Helen's EDC blog

Hi Helen
I really enjoyed your video as so much of it resonated with me and it brought so much of your personal presence into the research, which I think is at the centre of the concept of online community. Your MOOC certainly was massive with those levels of comments and also shows how the tick box approach from FutureLearn isn’t really very motivating in a positive way.
Your mindfulness course and research approach reminded me of this article from BrainPickings: http://ift.tt/1GYctYd
Thanks for sharing
Clare

from Comments for Helen’s EDC blog http://ift.tt/2lNPdYy
via IFTTT

Hoddie design? Reminds me that I might have something for us in this respect… 😉

http://ift.tt/2mZt9uY

from Comments for Helen’s EDC blog http://ift.tt/2m8uUbI
via IFTTT

Thank you Eli: I love a white background in presentations – it makes life much easier…

Buster (the cat) came with the house. He was a stray who ingratiated himself. We tolerate each other. 😉

from Comments for Helen’s EDC blog http://ift.tt/2mBdoP1
via IFTTT

Hi Cathy – what kind feedback. Thank you for taking the time to look at my work.

from Comments for Helen’s EDC blog http://ift.tt/2m3PNVC
via IFTTT

Thanks for your feedback James and for helping me to figure out the best approach to the write-up.

Hoodies would be good, but I was thinking of something along these lines.

from Comments for Helen’s EDC blog http://ift.tt/2m3K3JP
via IFTTT

Thanks (as ever) for your thoughtful feedback Renée. An interesting question about which elements I found most discordant: for me, the long list of tasks which was presented at the start of every week was most starkly at odds with the course content. This visual ‘to do’ list conflicted with the core message of the course, which was to focus on the moment and on the task in hand. And yes, the massiveness of the course was also dissonant; I first learned about mindfulness one-to-one with Laurence McKenna, who specialises in hearing loss therapy. That experience of learning about mindfulness was entirely different to the MOOC; I feel that if my first experience of mindfulness training had been via the MOOC I would have entirely lost interest.

With regard to giving feedback, there were discussion areas which were established to enable participants to discuss themes and tasks. However, some of the comments did focus on how participants were struggling to complete activities or were anxious about ‘catching up’. Thanks for highlighting Cottam’s talk: I’ll take a look at your blog post.

from Comments for Helen’s EDC blog http://ift.tt/2lD8GLv
via IFTTT

Myles, many thanks for your comments on my work. It’s interesting that you perceive the FutureLearn format to be more pressured; Adams (2014) comments on Coursera’s ability to induce guilt and panic through their communications with students. This was my first MOOC, so I have nothing to compare it with it with. And yes: perhaps the visual design is intended to try and encourage more effective and engaged participation; ironic that for me, and possibly others, it had the opposite effect. This effort to encourage completion is fascinating too. Completion is still considered a measure of success; however, as you and Stewart (2013) suggest, MOOC learners may not be driven by the same motivations which promote engagement within a more traditional educational context. Clare reflected on this this week too.

from Comments for Helen’s EDC blog http://ift.tt/2mji2A3
via IFTTT

Matthew, thanks for taking the time to look at my work and for your positive comments. I’m going to be looking at the ethnographies over the next few days, and I’ll be interested to see how your FutureLearn experience compares.

from Comments for Helen’s EDC blog http://ift.tt/2m3qIs5
via IFTTT

Hi Helen

I loved your micro ethnography and agree wholeheartedly with all the comments posted here. I thought there was no dissonance between content and form here! It had great pace, clarity and depth of thought.

Cathy

Cathy

from Comments for Helen’s EDC blog http://ift.tt/2lGNjd9
via IFTTT

Helen that is a job very well done!.

I don’t know if it was deliberate but the white really worked well and adding the sound effects helped to really draw me into your world.

Very clever way to introduce the concept but without adding to the digital noise.

Oh and cute cat!
Eli

from Comments for Helen’s EDC blog http://ift.tt/2lEcL33
via IFTTT