Building a MOOC, Part 6 - iRubric?

Anyone out there use iRubric? It's an online rubric generator (there are many) but it also holds a gradebook. Sounds like an LMS-free way to keep and record grades... will it work for a MOOC?

One thing I worry about is automation. At scale, you want to know you don't have to update things (and enroll people) manually. uReddit is probably easier for that.

Building a MOOC, Part 5 - uReddit

The main problems with a MOOC concern that push/pull issue about privacy. People want anonymity on the Internet, but if it's a CLASS, you have to know who is who. There's no accountability otherwise, and without accountability, there's usually a lot less learning.

So you need a system that recognizes users, lets them take tests, and tracks the results. This calls for a Learning Management System (LMS) like Blackboard or Canvas. But those are proprietary, and you can't just let outsiders use them. Plus you don't know who they are.

I think we'll see MOOC-friendly LMSs arrive on the market soon, but in the meantime we're in the realm of workarounds. If we join a Consortium (EdX, Coursera, Udacity, Canvas.net) they provide the LMS, but my university isn't there yet. So it's third-party stuff only for me. I've previously talked about some options for the LMS, and the limitations of each.

Recently I saw a presentation by a fellow faculty member who used University of Reddit (uReddit.com) as a MOOC LMS. This is not owned by Reddit, but they are allowed to use the Reddit name and logo.

Advantages:

• Users get tracked and can sign up with their own names/handles of their choosing
• Content can be hosted right here
• Discussion boards (or something similar to that) can be created via sub-Reddits

Disadvantages:

• There is no gradebook, and no quiz function. So you have to go third-party for that, too.

I'll keep you posted about what works, and what doesn't.

Building a MOOC, Part 4 - Timelines and Conferences

In academia, there's nothing like a little external motivation (pressure) to get you moving. So submitting a conference proposal before the work is even done can be a great motivator. Accordingly, I tossed my name into the hat for the Florida Distance Learning Association conference for September of this year - 8 months away.

Here was my proposal:

Going All-In: How to Create a Flipped, Gamified, Blended MOOC

 Abstract: Educators nibble at new technologies all the time, often in small bites to reduce workload and confusion. What does a course look like that combines many strategies at once? This course on fairy tales was built for Honors students, but opened as a MOOC as well. It includes a flipped classroom model, heavy gamification overlays, digital texts, and optional social media integrations. We will discuss how each of these elements can be added individually (or in bulk) to your own classes—all at no cost to you or to the students. Our emphasis will be on practical applications and plug-and-play takeaway strategies rather than presenting empirical research.

I guess I need to MOVE on this now, huh?! I am starting to get some answers on LMS, though, coming in the next posts...