This presentation describes a course in teacher professional development that has been evolving gradually into a MOOC model. MOOCs enable participants to articulate and explore individual learning strategies. This differentiates master learners from those they are employed to teach. When learners must adapt to jobs that haven’t been invented yet, teachers must help learners become master learners; otherwise their ‘training’ only applies to known jobs.

1. What’s with the MOOCs?
How MOOC Learning Reaches
Students through TPD
Vance Stevens
Higher Colleges of Technology, UAE
AAMC / PACE / KBZAC

2. You don’t need to take notes!
All my slides are online
• http://slideshare.net/vances
A writeup of this presentation will appear in the
next issue of http://tesl-ej.org/ , drafted here:
• http://tinyurl.com/tacon2013vance
Vance Stevens - TACON Conference Dubai -
March 2013

3. Early MOOCs for ESL
MOOCs started with CCK08 in 2008, but …
• 1997 http://study.com
(1000’s)
• 1998: Writing for
Webheads (100’s)
• 2001: Electronic Village
Online EVO (1000’s)
• 2002: Webheads in Action (100’s-1000)
From Leigh Blackall’s post: http://www.leighblackall.com/2012/10/a-trueer-history-of-moocs.html
Vance Stevens - TACON Conference Dubai -
March 2013

4. MultiMOOC
http://goodbyegutenberg.pbworks.com
Vance Stevens - TACON Conference Dubai -
March 2013

5. The spirit of multiMOOC?
• Follows Cormier’s 5 • Aspires to be
steps for success in a – Distributed /
MOOC Connectivist
– Orient – Directed at constructed
– Declare knowledge
– Network – Unstructured / informal
– Cluster – Negotiated
– Focus – Self-directed
– Self assessed
– Directed at deep
learning vs. training
Vance Stevens - TACON Conference Dubai -
March 2013

6. OK, then, what is a MOOC?
Vance Stevens - TACON Conference Dubai -
March 2013

7. What is a MOOC
• Massive - about scale
– relies on increased chance of interactions from a critical mass of
participants
– curriculum more and more from participants; less from top down
• Open - not just free, but
– open access
– open syllabus, not necessarily pre-scribed
• Online -
– Internet changes equation where the balance is tipped toward
abundance
– completely different playing field from scarcity
• Course -
– Structure
– Cohesion based in experience
Vance Stevens - TACON Conference Dubai -
March 2013

8. Connectivism
Siemens, G. (2004-5). Connectivism:
A Learning theory for the digital age.
Elearnspace. Retrieved August 17,
2011 from
http://www.elearnspace.org/Articles/connectivism.htm
Siemens’s conclusions
can be startling
In this YouTube video, Siemens says at min 1:13
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqL_lsogeNU&feature=youtu.be
"Have you ever thought about how
completely irrelevant structured learning is?"
MePortfolios - Vance Stevens - Aug 2011 8

9. Siemens on ‘the path to knowledge’
• “I’m not aware of any research actually that says linear structure
produces better outcomes than more chaotic meandering structure.
• Our intent, based on our theories of learning is to argue that the
experience of learning, making sense of that chaos, is actually the
heart of the learning experience,
• but if an instructor makes sense of that chaos for you and gives you all
the readings and sets the full path in place for you then to a degree
you are eviscerating the learner’s experience because now you’ve
made sense of them and all you’ve told them is ‘walk the path that I’ve
formed’.
• When it comes to complexity I’m a great fan of letting learner’s hack
their way through that path and getting the value of that learning
experience and that sense-making process.”
Quotes on this and next slide transcribed from
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMfipxhT_Co&feature=related.
MePortfolios - Vance Stevens - Aug 2011 9

10. Why MOOCs
Stephen Downes 2012; posted in Alan Levine:
http://cogdogblog.com/2012/09/21/just-ds106/
Vance Stevens - TACON Conference Dubai -
March 2013

11. OK, then, what is a MOOC?
Lisa Lane : http://lisahistory.net/wordpress/2012/08/three-kinds-of-moocs/
Vance Stevens - TACON Conference Dubai -
March 2013

12. xMOOCs and cMOOCs
Source: http://mooc13.wordpress.com/kategorien/vergleich-x-und-c/
Vance Stevens - TACON Conference Dubai -
March 2013

13. Downside of xMOOCs?
• Throw-back
to old
models of
learning
• Potentially
negative
impacts on
branding
Vance Stevens - TACON Conference Dubai -
March 2013

14. What are they good for?
Domains of the Cynefin model: David Snowden
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cynefin
Vance Stevens - TACON Conference Dubai -
March 2013

15. What’s in it for language teachers?
• MOOCs must be experienced! (Take one)
• Help teachers become master learners
• Focus on WHY things happen vs. HOW
• Help teachers learn about
– Learning strategies and heuristics
– Collaborative learning
Picture source: http://www.mtlsd.org/mellon/teams/ironbrigade/bloomsdigitaltaxonomy.asp
Vance Stevens - TACON Conference Dubai -
March 2013

16. The Future of MOOCs
“The connectivism model will become the primary model … they have to grow to become cMOOCS ...
They will do that over time” - Stephen Downes’s sketch from
https://sas.elluminate.com/p.jnlp?psid=2012-09-26.0742.M.9E9FE58134BE68C3B413F24B3586CF.vcr&sid=2008350
Vance Stevens - TACON Conference Dubai -
March 2013

17. Prediction
it won’t be long before MOOCs become
more mainstream for language learning
and teacher training
Vance Stevens - TACON Conference Dubai -
March 2013

18. What else do you want to know?
Almost 500 posts about MOOCs: http://www.downes.ca/mooc_posts.htm
http://advanceducation.blogspot.ae/2012/11/when-is-mooc-not-mooc-what-mooc-
means.html #353 of 474 references)
Vance Stevens - TACON Conference Dubai -
March 2013

19. Where to find MOOCs?
http://www.openculture.com/free_certificate_courses
http://www.mooc-list.com/
Steve Hargadon’s Classroom 2.0 http://www.mooc.me/
Vance Stevens - TACON Conference Dubai -
March 2013

20. And of course …
All my slides are online
http://slideshare.net/vances
A writeup of this presentation will appear in the next issue of
http://tesl-ej.org/ , drafted here:
http://tinyurl.com/tacon2013vance
Vance Stevens - TACON Conference Dubai -
March 2013