Mooc hang outs

Today was #edcmooc's first hang out and while the instructors tried to make it participatory, it was at best participatory in the way that a call in radio show is participatory. This sounds like more of a critique than I mean for it to be, because really I'm impressed by how well the instructors are running this truly massive course (of the 40,000+ registered students, apparently more than 16,000 have been active on the site). They class is well structured (each week has a theme, the themes connect, it is clear what one should do each week and the instructors have helpfully indicated what they would like everyone to do and what those who might like a little more could do. The hangout, like the class, was well thought out with each instructor talking for a little bit about an aspect of the class, summarizing some of the discussion (mostly on the forums but also on blogs about the mooc), and offering some synthesis or response. They also took questions via twitter and google+.

As I watched I kept thinking of Kelly Ritter's Who Owns School? and her argument that literacy learning is often more vibrant in online discussions that are not in class or course space but instead take place in digital spaces not sanctioned by school. I was watching the instructors (and liking them / feeling positively about them and empathetic as I imagined what an incredible challenge this must be) but I was also watching twitter, flipping over to scan blogs and check google+. It seemed the livelier / faster/ more significant (to me) conversation was happening in the back channel. Ritter's book has also made me think about how my goals in taking this class, although clearly recognized as one of the reasons many of the participants enrolled in the class, is not, nonetheless what the course is teaching (even if it is what many of the students are there to learn). That is, I want to know what it is like to be a student in a mooc. Further, I want to know what it is like to participate in a class solely through a tablet. While I can't imagine the instructors for this "E-Learning and Digital Cultures" class would object, I know my interest in those goals far exceeds my interest in the content assigned for week one. While I watched the videos and read the texts, I found myself skimming quickly so I could get back to twitter and reading the blogs which, for me, is where the course is really happening. But it is Kathy Fitch's blog http://outwithlanterns.wordpress.com/2013/02/01/binary-oppositions-the-believing-game-edcmooc/ that has brought me back to the course material even, or perhaps especially the Prensky essay which I hadn't reread (having taught it a few times over the past few years, I thought I 'knew' it). But her reflections, emerging from the 'believing game' which had been prompted by the really rather scathing critique of the terms chosen and dichotomies introduced that had emerged in many blogs (especially blogs written by professors and most notably, to me any way, in blogs written by com rhet faculty).

I am REALLY struggling with composing on my tablet. I can't figure out how to include links on this app (really pretty basic feature for a blog...) , I'm finding it physically uncomfortable to write and difficult to edit. I'm committed to this experiment, but it is hard!