paris, Institut du Monde Arabe, 27-29 May 2002.http://portal.unesco.org/education/en/ev.php-URL_ID=5909&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html

Prensky, M. (2001). Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants. On the Horizon, 9/5. http://www.marcprensky.com/writing/prensky%20-%20digital%20natives,%20digital%20immigrants%20-%20part1.pdf

Wesch, M. (2007). The Machine is Us/ing Us? (4:33): Watch on YouTube 

Week 2: Utopias:

Film 1: A Day Made of Glass 2. (5:58): Watch on YouTube

Film 2: Productivity Future Vision (6:17): Watch on YouTube

Film 3: Sight (7:50): Watch on Vimeo

Film 4: Charlie 13 (14:20): 

(optional) Film 5: Plurality (14:14): Watch on YouTube

Ideas and interpretations

Johnston, R (2009) Salvation or destruction: metaphors of the internet. First Monday, http://firstmonday.org/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/2370/2158

Newitz, A. (2011): Social media is science fiction. Google I/O conference, 10-11 May 2011, San Francisco: Watch on YouTube 

Advanced
Bleecker, J. (2006). A manifesto for networked objects — Cohabiting with pigeons, arphids and Aibos in the Internet of Things.
http://www.scribd.com/doc/14748019/Why-Things-Matter

Perspectives on education

Shirky, C. (2012). Napster, Udacity and the academy. shirky.com, 12 November 2012.http://www.shirky.com/weblog/2012/11/napster-udacity-and-the-academy/ 

Bady, A. (2012). Questioning Clay Shirky. Inside Higher Ed, 6 December 2012.http://www.insidehighered.com/views/2012/12/06/essay-critiques-ideas-clay-shirky-and-others-advocating-higher-ed-disruption

Campbell, Gardner (2012). Ecologies of Yearning. Keynote at Open Ed '12, October 16, 2012, Vancouver BC. (63:19): Watch on YouTube 

Optional extra material for this lecture:

Audrey Watters’ Storify notes: http://storify.com/audreywatters/ecologies-of-yearning-and-the-future-of-open-educa 

Richard Sebastian’s blog post: http://edtech.vccs.edu/openness-the-double-bind-and-ecologies-of-yearning/ 

And there’s more....
If you want to dig deeper into how the media is representing the emergence of MOOCs, and continue your hunt for metaphors, we recommend these two pieces. The comments on both are also worth exploring. What metaphors can you identify in these, and how are they operating to position MOOCs? 

Anderson, N. (2012). Elite education for the masses. The Washington Post, 4 November 2012.http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/elite-education-for-the-masses/2012/11/03/c2ac8144-121b-11e2-ba83-a7a396e6b2a7_story.html 

Carr, N. (2012). The Crisis in Higher Education. MIT Technology Review,http://www.technologyreview.com/featuredstory/429376/the-crisis-in-higher-education/

Week 3 – We’re all post-human now…

Film 1: Toyota GT86: the ‘real deal’ advert (1:01): Watch on YouTube

Film 2: BT: heart to heart advert (0:40): Watch on YouTube

Film 3: World builder (9:16): Watch on YouTube 

Film 4: They’re made out of meat (7:20): Watch on YouTube

Ideas and interpretations

Humanity 2.0: defining humanity - Steve Fuller’s TEDx Warwick talk (24:08),http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/newsandevents/podcasts/media/more/tedx?podcastItem=steve_fuller.mp4

View the presentation slides here 

Advanced
Badmington, Neil (2000) Introduction: approaching posthumanism.Posthumanism. Houndmills; New York: Palgrave.http://www.palgrave.com/PDFs/0333765389.Pdf

Perspectives on education

Kolowich, S (2010) The Human Element. Inside Higher Ed: http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2010/03/29/lms

Monke, L (2004) The Human Touch, EducationNext: http://educationnext.org/thehumantouch/

And this went to the Disrupting HE Symposium, Dublin, Feb 2013:

http://edcmoocteam.wordpress.com/2013/02/21/shoring-the-fragments-of-edcmooc/

Week 4 – Post-  & Trans-human

Film 1: Robbie (8:45): Watch on Vimeo

Film 2: Gumdrop (8:05): Watch on YouTube

Film 3: True Skin (6:12): Watch on Vimeo 

Film 4: Avatar Days (3:54): Watch on YouTube

Ideas and interpretations

Bostrom (2005) ‘Transhumanist values’ reproduced from Review of Contemporary Philosophy, Vol. 4, May (2005): http://www.nickbostrom.com/ethics/values.html

Advanced
Hayles, N K (2011) Wrestling with transhumanism:

http://www.metanexus.net/essay/ h-wrestling-transhumanism

Perspectives on education

System upgrade: realising the vision for UK education (2012) EPSRC Technology Enhanced Learning Research Programme:

http://tel.ioe.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/TELtaster.pdf
(The link is to a taster document for the full report, which you will find here).

Carr, M. (2008) Is Google making us stupid?

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2008/07/is-google-making-us-stupid/306868/

 CODA: We all blogged our responses each week - and read and commented on the blogs... Many engaged in the Forums set up by the course itself - and there were two Google Hangouts with the tutors. Many of the MOOCers held tweetchats - with thousands of tweets posted... I can't imagine it being any better! 

#EDCMOOC: Week Four: H+: Re-defining the human

It’s week four already! I will be so sad when this wonderful MOOC is over! Next week the artefact - agggghhhhh! Started the day with a Google Hangout with @andydmmitchell – talking about life, the universe and all things EDC – and he has wonderfully offered to help me put my artefact together next week… I know that the tutors have said to start this week – but Friday is my MOOC day, so today I do the viewing and reading – and posting… Next week I hope to put both Thursday and Friday aside for artefact production.

As a learning developer interested in creative, authentic and engaging teaching, learning and assessment practices, I have for a long time been promulgating (?) the setting of just this sort of an assignment in modules across the University, but it is only now in this MOOC that I can truly see the potential of this. In a couple of weeks I have a practical hands-on resource-making session booked with a group of Anthropology students, as you can imagine, I will be showing many of our artefacts to try and inspire theirs… And if you can think of any that I definitely should show – please let me know?

Week four: H+: Re-defining the human

Some truly beautiful films this week - especially Robbie and Gumdrop - both on the subject of Artificial life  - and both moving in very different ways. 

Film 1: Robbie (8:45)

Watch on Vimeo

Short, haunting and beautiful film about what is a good life – and a good death – through the eyes of AI Robbie. It made me cry…

Film 2: Gumdrop (8:05)

Watch on YouTube

Yes – it is true – after crying at Robbie, Gumdrop made me smile: a totally different perspective on AI and being ‘human’. Magic.

Film 3: True Skin (6:12)

Watch on Vimeo 

Yeah baby – here we are back at the dystopia that a misanthrope like me can relate to! This is Blade Runner+ … monetised, augmented, brutal… and not so scifi – ‘they’ are already buying the body parts of the poor…

Film 4: Avatar Days (3:54)

Watch on YouTube

Not really on the same theme as the others, to me… This is an exploration of our avatars – made ridiculous perhaps by striding through the ‘real world’… but… 

So what's so special about augmented reality?

When I was oh so much younger we played Dungeons and Dragons – I was an Elf - with magic powers – and we made up a board and built our strange world and played together – on quests – gathering ‘treasure’ …  and it was compelling and we were engaged – and thus it was real.

Winnicott (1971) argues that play is essential to counter the implicit threat of transitional spaces: between worlds, between social classes, in alien educational settings – he also argued that it is only in play that we are really our true fiercely alive selves. No wonder we love these virtual, augmented spaces so much. It is not technology, but the monetised world that dehumanises us all.

I was reading Rick’s thoughtful blog: http://drrbb2nd.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/everything-bad-is-good-for-you.html  and commented as he does on the recurrent trope: the fear that these virtual spaces diminish us – reducing our emotional intelligence, make us inhuman … but when I walk in the real world and parents teach their children not to move aside for other pedestrians and not to smile at their neighbours and not to care for the elderly or the infirm – surely *that* is what makes us inhuman? When neo-con governments offer us ‘choice’ – by which they mean giving the care of the social side of our lives to private corporations to cut costs, wages, accountability, services… surely *that* is what makes us inhuman? (Oops – back here again! Moving swiftly on…)

In this post, I am going to focus on just one reading:

Bostrom (2005) ‘Transhumanist values’ reproduced from Review of Contemporary Philosophy, Vol. 4, May (2005)http://www.nickbostrom.com/ethics/values.html

Reflection on the potentialities offered to us mere mortals if we were trans-human or post-human (H+) – oh the wonders that we could behold, the things that we might do… 

I do see and understand the arguments made here – but so many of us could do so much in the scant years we have been allotted if only we lived them!

Think Groundhog Day – after the protagonist cursed with living the same day over and over stops trying to kill himself he learns to play the piano, he learns to love life and he finally learns to love his fellow human beings – and he is allowed to live his normal life again.

Fear, insecurity, insurance policies and pensions – all convince us to keep quiet, don’t rock the boat, don’t reach for the stars; to stay in our box and not live the life we could lead… Sadly I see that this H+ debate contributes to this worst side of us fearful humans. As I read , I hear, if only, if only, if only… If only I had been born rich, a boy, a girl, healthy … someone else altogether. If only I’d been dealt a better hand… been braver, stronger, more independent.

Whilst wrapped in intellectual justification and reasoning, debate on the potentialities of an H+ future seems to be just another aspect of the addiction of being in capitalism. Capitalism needs us to want and to buy – it requires us to yearn and to strive - to be restless and discontented. Capitalism needs us to be forever unhappy … always to project towards tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow… an endless stream of tomorrows of greater potentiality and happinesses – all purchasable – no down payment necessary.

Well – that is addiction pure and simple. The addict is never in *this* moment – but always yearning for another moment… or, as Schopenhauer put it, only oscillating between the pain of wanting something and the despair of having it.

There is only today and the life we have, the health and class and gender and aptitudes that we have … This video (will change your life) is serendipitously moving around FB atm and seems to capture it so well: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=377067949058685

Live your life . Feel your dream. Find your joy – and do that thing.

It’s no surprise that so many lose themselves in the wonder of augmented reality given the paucity we accept in our real lives. It is only a miracle that more don’t disappear into the virtual forever… So don’t just save the Whale or the otter or the Greater crested newt – let’s save ourselves – now and in this life and today…

So I really cannot take H+ and that debate too seriously – yes – wouldn’t it be wonderful if there was telos – and teleology - the world developing positively: the work and the wealth and the wonder shared equitably; life and technology moving forward ethically and with concern for justice, kindness and love - but it ain’t so.  But I/we do have today – and I/we do have this very shabby body (well, I do) – I/we do have this limited life span – and if I/we try to live this one well… then being human *will* be enough.

Some creative things to explore – and to use in your workshops

Here are some more creative ideas that my students are using

Challenging activities/tasks that can be adapted & built into your workshop – or any teaching:
http://www.slideshare.net/adm111/challenge-toolkit

This has lots of ideas from the Creative Teaching & Learning Toolkit – again – have a look to see what you could adapt for your own session:
http://www.slideshare.net/adm111/the-plenary-producer-9521503

This slideshow could be viewed as a visual essay:
http://youreport.newstalk.ie/story/404

Stephen Fry animation – on self pity. Useful for seeding a talk on some of the emotional aspects of studying:
http://youreport.newstalk.ie/story/404

Challenge toolkit

www.slideshare.net

The Challenge Toolkit provides 50 different activities to stretch and extend students' thinking. They can be used for all ages and subjects. From Guardian Teach

 ·  ·  · Share · 18 November at 22:04

The AccessArt "Share-a-Story & Inspire an Artist" Competition

I'm using my blog to post about the Access Art story competition... I'm really intereted in developing creative and engaging teaching, learning and assessments - and this competition provides a real opportunity to bring all that together. Set entry as an assignment for your students... You know it makes sense.

The AccessArt "Share-a-Story & Inspire an Artist" Competition

To coincide with their 12th birthday, AccessArt is launching a brand new story writing competition aimed at both adults AND children:

"The "Share-a-Story & Inspire an Artist" competition is aimed at both adults AND children. We'd like to invite you to submit a children's short story. The story can be about ANYTHING, as long as you think it would appeal to children aged 5 to10, BUT it must be highly visual in the way that it's written.

The winning story will be used as the focus for The Matchbox Project, through which AccessArt will invite practising artists/illustrators and makers to illustrate YOUR short story. The winning story will really need to inspire the illustrators; so make your story line dazzle, your words spark visual fireworks, and your characters larger than life.

Once illustrated by a group of artists, you'll see your story shared online via the AccessArt site (www.accessart.org.uk), published as a pdf, and as a print-on-demand book (and of course you'll receive a copy!).

We welcome submissions from individuals (all ages) and from schools, writing groups, and other organisations.

Follow the guidelines!
* Remember, you don't need to illustrate the story - just write it!
* Stories should be no longer than 2000 words (and can be much shorter).
* Send your story by November 15th (by email: info@accessart.org.uk) or post: AccessArt, 6 West Street, Comberton, Cambridge, CB23 7DS
* Please ensure you include your name, address, email, phone and age (if you are under 18)
* Schools: Teachers may send stories on behalf of groups/classes - if so please include contact details of a teacher.

About AccessArt

AccessArt is a UK Registered Charity which promotes visual arts learning through sharing resources, workshops, events and networking. You can access our resources aimed at teachers and practitioners at www.accessart.org.uk

Terms & Conditions

By entering this competition you agree:

* That the story was written by the person whose name is on the entry, and that that person as author has intellectual property right of the work.
* That the story was written for the purpose of this competition, or if the story was written previously, the author confirms that the story is otherwise unpublished.
* That AccessArt can use the story, if it wins, as the focus for The Matchbox Project. The finished, illustrated story will be published as AccessArt sees fit, and this may include online, pdf, print on demand, and published print.
* Any income from sales of print on demand/pdf/published book, if they arise, will be donated to AccessArt Registered Charity 1105049
* The author will be credited in any publication: online or printed.




Very best regards

Paula Briggs
AccessArt

info@accessart.org.uk
http://www.accessart.org.uk"