Exploring EMMA: the use of social media in MOOC Practice

Eleonora Panto, CSP, Italy@epanto

This presentation is made starting from the EMMA webinar leaded by Deborah Arnold and Denis Guvenatam, Alexandra Maurice

University of Burgundy, France@eumoocs#euMOOCs #ischiasummerschool

• Introductions

• A MOOC design framework• Where social media sits in this framework

• Concrete examples from two EMMA MOOCs

• Sharing experience

• Conclusions and advice

Social media activity for EMMA MOOCs is relevant for two kind of reasons:

To increase number of followers, to attract more attention on specific subjects of different courses

To create community learners and to activate informal learning, useful for a complete and rich learning experience,

HOW TO DESIGN A MOOC IN 9 EASY STAGES (G. SIEMENS)

MOOC

Topic, audience

Find someone to teach with

Determine Content

Plan spaces of

interaction

Plan interactions

(live, asynch)

Plan *your* continued presence

Learner creation

(activities)

Promote and share

Iterate and improve

http://fr.slideshare.net/gsiemens/designing-and-running-a-mooc

Purpose (EMMA examples)

• Digital Culture and Writing, University of Burgundy

– For students at risk

• Cultural heritage, Social Innovationand New Citizenship, University of Naples Federico II

– Marketing, reputation

• Computer-assisted enquiry, Tallinn University

– Filling gaps in the national curriculum

HOW TO DESIGN A MOOC IN 9 EASY STAGES (G. SIEMENS)

MOOC

Topic, audience

Find someone to teach with

Determine Content

Plan spaces of interactionPlan

interactions (live, asynch)

Plan *your* continued presence

Learner creation

(activities)

Promote and share

Iterate and improve

http://fr.slideshare.net/gsiemens/designing-and-running-a-mooc

Social media

Even in a MOOC, Students Want to Belong

A key finding of this research suggested that where teachers were able to foster a sense of belonging in their course, students reported greater enjoyment, reduced anxiety and were less inclined to withdraw from the course.

http://www.socialsciencespace.com/2014/09/even-in-a-mooc-students-want-to-belong/

TEACHER

Individual?

Team?

Previous experience

•Online teaching

•On camera•Social media

Availability•Design stage•Production stage

•‘Animation’ stage

Role?•Content delivery

•Interaction with participants

Support?•Community manager

•Distributed teams

In Connectivism, No One Can Hear You Scream…. (Brennan)

http://www.hybridpedagogy.com/journal/in-connectivism-no-one-can-hear-you-scream-a-guide-to-understanding-the-mooc-novice/

“Not everyone knows how to be a node. Not everyone is comfortable with the type of chaos Connectivism asserts. Not everyone is a part of the network. Not everyone is a self-directed learner with advanced metacognition. Not everyone is already sufficiently an expert to thrive in a free-form environment. Not everyone thinks well enough of their ability to thrive in an environment where you need to think well of your ability to thrive.

Learning to be a node in a cMOOC environment is hyper-demanding.

Learner activities in a MOOCWatch videos

Read material

Do quizzes

Research information

Share information and comment• Within the platform?• In wider social media?

Produce artefacts• Individually• Collaboratively• Where to publish?

Evaluation?

Certification

Why use social media in a MOOC?

Knowledge in a MOOC is

emergent and dependent on

interaction with others

Harness the power of social and

participatory media to enable participants to communicate and collaborate through a

variety of channels

Use hashtags and curation tools to filter

and aggregate

Focus on personalisation and collective

intelligence

Dave Cormier, quoted by Conole, G. (2013). MOOCs as disruptive technologies: strategies for enhancing the learner experience and quality of MOOCs. Revista de Educación a Distancia, 39, 1-17.

Which tools to use and why: pros and cons

Social media tools specific to

MOOC platform

Well known public social media

Open source

equivalents of social media

Social media activities (#OWU)

• Open Wine University #OWU University of Burgundy

• Draw taste map of tongue• Make soil sausages• Meet-ups for wine-tasting

• Sharing on social media and EMMA blogs

Facebook benefit (#OWU)

• Interactions with learners (‘personal’ profile)

• Personal tips for MOOC• Free chat

Informal interactions

Social media activities (DCW)

• Digital Culture and Writing University of Burgundy

• Results of Internet Search• Discovery/advice about different tools• Share activities and advice• Organise live MOOC• Informal exchanges

• Sharing on social media and EMMA blogs

Social media activities – Tweetchat

A one off, synchrononous get-together for 1 hour:

#MPSWchat

or a regular rendez-vous: #EDENchat,

#edchat

5 questions prepared in

advance

Main facilitator, supported by co-faciliators

Q1 / A1 to identify flow, 1 question

every 10 minutes

Collected in Storify for later

reference

Storify#EDENchat

https://storify.com/EDEN20_Official/moocs-and-online-learning

#MPSWchat https://storify.com/MoocMPSW/mpswchat1

Tweetchat – advantages

Learning by doing Intensive practice, Demystify!

Professional development Access, share and create new knowledge

Motivation! Mutual follows, favourites, retweets

Network Meet people with similar interests

21st century competencies Digital identity and agility, Critical thinking

… …

Live MOOC: Digital Culture and Writing

Live MOOC: Digital Culture and Writing

Conditions for success

Fit for purpos

e

ObjectivesActivitiesEvaluation

Learners at ease

with social media

RisksQuestions of privacy

Teachers at ease

with social media

Professional developmentAlternative strategies

Promote and share

In the context of MOOCs social media can be considered an interesting tool useful to activate the informal learning.

Social media can enrich learning experience; through social platform like Facebook and Twitter or personal blog

learners can keep in touch and interact to each other, can discuss of topic or an experience.

IN MOOCs 4.0 Social media can help to create the social field that helps learners to connect to their deepest sources of

intention and creativity.

The MOOCs evolution

One-to-Many:Professor lecturing to a global audience

One-to-One:Lecture plus individual or small-group exercises

Many-to-Many: Massive decentralized peer-to-peer teaching.

Many-to-One:Listening among learners as a vehicle for sensing one's highest future possibility through the eyes of others.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/otto-scharmer/mooc-40-the-next-revoluti_b_7209606.html

Critical literacies (Downes)These literacies encompass not only the skills related to comprehension and sense-making, but also the creative abilities that support criticism, construction and communication

http://halfanhour.blogspot.it/2015/02/becoming-mooc.html

Choice, chance, diversity and interactivity are what support learning in neural nets, not simple and static content. Cognitive dissonance is what creates learning experiences.

Further resources

• Redeker, C., Ala-Mutka, K., Punie, Y. (2010) “Learning 2.0 – the Impact of Social Media on Learning in Europe”, JRC Technical Notes. ftp://ftp.jrc.es/pub/EURdoc/JRC56958.pdf

• http://www.teachthought.com/technology/22-ways-to-use-twitter-for-learning-based-on-blooms-taxonomy/

• What resources do you know of? Share here and/or on Twitter #euMOOCs

Thank you!

Task

• What social media tools would you like to use in your MOOC?

• What are the main advantages of using social media?

• What are the main challenges in using social media in this session?