The 2012 crop of MOOCs has been called the "Year of the mOOCs". While there are a variety of MOOCs available; cMOOCs, xMOOCs, and a variety of other online LMS agencies, the majority of the offerings carry no formal credits. This has been a topic of many discussions in many arenas of business, education and media pundits. A multitude of methods of analyzing and awarding credit have been discussed and recommended. An entire industry seems to have sprung up to address these and other issues.
Empire State College has had "Prior Learning Assessment" as a method of recommending higher education for college level learning obtained beyond the classroom. Further discussion on this topic will occur elsewhere. For now, my purpose here is to publicly share the Contract attached to this MOOC for those who desire to participate for SUNY/ESC credits. There are 2 methods, to the best of my knowledge, in which to obtain ESC credits. One is to register as a matriculated, or non matriculated student and pay the tuition for the MOOC. The other, is to participate in the MOOC and then apply for a review of the number and level of credits desired through a priocess of Prior Learning Assessment, for which there is also a fee. The academic ramifications of these two methods will also be left to another venue.
My purpose here is to make public the contract that credit seeking participants follow. In this way, the contract is a reminder for currently enrolled ESC credit seekers, as well as a guide for those who may wish to apply for higher education credits in the future. This is a guide, subject to updates and revisions, and bears no guarantee of credit beyond the normal ESC course registration.
Empire State College has had "Prior Learning Assessment" as a method of recommending higher education for college level learning obtained beyond the classroom. Further discussion on this topic will occur elsewhere. For now, my purpose here is to publicly share the Contract attached to this MOOC for those who desire to participate for SUNY/ESC credits. There are 2 methods, to the best of my knowledge, in which to obtain ESC credits. One is to register as a matriculated, or non matriculated student and pay the tuition for the MOOC. The other, is to participate in the MOOC and then apply for a review of the number and level of credits desired through a priocess of Prior Learning Assessment, for which there is also a fee. The academic ramifications of these two methods will also be left to another venue.
My purpose here is to make public the contract that credit seeking participants follow. In this way, the contract is a reminder for currently enrolled ESC credit seekers, as well as a guide for those who may wish to apply for higher education credits in the future. This is a guide, subject to updates and revisions, and bears no guarantee of credit beyond the normal ESC course registration.
Creativity and Multicultural
Communication
Instructor:
Carol Yeager
e-mail:
Carol.Yeager@esc.edu
Blog:
Co-facilitator: Betty Lawrence
e-mail: betty.lawrence@esc.edu
Blog:
2-4 credits, introductory or advanced level
PURPOSE
Increasingly, the challenges we face are complex and
open-ended and knowledge alone is not enough to reach innovative and effective
approaches to these challenges. In addition, our networked world can provide us
with a rich global environment for creative problem solving.
In this course, students and
mentors will interact through web-based and mobile-based modes, completing
practical implementation assignments and web 2.0 activities designed around
creative problem solving challenges in a multicultural environment.
Connectivist theory will be used as a guide for navigating our networked world.
Approaches to creativity will be applied to student-generated
challenges. Students and mentors will strive to improve their creativity
and communication skills throughout the term.
LEARNING ACTIVITIES
Students can enroll for this
course for 2,3 or 4 credits. Expectations for differing amounts of credits will
be identified throughout the contract.
This course is built around
a MOOC (Massive Open Online Course). In a MOOC, participants register, but
participation ranges from zero to hourly engagement. The CMC11 MOOC is
contained within 15 week segments. While there are 5 defined semesters within
the ESCschedule, non ESC particiants may enroll at any time and create their
own schedule. Each week,
Elluminate sessions have been held and recorded for all to view. There will be supplemental sessions, on
occasion, the will be live for participant participation. For each week,
readings have been included within the session template. Participants are
exeted to research topics on their own and bring the discoveries back into the
CMC11 learning journey.
Students will begin with
reading and viewing introductory material about MOOCs. MOOCs are lively environments and one
can easily become overwhelmed. In order to encourage some deliberateness,
students will be required to enter their reflections in a blog. Through their
entries, they will document their improved skills in creativity and multicultural
communication. They will reflect on session readings. In addition, students
will need to join Diigo, for sharing and annotating of online resources.
The Diigo group is CDL_CMC11.
There is also a FaceBook group under CMC11 for those who wish to connect in addtion to Discssions, blogs, Diigo ad any other arenas developed by participants.
After the introductory
session, there is a session on connectivism and one on Personal Learning
Environments/Knowledge Networks. These sessions have been facilitated by
Stephen Downes and George Siemens, respectively, who have co-facilitated MOOCs
on these topics. From these,
students will acquire the framework for their explorations of creativity. From
this framework, students will then investigate the topic of transliteracy and
metaliteracy, new ways to navigate our digital world, with Dean Tom Mackey.
The next three weeks will be
devoted to aspects of Creative Problem Solving (CPS), with readings and
presentations about core practices. Students will be given specific exercises
to complete and report on in their blogs.
The next six weeks will be
devoted to some specific examples of creativity in a multicultural environment,
including examples in Second Life, language learning, digital storytelling and
grant development.
As the MOOC experience
continues, with reflections and assignments completed in the blog and sharing
of resources as well as class-related discussions , students will discuss with
the tutor a topic for their final project. The project should be a creative approach to multicultural
communication. The project is required for 3-4 credit students and is optional
for students completing the course for 2 credits.
Students will present their
projects through Blackboard Collaborate sessions during the final two weeks of
the MOOC.
CRITERIA FOR EVALUATION
Evaluation will be based on
participation in the MOOC, reflections in the blog, references shared and
annotated in Diigo and discussions in Diigo. By the end of the term, the
student is expected to:
1.
Be able to describe
connectivism to a newcomer to the concept in a way that the listener is then
able to explain it to another person
2.
Have identified
for himself or herself a Personal Learning Environment/Knowledge Network that
s/he will continue to use for lifelong learning
3.
Have found and
shared (on Diigo) at least 10 electronic resources on the topic of creativity
and multiculturalism
4.
Have reflected
in at least two blog posts about what it means to communicate in a global
environment
5.
Demonstrate
improved creativity through applying techniques covered in sessions on Creative
Problem Solving
6.
(for 3-4
credits) Have demonstrated through a creative final project a connecting,
integrating and transforming of what has been learned throughout the term.
A narrative evaluation will
be written by the student to identify how the student has achieved these
learning outcomes through the activities identified in this learning contract.
For students completing this
course at the advanced level (and that is the majority of the enrollments),
incoming writing skills should be sufficient to complete all tasks at an
advanced level. If an initial assessment of incoming writing skills indicates
that subsequent assignments may not be at the advanced level, the student will
be advised to change the registration to the introductory level, so that
sufficient time can also be devoted to improving writing skills.
