Week 1 Hangout Video & Audio Uploaded #edcmooc #edcmoocrocks

Hello everyone.

Just a little note to let everyone know that the video of the Week 1 Hangout has been uploaded on EDCMOOC ROCKS. You can watch the video on the site itself, or download it as an MP4 file in case you do not have access to YouTube where you are located.

The converted audio file has also been embedded on the same page, and if you wish, you can listen to it there, or download it as an MP3 file.

Here is the link to access the hangout – http://edcmooc.rocks/downloads/week-1-hangout/

Hope you enjoy the hangout as much as we did !

A Late Start, But Here I Am #edcmooc #edcmoocrocks

Ok.. so I missed the official start date of 3rd November as I was travelling, but as they say, better late than never, so here I am, getting ready to roll with the EDCMOOC. This is my second time here – the first time was as a participant, and this time round, as a CTA – Community Teaching Assistant.

For some of us, EDCMOOC never really ended. In our own group of “Fraingers” we continued to meet in social space and discuss. EDCMOOC has a way of sucking you in, as many of the first-timers will probably experience here as the course progresses. The excitement is never-ending. Social learning inspires many to put on their thinking caps and keep coming back for more, which is the USP of this course.

Just to let you in on a project that just took shape over the last week or so – some of us old-timers got together and created a fan-site, so to speak, for EDCMOOC, that has just gone live, and though kind of bare right now, it is beginning to take shape. EDCMOOC is a truly rocking course, and so it was only appropriate that we used the url http://www.edcmooc.rocks to create this tribute to this wonderful, crazy, maddening and yet exciting MOOC – probably one of the most exciting MOOCS that you will find today.

I would also like to invite you to join us and share your blog posts on this site as well, again with the same hashtag.

More posts to follow soon as I delve deeper into the course soon…

The Excitement Is About To Begin Again #EDCMOOC

It is almost time…. Just one week left for EDCMOOC 3 to roll out. Come 03 November, the course will be officially open and I just can’t wait for the excitement to begin again. Yes, I am happy to be a part of it once more – this time as a Community Teaching Assistant, and am absolutely thrilled about it.

This was one MOOC that I thoroughly enjoyed and was sorry to see it come to an end. However, I was quite pleasantly surprised when I received a mail from @CMSinclair informing me my name had been short-listed as a CTA for the round 3 of EDCMOOC, based on the recommendations of the previous batch of CTAs, and a BIg THANK YOU goes to all of them. I just hope I can perform half as well as those guys did.

And to all the newcomers on EDCMOOC 3, welcome aboard. But do fasten your seat belts. You will be sucked right into the action as soon as the course commences, and trust me, this is one MOOC that is so different from all the other MOOCs that I have been a part of.

Let the madness begin…

Metaphorically Speaking #edcmooc

I am literally Drowning In A Sea Of Information, and yet I am starved for knowledge.  When I enrolled in the EDC MOOC, little did I realize what I was heading for.  This being my second MOOC, I thought it would be somewhat like another one that I had just completed, which was more of an xMOOC, with prerecorded online video lectures and online weekly quizzes, AND relatively simpler, if I may add. And so, I was in for a kind of a cultural shock when I first accessed this MOOC, watched the intro, and waded through the instructions and the vast pool of resources.

The wave of overwhelm that had engulfed me initially soon passed as I became more comfortable with the working of this MOOC and I am happy to say I am now managing to hold my nose above the water, though from time to time the wave of overwhelm does threaten to push me under. What is really interesting, however, is that it has got me cruising along the internet super-highway, looking up all kinds of information related to the course, most of it being extremely thought provoking. So much so that I have had to oil the rusty cogs in my brain to get them to move in sync with the amount of information that I am soaking up. My biggest concern right now is keeping all of it in the sponge and ensuring that it does not seep out.

Added to that is the fact that time is a thief who threatens to deprive me of some of the information each week. Being simply unable to cope with all of the resources, I have graciously taken the advice of the instructors, and handling only that which I can handle, and leaving the rest aside in the hope that someday when I can manage to beat time, I will catch up with all of it.

The other good thing that has come out of this MOOC is that I have met so many wonderful people on this journey. Fellow passengers travelling with me, down this road that is leading us to a better understanding of what digital cultures are all about. It has been a fun journey so far and apart from the social media space, some of us have managed to form a small PLN of our own. The vivacious and bubbly Monica (@monica_yaya) and the seriously focused Dimitra (@dkapnia) are wonderful friends whom I share my ideas with, and get helpful feedback in return. And then there are the ever helpful Maddie (@maddiekp) and Ary (@trendingteacher), who are always sharing wonderful links and advice with us, being seasoned veterans of the first run of the EDCMOOC. A small but wonderful world, really. It has been a roller-coaster ride for the last two weeks, trying to keep up with the work schedule and keeping up with the course material, juggling things around to make sure that I stay on track.

I have got so used to doing the balancing act – this tight-rope walk over the last two weeks – that I am sure that once this over I shall feel blue. What felt like an intellectual assault on the mind in the first few days is now a challenging game that promises to overhaul my very concept of what e-learning and digital cultures are all about. And if my description of the journey thus far has started to give you too a sinking feeling, it means that I have succeeded, to some extent, to rub off my enthusiasm on you, metaphorically speaking.