Free CIDER session on #Ubiquitous #MOOCs and learner interactions

Tomorrow, Wednesday 7th November, I will be presenting one of the free CIDER sessions organized by the Canadian Institute of Distance Education Research. The title of this 40 minute presentation (with interactions during or after) will be: Looking at Ubiquitous MOOC Learner Interactions. During this session, I will take a look at what MOOCs are and how ubiquity affects learner interactions. 

Starting from the history of MOOCs and their general design, the session will gradually focus on the different learner interactions, mapping preliminary results of a research I am conducting into the effect of mobile access on MOOC learner interactions. 

MOOCs are a contemporary course format that allows students from all parts of the world to connect and interact on specific topics. Traditionally MOOCs use a lot of social media to promote networking and collaboration between learners. These social media in combination with learner created content exchange leads to a specific learner dynamic. In order to analyze the learner interactions I am using the Community of Inquiry framework. This enables research to look at social or personal interactions vis-a-vis academic or intellectual interactions. The reason for looking into these categories of learner interactions is to look at ubiquity or mobile accessibility on open, online courses and whether this ubiquity has an impact on learner interactions of any kind. The research will bring mobile learning and MOOCs together, both of which are contemporary educational formats that have opened up new pedagogical and educational opportunities to increase the effectiveness of learning online.

Details to connect:
When: Wednesday, November 7, 2012 - 11am to 12noon Mountain Time (Canada)
*Local times for CIDER sessions are provided here.

Where to log in for the session: Online through Adobe Connect at:
https://connect.athabascau.ca/cidersession/

Pre-configuration:
Please note that it is extremely important to get your system set up prior to the event. Make sure your Mac or PC is equipped with a microphone and speakers, so that you can use the audio functionality built into the conferencing software. The Adobe Connect platform may require an update to your Flash Player; allow time for this update by joining the session 15 minutes prior to the scheduled presentation.

Registration is not required; so all of you are welcome!