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Month: February 2017

Skate to Survive

Skate to Survive

Skate to Survive: The Story of Ellen Burka

Ellen Burka, who was a famous and iconic Canadian figure skating coach, survived Nazi concentration camps to become a champion skater. The YouTube video above, tells her moving and important story. I’m posting this because I was reminded of Ellen’s story when I decided to switch to the Holocaust MOOC. I am so thankful to have had the opportunity to take some lessons from Ellen when I was a young skater.

Find other related articles about Ellen Burka here:

http://www.ruthfilms.com/films/docs/jewish/skate-to-survive.html

Ellen Burka dies at age 95: Hall of Fame figure skating coach survived the Holocaust, revolutionized her sport and kept working in her 90s

Week 6 Summary

Week 6 Summary

Week 6 Summary: Feb. 20-26

I hesitate to echo my summaries from weeks four and five, but again, I am struggling with finding the time to post here on my lifestream blog.

One positive thing that’s happened during this is that I’ve decided to abandon the IoT MOOC and switch to another MOOC on FutureLearn from Tel Aviv University: The Holocaust: An Introduction – Part 2. I reported this news in a post HERE. Given my interest in the Holocaust and my previous blog posts about it in Block 1, this seems like the right choice to make. I’m now thinking, why didn’t I decide to study this Holocaust MOOC in the beginning? Better late than never, I suppose.

Since I decided to join the Holocaust MOOC, I was reminded of a documentary film on Ellen Burka – legendary Canadian figure skating coach. I posted the YouTube documentary video in a post HERE. I remember when Skate to Survive first came out and I purchased the DVD which had to be shipped from Israel. How nice that it’s on YouTube now for all to see!

I have also been reinvigorated this week through our #mscedc Twitter community with some proof of this in tweets HERE, HEREHERE and HERE.

Week 6 has also been a time for me to re-visit the readings – especially Knox (2015), Kozinets (2010) and Stewart (2013).

My favourite quote from Kozinets (2010):

“When information and communications technology is cast into the world, and moist life breathed into its brittle, dry circuitry, it turns out that it is used to manifest culture and build community.”

And finally, in THIS post, I included some of my rough planning notes in preparation for my micro-ethnography presentation.


References

Knox, J. 2015. Community Cultures. Excerpt from Critical Education and Digital Cultures. In Encyclopedia of Educational Philosophy and Theory. M. A. Peters (ed.). DOI 10.1007/978-981-287-532-7_124-1

Kozinets, R. V. (2010) Chapter 2 ‘Understanding Culture Online’, Netnography: doing ethnographic research online. London: Sage. pp. 21-40.

Stewart, B., (2013). Massiveness + Openness = New Literacies of Participation? MERLOT Journal of Online Learning and Technology, 9(2), pp.228–238.

Changing to a new MOOC

Changing to a new MOOC

After much frustration, I’ve decided to drop the IoT MOOC and joined another MOOC on FutureLearn from Tel Aviv University: The Holocaust: An Introduction – Part 2. 

I wish I had’ve found this MOOC in the beginning because the subject matter (the Holocaust) is something I have a deep interest in…thus increasing my level of engagement!

Week 5 Summary

Week 5 Summary

Week 5 Summary: Feb. 13-19

Week 5…

Once again I am struggling to find time to post my thoughts on my lifestream blog.

I am working on a comic strip for my micro-ethnography; I think it might be a creative way to present my findings and to ‘re-brand’ the MOOC experience into something new and fun. Here, you will find a sneak peak in THIS post.

In THIS post, I talk about how the IoT MOOC has taken the educational community to an arguably non-educational and more social space: WhatsApp. The IoT MOOC WhatsApp chat group is limited to 250 members and is only for those who are most enthusiastic participants (not me). Knox (2015) mentions that social network spaces like Facebook and Twitter can be identified as “intense sites of contemporary community culture;’ can WhatsApp be considered as part of this group? In my experience with WhatsApp with my classmates, Chenée and Iwona (from other courses), I can accurately report that the community culture, camaraderie and support I’ve received from participating in discussion on WhatsApp has been invaluable to my studies at U of Edinburgh. Whenever I have a question, make a hypothesis or need support, my friends on WhatsApp are there for me…isn’t this the epitome of community culture in a digital world where are separated only through geographical distances?

And although it’s not showing in my lifestream blog, I am spending much time researching and creating my micro-ethnography. My motto is always to ‘enjoy the process.’


References

Knox, J. 2015. Community Cultures. Excerpt from Critical Education and Digital Cultures. In Encyclopedia of Educational Philosophy and Theory. M. A. Peters (ed.). DOI 10.1007/978-981-287-532-7_124-1

IoT MOOC on WhatsApp: Creating another online community

IoT MOOC on WhatsApp: Creating another online community

Screenshot taken from IoT MOOC.

I was interested to find there is a WhatsApp group organized by the MOOC I’m participating in (The IoT). The group is limited to 250 members – seems like a lot though! How is it possible to converse on WhatsApp with that many people? Seems overwhelming to me…

I think it’s interesting that the MOOC is taking the large online community and taking it out of the so-called ‘educational space’ to the seemingly more social and informal space of WhatsApp. I’m thinking that only the very interested few (few meaning 250 max.) will choose to join the WhatsApp group. 

MOOC: The IoT

MOOC: The IoT

Sample screenshot of my micro-ethnography artefact comic!

The MOOC I’ve selected is from King’s College London called The Internet of Things (IoT). So far, I’m finding it difficult to understand and difficult to engage in. I’ve found that I’m not particularly interested in the IoT! I have, however, decided to create a sort-of comic strip to present as my micro-ethnography artefact using Comic Life