I have been playing with P2PU’s Course in a Box, feeling like a trained monkey, and trying to visualize what a MOOC “hostel” might look like. I have run across a common plaint among serial cMOOC folks: where do I go next? I think that the emotional and intellectual high of cMOOCs is addictive in the same way that learning can be addictive. It would feel good to play around with creating a space along the way for hobos and trekkers and amblers and hikers to stop a bit.
What I want to do is create a place where folks can take a rest, talk to fellow travelers, find out new places to explore, etc. I want a place for reflection on what has happened. I want folks to lay down hobo marks for ‘good places to spend some time’.
I want to help folks find a way to share with others and have fun before, during and after they have been to a MOOC.
I don’t necessarily think of this as a MOOC clearinghouse or search engine. God knows there are plenty of those. No, what I want is to help found a place where folks can stop and rest and reflect on their learning journeys. Below is a thinglink visualization, a rapid prototype of my first thoughts on this. I suppose I have an ” if you build it, they will come” attitude. I have no idea if folks even want or need something like this. It is enough for now that I want it and that I can name half a dozen other souls who might want to stop by on occasion.
I really am in early days. I want to use “Course in a Box” although for me it is going to be more about “Community in a Box”. I want there to be both spaces to watch movies and to share comments and to reflect on where they have been and where they are going. And lots of mild eddied backwaters in the whitewater kayaking that MOOCs often represent–games, conversations, discussions, and lots of ramps both off and on the info chicane.
Ambitious? Probably, but I don’t plan to wireframe the whole thing before I start. I think we will be using Jim Groom’s principle that the content will be the residue left behind by the the cognitive sawing and hammering done by visiting carpenters. All this talk of construction and carpenters maybe we should call it the “Jesus Principle” of digital space building. Come to think of it, I think I should view this project not as an “if you build it, they will come” honeytrap, but rather as an “if they come, they will build it” happening.
How does this fit into an existing frame like “Course in a Box” that is built atop a Github foundation? Not a clue. Leave me a comment if you have any ideas how to answer that question. I am so grateful for #ccourses for helping me get the confidence to even bring up such a digital space. And for all my friends who I have met in MOOCs over the last two years. I guess this all just an elaborate excuse to play dinosaurs in the sandbox. Good enough for me.
Bring your toys to play with and tinker.
I am not sure that the connected courses garage is obviously one that we work in.
We need to bring our ideas into a space alongside others who are building and playing.
My dinosaurs drive a US army jeep made in Japan.
There is one called wings and the leader of the group is a pink eraser poodle called…called.
I can’t remember.
http://www.automopedia.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/tonka251military400.JPG
How do I make a make bank?
Do I really want a make bank?
Yes I really want a make bank.
Just thinking aloud.
As I was telling you on Twitter, I love this Terry – i like the “if they come they will build it” place – it is a much more evolved idea than what i wrote about just b4 ccourses and called a metaMOOC research proposal – i like your idea much more
I also have no idea how it relates to p2pu course in a box but i get the forking aspect of it, kind of. I’ll check out ur thinglink and come back to talk about this soon!
I am with Maha – I like ‘a “if they come, they will build it” happening’ . Really have no clue what this would look like – but that is part of the fun!
Part of the idea for this might involve forking the space, i.e. each person can take what I put out there and make it anew. I am not sure how appealing that might be to most. Github might just be a ‘build too far’ for most, but I think it would be a happy option. The more I look at the ‘wireframe’ I made at thinglink, the more I excited I am about making a mobile app for this. Of course, I have no skills in that area, but that makes it even more exciting. There is a fundamental mistake in all of this ‘me’ activity–it is not about me. It is about what the community is about. I think the motto ‘If they come, they will build it’ needs to be front and center. I am not reverse engineering learning objectives and then designing a space for those objectives to be realized like an instructional technologist. I have worn that hat and wear it still, but I am not wanting that for this. Part of this has to feel like it is growing. In fact we start with the simplest initial ideas: MOOCs can be fun–> it’s fun to learn–>sharing what we have learned and how we have learned is one of the best ways to learn–> OK, let’s play about in the sandbox as Simon suggests. So, I am going to start with the Github/Course in a Box/Community in a Box from p2PU and see where that leads. My main question is whether that ‘system’ is simple enough and open enough for folks to be able to grow it.