learning

Thursday, June 1, 2017

MOOC

TEJAS
                                          My motivation- MOOC
My Journey-
                       My journey started from my intrinsic motivation. I always wanted to be the best teacher in my life. The dream came true only because of British council.  I joined British council project through ELIPS. And since then my life and my professional career have changed totally. First I joined ELIPS project , then ELIPS 1, and now I am working on ELIPS 2 which is known as TEJAS (Technology enabled joint action through initiative strategies ). It’s my privilege and honor to work on this project as a SARP (state Academic resource person). I am highly motivated and impressed by British Council resources, trainings and management skills. I have learnt a lot from each of the training. New concepts, new activities, new techniques, new ideas, psychology of students, scientific views of education, critical thinking, reflection, rapport building, professional development etc. these are some aspects that I have learnt. At the same time I improved myself.  I was introduced a term CPD (continuous professional development) by British council.  Otherwise I was unacquainted about it even though I went through many of the trainings, attended seminars, workshops, many courses as well. When I joined ELIPS , at that time I came to know whatever I have done it is called CPD. I am continuing my CPD till date. In Tejas project for the first time I have been acquainted with MOOC. It is a free and easy path towards knowledge. It is very useful, thoughtful and meaningful way of our improvement. It includes everything and it can be done everywhere. It improves our ICT skills as well. It accesses new information. It touches all topics which is ongoing  worldwide. It relates to teachers,professors, students, employees in other field, businessmen, common people too. Let’s know more about MOOC.

What is MOOC ?
The Acronym MOOC stands for-
M- Massive- Wide number of students
O-Open- Open access to everyone
O-Online- Via web/internet, network learning across multiple platforms and services.
C-Courses- various courses offered by different platforms.
               MOOCs are mainly internet based courses which is free of charge and have a huge number of students as it is open for all. MOOCs are virtual interactive teaching platform.Mostly MOOC has specific start and end dates. In MOOCs we have to watch short video lectures which are related to topic. After watching it we learn by ourselves and have to write on comment box. Some time we have to participate in discussions. There is no certification process on MOOC. But if we want certificate we have to upgrade  specific courses. There are many platforms of MOOC.  Some of the MOOCs platforms are UDACITY (Learn,Think,Do.), CANVAS NETWORK, NoVoED, OPEN 2 STUDY,  edX,  coursera, Moodle, Udemy, Versal,  Coursesites by blackboard, Future Learn etc.
          MOOCs were first started in 2008. It was introduced by George Siemens,and Stephen Downs. Firstly it was called ‘connectivism and connective knowledge 2008’or CCK08. It was created as a credit course for the university of Manitoba. MOOCs really took off in 2012. The first MOOC to be very successful was the course ‘artificial intelligence’ by Sebastian Thrun and Peter Norvig from Standford university. In this course more than 160000 people around the world signed up to learn. The first time in history that a course met so many students. Following this success, Sebastian Thrun and Peter Norvig found the company Udacity. It provides a platform that any university can use to offer MOOCs.


My path to a MOOC-
In my view, CPD is a key word of successful career. It makes tremendous change throughout our professional life. As a lifelong learner , I like to learn each and every new and interesting thing. I am constantly honing my digital and content strategy expertise by attending workshops, reading the books,conferences etc. when I joined MOOC I participated in online discussions.
                 When I first heard of MOOC, I neglected it and didn’t take it seriously. In march , because of a personal problem, I had to take a long leave and was at home for a long time. I got bored in my home. One day I looked at Facebook post of teaching English page. The post was about MOOC and the course was English at the workplace. So only for passing my time I enrolled myself. Since I was taking it very lightly. I didn’t have the desire or any motivation to keep up with the course. Even though I found the course was bit interesting. It was very easy that’s why I finished it. Again I saw new course that is English at the early childhood. This time , my mindset was completely different. I was excited to take advantage of this unique opportunity. I was motivated. I decided to continue my learning by MOOC.
The MOOC learning experience-
I have learned a lot from various courses. I have chosen only those courses which is useful for my professional development. I came to know many of the new concepts was introduced by these courses. I am keeping my online reflective journal through penzu app. It’s an amazing experience for me. I have my own bag of knowledge and information . I would like to share my learning experiences here. Some of the courses which I have finished are-
English for the workplace-
     This course helped me to use language function in the workplace. It is also helpful for those people who are searching job. It developed my English language skills for employability and workplace context. It makes me more professional with the English which I need. It improves my English language performance. I have learnt following things from this course.
How to apply for jobs
How to prepare job interviews
Interview technique
Language of obligation
Rules and regulations at work place
Team building activities
Making suggestions
Elements of working together

English  in early childhood-
This course is about how young children learn English as an additional language. It is for the teachers who want to help their children for their progress. It is useful for those teachers who are teaching English as a second or third language. I have learnt following things from this course.
Early childhood development
Children and their language acquisition
How do children learn best through play way method
The importance of play
Developing language through play
Developing language through interactions
Strategies to enable children to get the most out of a learning experience.
Positive relationships with children
Importance of knowing the child well.
Observations of children
Assessment in the early years
Reflect on ways to communicate effectively with young children.
Identify the ways to support and challenge children and measure their progress
Connection between learning and child’s well-being.

Some of the courses which I have been working on -
Dyslexia and the foreign language-
             It started on 24 th April and still it is going on. This course is useful for the Teachers for improving theoretical insights. It helps dyslexic students learn second languages. In this course we covered following topics till now.
The nature of dyslexia
Learning difficulties associated with dyslexia
The effect of dyslexia on the learning of languages
Inclusion in the language class room
Using technology to assist dyslexic language learning.
Design language teaching tasks
Assess the needs of students with dyslexia

Becoming a better teacher-
This course is useful & helpful for every teacher. It  started on 24th April & now  I am working on 3rd  week . It improves our teaching skills as a teacher. It impacts on our professional development. It develops my reflective skills. It improves our practice in the class rooms. I have learnt from this course following things.
Continuous professional development and their importance
Keeping reflective journal
Ways of doing CPD
Characteristics of successful professional development
Effective Reflection skill
Kolb’s reflective cycle
Peer observation and its value
Different perspectives in observation
Giving effective feedback to learners
  The course is very interesting. I am looking forward to seeing upcoming weeks. I am damn sure it will fulfill my espectations.

Benefits of MOOC to me-
As I said above, MOOC plays vital role for CPD. Otherwise it is quite difficult to learn global subjects and issues. As far as I am concerned , It is beneficial for me  in a following way.
It’s an affordable alternative for me to formal education.
It provides flexible way to learn new skills, pursue lifelong interests and deliver quality of educational experiences.
It develops my reflection skill.
It enhances my ability to think critically., assess information and developed reasoned arguments in the context of the global challenges.
It is helpful to achieve developmental goals.
Learning happens as per my convenience.
For doing MOOC there is no compulsion  of degree, only willingness  to learn.
It improves my lifelong learning skills.
In MOOC Contextualized content are shared which is very useful to upgrade my knowledge.
It improves my pedagogical views and techniques.
There is no restriction of age, or background
  or expertisation need for joining MOOCs.
It is offered freely .
Global participants and their views  are introduced.
It’s a global knowledge sharing  experience.
Most important thing is there is no evaluation.
We can Learn by our pace and convenience.
Freedom to share our views without hesitation.


Challenges of MOOC-
As per my experience some of the expected challenges are-
It demands time and efforts from the participants.
It feels chaotic as participants create their own content.
Digital literacy is necessary to be a part of these courses.
Language of instruction  is one of the biggest challenge of MOOC.
Accessibility and Net surfing  problems.
Stakeholders must be self-motivated, self-regulated, and self committed towards .
As large number of students are there so it is not possible to give  personal attention to everyone.
People are not being computer/internet literate.
 MOOC doesn’t work in poor internet connection.
Language barrier.

              Though there are few challenges but MOOCs have a lot of potential for reinventing the way we learn. I enjoyed these courses.  It will be interesting to do it. So are you ready to log in MOOC ? Let’s try….
Kalpana Bansod,
SARP, Chandrapur.

2 comments:

  1. How relative and productive writing work this is!
    I just love the way of putting thoughts together.
    Thanks Kalpana Ma'am.
    - Sachin Yadav.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Truly appreciable work and nice reflection mam. Of course the CPD is necessary.

    ReplyDelete