A Mini-ethnography
For the Community Cultures block we were asked to create a mini-ethnography on a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC). I had never heard of this term and whilst reading multiple books and articles on the topic I enrolled onto a MOOC as both a learner and researcher. The block was tough. It topic wasn’t only new to me but I found it time consuming. Trying to balance the social media platforms, blog, MOOC and readings took up every spare minute. However, what began as murky waters has cleared to an understanding and appreciation of online education. There are flaws but nothing is perfect. The pedagogy for me is important as no matter the technology used teaching is still teaching but our task was to discuss the ‘community’ within a MOOC. I was anxious about this due to my presumptions and expectations of the ‘community’ through both the Stewart (2013) and Kozinet (2010) article. However, my experience was far from their descriptions. I tried to keep to the task and represent my experience but I don’t know about it being a ‘mini’ ethnography. Please find my ‘autoethnography’ attached.
References:
Kozinets, R. V. (2010) Chapter 2 ‘Understanding Culture Online’, Netnography: doing ethnographic research online. London: Sage. pp. 21-40.
Stewart, B., (2013). Massiveness + Openness = New Literacies of Participation? MERLOT Journal of Online Learning and Technology, 9(2), pp.228–238.