Comparing MOOCs - a cMOOC and an xMOOC (H817 activity 14)

DS106 looks amazing to me - I think I may sign up for that after H817.

The video of a cat in a piano duel - one of the products of DS106 -  was the highlight of my day.

	DS106	Udacity
Technology	Broadly, DS106 uses a deep range of Web2.0 technologies suited to a variety of social platforms, and enabling the creation of a variety of different media - blog posts, tweets, audio files, mash-ups of videos etc. Web connection. Each learner needs to set up accounts in Twitter, Flickr, Google and Soundcloud, and to create a consistent online identity for each using Gravatar. Each learner needs their own blog. Learner conversations happen by way of blog post and comments, and Twitter posts. Each learner needs their own domain. RSS feeds and the use of Google Reader are encouraged to enable learners to be part of the ongoing conversations and postings. Google+ hangouts.	Broadly, Udacity seems to require fairly basic technologies suited to a fairly passive learning experience. They are not exploiting the social, networking aspects of the internet at all. For the course only, a web connection with minimum speeds to access the content. For online proctoring a webcam and microphone is also required. There are online forums, but it isn’t clear what technology is used to power these. There is a web-link to a site for Udacity meet-ups in real locations – I checked the group for KL, there is no meeting currently scheduled, so I didn’t get the feeling that these are promoted heavily as a necessary part of the Udacity experience.
Pedagogy	Connectivist – The DS106 course and platform is a website that creates a community of learning.	A mixture of behaviourist (online quizzes to stimulate learning) and cognitivist (there are problems to solve and forums to discuss activities and make meaning with fellow learners).
General approach and philosophy	This is a ‘cMOOC’ – connectivist in spirit, nurturing a community of learning around the topic of Digital Storytelling. Course structure and content Learners are encouraged to create content. There are weekly assignments presented in a linear fashion. Whilst the website writes about the aspiration to allow learners to create their own non-linear learning paths, this hasn’t happened yet. Support – for technical problems, learners are encouraged to use the internet to find a solution. For problems with assignments, learners are encouraged to use Twitter. I got the sense that open learners will only get support from any of their peers that they engage with online – I don’t think any tutorial support is given.  Assessment For open learners, posting your assignments and getting comments seems to be a core part of the course. There are assessments for the learners studying at the university – the main requirement seems to be that you do the assignment and write up your thoughts on the process in your blog – as long as learners follow these guidelines then they will ‘pass’. Certification None. Timing Open learners can do the course at any time and pace, but are encouraged to run along at the same time as an actual class.	This is an ‘xMOOC’ – more commercialised and using more of a behaviourist/cognitivist approach.  Course structure and content Content mainly comprises ‘bite-size’ videos that present learning’s in granular pieces. The courses include activities and assignments. There are weekly assignments presented in a linear fashion. Whilst the website writes about the aspiration to allow learners to create their own non-linear learning paths, this hasn’t happened yet. Support For free courses, the support for these is from other learners by way of forum posts. For some of the courses with a partner university, there are options to pay a fee that includes an element of tutorial support. From the Q&A section, it seems there are no course tutors – any support needed is provided by peer learners. Assessment Assessment is by way of assignments and a final test.  Certification Udacity gives free certificates if you attain ‘mastery’ level on a course, but these have no credits with any university. Certification from partner universities for some courses is possible, learners need to consult the partner’s website to check on requirements – there may be a fee to pay for this. Timing Any course can be done at any time, at the learner’s pace (which suggests that posting to forums may not be a key part of the learning here, as the timing is too broad to allow for much scheduling of collaborative work on activities.)