This is the bit I’m not sure I can cope with. Happily bumbling along with 160 odd pre-edcmoocers when suddenly, with the arrival of an email, it’s 32,000, or maybe even more. Leaping into the facebook group faster than several of us can click “add”!
The people joining the group share the same enthusiasm as those of us already engaged, and many are commenting that previous activities and discussions are useful in terms of both content and creating a buzz for the course start in 2 weeks. It’s great. New conversations, new perspectives, new talents.
Google+ has taken on new meaning giving it the much needed boost by creating the critical mass required to get it going. Fantastic.
In one respect it’s very exciting, it’s what MOOCs are all about, lots and lots of us connecting, sharing, inspiring, learning. But as I have articulated in earlier posts in this blog, my comfort zone lies really in a SMOOC, a SMALL MOOC, oxymoron though that may be. I’m feeling a little overwhelmed by the sudden enormity of our group and wondering how that might impact on my ability to function in the online social context of edcMOOC.
The safety of our little bubble has gone, and our very encouraging frainger group, as Ary has christened us, will integrated into the larger whole. Or maybe not. Perhaps it’s the creative element of the course that has me feeling a bit tentative. Will we still be able to find Chris’s suggestions which encourage us to take baby steps towards something new and challenging? As adults, we can feel very exposed when we have to create something for others, especially when one is not so creative….
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| Image Courtesy Dr S Seay, Licensed Psychologist……. |
However, I can’t retreat to a corner and do quizzes, only one way to participate in this course, and that’s together. So I think I’ve just got to let go of whatever I’m snagged on and go along for the ride, after all, that’s what I signed up for!
There. Done it. Heart on the sleeve and got it out. Serious journalling going on in this post. I might make a new video,”On Second Thoughts”, that transforms us of the “32000” into “real people”, and not just a MOOC statistic! All part of the MOOC learning curve.
“First Throw” http://youtu.be/9j-zuCy2NrY