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Tweet! Just a chat

It has been really interesting to hear about the various assessment methods being used in the MOOCs this week with multiple choice quizzes seeming to be the most prolific.

My MOOC: Photography Basics and Beyond: From Smartphone to DSLR
from Michigan State University does have its share of multiple choice quizzes but it is one of the new styles of MOOCs where you can pay a small fee and participate in peer review assignments and a portfolio assignment at the end of the 5 courses to gain a certificate from Michigan.

I’m finding the peer review process both strange, as I’ve never participated in one before, and really helpful. I’m getting lots of great feedback on my photos which is genuinely helping me to create better photos.

I do get a feeling of a much richer experience on the MOOC for it.

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Tweet! Language learning using MOOCs

There seem to have been a few of us this week noticing an alternate use for the MOOC, as an opportunity to learn a language. I don’t mean however enrolling in a MOOC that teaches a specific language, I mean just participating in a MOOC in the language you are choosing to learn.

This is something I have never considered before and to be honest when it was first mentioned I didn’t really consider it too much, then… a fellow student gave me a 0 mark for a peer review piece and I maintain it was because they didn’t understand the word vantage.  It’s only a MOOC, the mark doesn’t matter in the scheme of things, but I was unjustifiably annoyed.

This has left me with a lot to think about in terms of MOOC participation,  is it ok to participate in the activities around learning of the subject matter if you are not fully participating?  Do the differing levels of participation affect fellow students negatively?  Do we have unrealistic expectations on a free course?

 

 

 

 

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Tamagotchi to fitbit

Thinking of the various digital communities over the past 30 years and I think the tammagotchi generation are today’s fitbit community, but the annoying life form they are trying to keep alive is themselves. #mscedc

 

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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-39064735
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Finding gems on classmates twitter and blog feeds

Don’t talk in front of robots? 5-min drama from @guardian, worth a watch: https://t.co/P3tw4dgUYz Probing re. ethics, us & the end. #mscedc

A really enjoyable short video Matthew shared which gave a brilliant take on the duality of the sci-fi culture block we have just left. In this video, humans argue around a table about the prospect of the AI, also sat at the table, becoming self-sufficient and sentient and seeking to destroy humans. Various arguments have given with an ethics researcher trying to talk the AI out of using human beings as an example of humanity.

Eventually, the AI decides humans aren’t worth the effort or its superior intelligence and finds a way to leave the planet and go off in search of more worthy lifeforms.

All this worry of AI being a threat to humanity is centred around humanism and the importance of humans over everything else. We are blinded by our self worth.