Helen's EDC blog

Eli, what a brilliant use of Spark: I really like how we ‘zoom in’ as we progress through your write up. As Helen has commented, (https://twitter.com/lemurph/status/836823636761849858), comparing your RL experience with your xMOOC one is a great idea.

Your findings suggest that the peer review process in the xMOOC is superficial, offering a gesture towards community interaction and support without having the structures (such as a guiding teacher presence) to deliver meaningful and helpful outcomes.

This MOOC adoption of an offline practice (which you demonstrate works at a small scale) into the online delivery of a massive course, without consideration as to whether it is appropriate, reminded me of Tony Bates’ warning which is cited at the end of Baggaley’s article: ‘It was as if 45 years of work was for nothing. All the research and study I and many others had done on what makes for successful learning online were totally ignored, with truly disastrous consequences in terms of effective learning for the vast majority of participants who took MOOCs from the Ivy League universities.’

Thanks for sharing your experiences in such a clear and engaging way Eli.

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Eli, this post reminded me of my mortifying experience many years ago when I applied to become a TEFL teacher. Part of the interview process required us to teach our fellow interviewees something. The other applicants were brilliant: we were taught the basics of using a chanter, how to ask for directions in Chinese and the Two Step.

I had arrived with only five tea-towels, ready to teach everyone how to transform them into chickens…

We focused a lot on the inherent value of the process of learning (anything!) in Digital Game-Based Learning. Gamers have to learn how to play games and that requires a multitude of skills and attitudes which have real value. How to recognise the value of that learning and how to harness those skills and attitudes within the structures and strictures of an often rigid formal educational framework is the challenge. These are two useful chapters about the transfer of learning from video games to ‘RL’ : http://ift.tt/2kDgqAm

http://ift.tt/2l81OWK

(If you’re interested, I’ll try and get an instructional ‘make a chicken’ video sorted over the weekend!)

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