ETMOOC 10 Years Later: Ten wonderful things ETMOOC has done for me

 Hard to believe it has been 10 years since I first started ETMOOC.

Why after all this time do I still engage with this community and with the people I met along the way? 

Because ETMOOC was the beginning of giving me a space to learn and grow, to share ideas, to experiment fearlessly with people who were willing to let that happen. Not only let it happen, but encourage it, challenge constructed ideas of learning and open new windows to what can be a better way of learning and doing. 

It encouraged curiosity, creativity, openness and sharing, risk taking and fun! 

The first thing you have to understand about ETMOOC is the mastermind behind this course, Dr. Alec Couros, is a networking god. He got together a most superb team and enlisted the help of people everywhere to make an exciting, innovative course. It was obvious he thought very deeply about what he was trying to create and the people who supported the whole learning experience were equally onboard. 

This is not an extensive list by any means nor is it in any particular order except #1. 

1. My Professional Learning Network: This is the greatest gift I received from participating in ETMOOC. I may be a small voice in the wilderness, but the network I have grown started from the kernel sowed by my participation in ETMOOC. I have been engaged with this group for 10 years. From there to #CLMOOC and #Rhizo14, and #ccourses and #olcmooc to #TVSZ (all versions!) I've ended up interacting with amazing people that have been a part of my life since. We've all grown and changed, but we still connect. 

2. Personal Connection: It doesn't matter how often I am online, but I can still reach out to this networked group anytime I want to trial a new idea, comment about the world we live in, offer words of praise, support, enlightenment or have the same reflected back at me. Given the nature of my job and my home life, sometimes I have disappeared for months at a time. But that connection still exists. And I use it. Almost daily when I am online.

3. Self Awareness: I've learned a lot about myself as I took this 10 year ETMOOC journey, both as an educator and a student. Understood why sometimes learning new things is hard and frustrating. How sometimes that frustration is a good thing and sometimes a bad thing, especially if I allow it to turn me away from learning something new. I've also realised I am lousy at self care and won't really be good at it until I stop investing so much of my energy in my job. As a friend once said, "How are you going to use your precious energy?" So I am contemplating that a lot lately. 

4. People: As I look back at the spaces ETMOOC opened up for me, I have been lucky to interact with so many talented people. University professors, classroom educators, artists, instructional designers, graphic designers and other people who value creativity and expression. Sharing and supporting comes so naturally to people. And some of them have remained friends to this day. How often can you say, "I took this course and I still hang out with them 10 years later". Online?

5. Creativity: I enjoy creating silliness just because it is fun. Being introduced during ETMOOC to #DS106 was mind blowing for me. #DS106 Radio? A blast! I had so much fun creating sound content. Whether it was my own Halloween show, Headless DS106,  The 3Ts Cooking Show, Three Fingers of Gin for #DS106 Noir, it was all a mix of goofiness and learning how to use software like Audacity. Where would I be without it? It taught me the art of the possible with their amazing #DS106 handbook.  But also their amazing Daily Create! Do I do the Daily Create everyday? Not anymore but I love seeing what other people produce. Some of my best poetry and life reflections are on the DS106 website. Thank you Jim Groom (I am a True Friend) and Alan Levine! 

6. Being a Zombie (or a DragonBovine): #ETMOOC lead to #TVSZ. I am huge fan of games and #TVSZ 2.0-6.0 were so much fun!!! I created movies, wrote a ton, posted pictures to free myself from being eaten (or to entice people into allowing me to eat them...) and generally paid no attention to my paid employment for a few days in order to play. Created out of the fabulous brains (BrAIns!BRaInS!!!) of Pete Rorabaugh and Jesse Stommel, it was fast paced game with ever evolving rules and layers and always supported by Janine DeBaise and her students. Hugely enjoyable! 

7. The Impermanence of Software: As part of this reflection, I have been rereading my blog. So much of what I created is no longer there. Storify- shutdown 2018. Mozilla Popcorn Maker- video editing software-Is hosted at the Internet Archive as of 2016. Windows Movie Maker-Shut down in 2017. My projects didn't make it over. Piktochart is still here, and Audacity, but I am not sure what else will disappear with my content. DS106 is still there (thank goodness!) but it does make me think of the ephemeral aspects of creating. Maybe I need to learn how to be a stone mason so I can make a more permanent record. (oh wait, that doesn't necessarily last either!)

8. New Software: I have to admit I haven't kept up with all of the software changes. I think one of the reasons I do more writing and less video and photo oriented Daily Creates is I am a still a beginner with creating product using photo editing and video editing software. It takes some dedicated time for me to learn new programs and currently I have little to none. But when I finally have some breathing room (retire) I'll make the time.

9. Memories: It's been a while since I blogged. Three years. The pandemic has taken a toll and I feel like I work harder now than I ever have. Maybe it's because I've had to restart so many things, rewrite rules, review new policy, etc. It hasn't helped that my father became ill and died during the pandemic. But reading through my blog reconnected me with the joy of the journey, the giddy and heady fun of learning and creating, especially the silly stuff, when it seems I may have had a sense of humour. No ETMOOC, no blog.

But I've also recognized that I stopped writing my blog when I took my current position. I still write all the time, but it is historical, or museum related, or policy oriented, or analytical. Not for pleasure. Not for fun. I spend so much time writing that doing it for my own personal growth and enjoyment has become a thing of the past. And that is sad. 

What else is sad? I can see how safe I felt online back then. When I first got comfortable with Twitter it was a safe space. Much of the free software we were using at that time didn't seem too threatening. Now we all have to really think hard about the impact of social media on our discourse and our lives. Of how much we share. or if we should share at all. It's no longer feels like a safe space. Thanks to Chris Gilliard via Alan Levine who really opened my eyes.

10. Social Media Training: More than ever, students need to be able to  understand how they can be influenced by social media. This means that for the people in the classroom right now, student and teacher, media training is a must. We need an ETMOOC reboot more than ever. Not only how to use the software for making, but how it can be manipulated and made for creating disinformation and misinformation.

Thank you to everyone who created such hilarious, fun, illuminating and worthwhile offerings with me all those years ago. Thank you to everyone who continues to connect and share with me. Who reaches out to encourage me. You make being online uplifting. I hope I do the same for you. 

Thank you ETMOOC. You've been hugely influential on who I am today. And don't the best learning experiences always do that?

#TVSZ 4.0

Now I am big fan of #TVSZ, a zombie twitter game as you may or not know. I've written about it here and here. I've created movies (sadly more than one!) about zombies. So you can tell that I think #TVSZ is an wonderful learning experience. The brainchild of Jesse Stommel and Pete Rorabaugh it is a petri dish of online learning.

Now let me explain why you should play #TVSZ 4.0 if you have never indulged. This round of play starts Friday June 20th, 2014!

1. It's a game. This means it's fun. It's not an obligation, it is play. And like all play, the learning is not always effortless but it is driven by the compulsion to participate, which means the learner moves forward over the obstacles because of their desire to participate fully. What are the benefits? Through play I learned to:

• Use Twitter and Tweetdeck effectively
• Attach a picture to a tweet
• Make a sound recording and attach it to a tweet
• Make a movie using Popcorn Maker

And what was so wonderful was these were skills that were transferable! So by playing #TVSZ it opened up a whole host of other learning opportunities. I've been reaping the rewards ever since.

 

2. Creative production. Since #TVSZ is played on the web, to play you must communicate. This means that to play effectively you end up writing stories, taking photos, creating videos, making music, etc. as the game evolves. To play wholeheartedly you must produce and often to a deadline. If you've ever participated in DS106, they use a similar method of stimulating creativity. Within my blog are lots of #TVSZ posts I wrote while playing #TVSZ 3.0. They were silly, but fun. Some of my writing was, dare I say it, elegant, over the subject of zombie feeding habits.

3. Friendship. Truly an unexpected side benefit of #TVSZ. Who knew that being a member of the zombie hoard would be so life affirming? I am still in communication a year and half later with the people I bonded with playing #TVSZ 2.0. And that has been enriching my life ever since.

4. Learning. With #TVSZ you are learning constantly because the rules change every 12 to 24 hours. There is no complacency in this game so you must be flexible and adaptable. And aren't those the qualities we want to nurture in ourselves and our students?  

I look forward eagerly to every game of #TVSZ as another opportunity to learn, create and play. Register here for #TVSZ 4.0. And have fun!

 

Microsoft Paint and my first app

So as part of the clmooc, I've decided to build my first app (I'm using Infinite Monkeys) and I chose Microsoft Paint as my subject. Why? Because in the ICT curriculum in Canada and the US, Grade 1 is where you start using Paint. Those of us in the Educational Technology field are often playing with the latest and greatest new tools. We have a tendency to forget that not everyone is as comfortable with just the basics. And that's where you start with any learning isn't it? At the beginning? So if we're not teaching our teachers the basics of how to create on a computer, how are they going to do the same for their students?

So back to Paint. Paint is a simple program but you can do some very sophisticated drawing and editing with if you spend some time getting to know the program. There are not too many lesson plans for Paint out there only 3 million+. In the land of the internet that's not a huge number and it was already starting to give me Grade 3 lesson plans within the first 10 hits but I'm hoping to compile a list of the better ones for the app.  While there are lots of videos on how to use Paint for adults, I have yet to find a video designed for Grade 1 students on how to use Paint, which really surprised me. (So I will be making one soon I expect.) But should it surprise me? I think we're still dealing with the myth of the digital native and some resistance at the Primary levels to technology integration. And how many schools in Canada have a dedicated technology teacher? (If anyone knows, I really am interested in the answer.)

So for Grade 1, what can you do with Paint that you can integrate into the curriculum? Drawing and painting of course! Understanding colour for another. Shapes as well for math (very, very good for that!) Story writing, remixing images, fine motor control, the list goes on. While it is easy to find examples of student work in Grade 1 created with actual paint online (and the lesson plans that guided the creation), finding examples of student work created digitally in Paint is not so easy. I would love to see us create art using Paint and then transferring the idea to a paint/drawing project for instance. Perhaps have the students create a primary colour wheel/drawing in Paint and then do a similar project using paint or crayons in class? The possibilities for integration are there (the link is to a Blackboard session where a teacher is explaining how she integrated technology into her classroom for the first time.) We just have to become comfortable with the tools and use our imagination.

As to Infinite Monkey as an app tool? I'm working my way through it. As the video mentions you do need to have all of your links ready to go ahead of creating the app (and that is always a lot of work!) And it's not as intuitive as they make it out to be ( and isn't that always the case? Someone builds something and says, "It's easy!" and you're scratching your head, thinking, "Oh, I must be stupid?!") I made my first mistake on the first page when I wrote the title for the app (which automatically saves it as the url) and then realized I needed a different title (but the url remains the same even after you've changed the title.) So my advice, if you use this program, is to really think about what you want to name the resource and what it's purpose is, rather than do what I did, which is jump in with both feet (violating all of the rules of backward design! Designer, heal thyself!) I had also created a playlist for my app of YouTube videos but finding your RSS feed for You Tube is not as easy as you would think. (Hopefully my Twitter PLN will get back to me shortly.) However, I successfully attached my blog feed to the app and as many of you know, that's a big deal for me. So, as usual, one needs to play with a tool first, make mistakes and keep trying, before you can master it. Learning in action!

I'll post the link to the app when I am finished.

Post ETMOOC -April

So I promised a more analytical response of why etmooc was so valuable as a learning process and here it is. What is interesting is that even though I am no longer in the weekly/biweekly task mode for etmooc, as a post etmooc blog group member our group has maintained that biweekly format, I expect for continuity's sake. Even though I am a member of different groups now, I miss that etmooc feeling. I expect it is because etmooc made sure to expose us to different thought leaders every week and kept our brain humming at peak intensity. (So am I a knowledge/new experience junkie?) I often wonder how many weeks/months/years of planning and knowledge went into the creation of etmooc.

So a few reasons why etmooc worked:

• Emphasis on exposure to new ideas/technologies and thought leaders
• Discussion of new ideas in multiple formats with multiple avenues for exploration
• Creation and expansion of PLN encouraged and facilitated
• Creation of content by the learner (us) for consumption by fellow learners using both old and new technological tools in creative ways (I still feel Haiku Deck deprived as a pc user)
• Comment on content by peers encouraged
• No assessment except through voluntary peer to peer assessment
• Learner control of knowledge accessed, consumed and conveyed
• Positive reinforcement of any knowledge acquired by peers and moderators

So I would be interested in how many etmoocers actively participated in the journey, was there a difference in the level of engagement between those who started in the beginning vs. those who started later, and what was the overall retention rate for the program?

There are other questions of course. How do we import this model of engagement into the classroom (both K-12, higher ed and training of adults)? Could/should we use this as a model for the future in education? How would the majority of teachers react to giving up control? How would governments react to this type of approach? How does this approach challenge current practices in the field of assessment which is really government's way of maintaining control of what is taught?

Personally, will I be able to maintain this level of engagement post-etmooc? Can I continue to nurture and expand my PLN without it becoming an enormous responsibility both professionally and personally? Do I have the technological skills I need to support my connections?  If I feel overwhelmed and need to disengage are my multiple PLNs supportive enough to let me exit and enter at will? What are the social connections of these networks and my responsibilities to the multiple networks? How much do my own personal beliefs about social interactions govern my sense of responsibility to the networks?

Continuing the journey......