‘While this has meant less time devoted to looking at resource links suggested by my fellow students and less time in the discussion forum on the digital hub, I do feel it has been the most productive way to use the time I’ve had available.’

Sounds sensible Nigel, and definitely in the spirit of the ‘ethnography’ we’re trying to experience in this block. Immersion in your MOOC community (rather than you EDC one!) shouldn’t take up al of your time, but some engagement will hopefully be worth it. Do try to keep the lifestream going as this is more important overall.

‘Both are facilitated by the same provider but the way the course is constructed is very different. ‘

Yes, interesting, in that while the format can seem a little rigid, different courses can take quite different approaches.

‘So far none of the course facilitators have answered the queries and the only help has come from other learners.’

Yes, I wonder if this is intentional, or perhaps a sign of the difficulty of being responsive in MOOC. Either way, it is perhaps the perception of what one is *supposed* to be doing as a teacher that matters!

‘The level of interaction I’m seeing in both MOOCs I can see that I won’t be able to present an ethonography artefact that delves much deeper than the level of a survey. However, I do think there are some interesting trends in the way the forums are used that I can highlight.’

Ok, that is perhaps useful to flag up as an early insight at this stage. As I think discussed in the tutorial last week, lack of community interactions, or indeed ‘warmth’, could be a valuable result from your ethnography. A few others are also starting to post initial ideas (demographic information, or ‘motivations’), so it might be worth taking a look through peoples blogs (if you haven’t already) to see how this might be approached. Trends in the way forums are used sounds useful!

from Comments for Nigel’s EDC blog http://ift.tt/2kSsx90
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