….Without the internet I would not have required to have learned what I learned in the first place.
I then set about creating a birthday wish with some video and images for my brother-in-law. It got a bit out of hand. I enjoyed learning what I needed to learn in order to create. I used YouTube, blogs, online discussion forum and some web pages to figure out techniques around Chroma Key, simple animation of images, cross-channel fades, downloading youtube videos….. I then posted it to Facebook so that my brother-in-law and his facebook friends could view it.
The end result itself for this course is not entirely relevant, but the skills I have learned tonight are exceptionally useful. Learning by doing. If you have the motivation to put effort in to something, then you will go the extra mile. This is why some technology, despite its obvious novelty value, is of great value in the classroom. Once you hook someone in, be it through motivation of progressing or changing status in a community, or just because something is fun initially, it can result in a great deal of satisfaction for the learner. No doubt for the teachers too, who see students getting to a new level of understanding without having to battle against unwillingness to learn.
Community in MOOCS should provide that backdrop. A motivation for learning. Appeal to those who can form connections out of nothing more than keypresses and internet communication. By fostering community, the basic social need to be heard, to be seen, to be understood can be met.
Anyways, here’s the rather random outcome of my brother-in-law’s birthday wish.
Media Sources:
Soundtrack and some video clips: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXfs8qymvCc
Broforce PS4 game footage: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6YchbF1b8m4
Greenscreen effects: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwRgYgC013o