Week 2-3 Transition

Happy Sunday everyone –

Our collective dive into Mobile Technology seems to have been very worthwhile – I appreciated the level of commentary and quality of reviews. It is a good warm-up for the meatier topic of Mobile Culture this week.

A few of you are still selecting multiple Categories for your posts – in almost all cases it is best to select just one. In particular, don’t select an umbrella Category like “Knowledge Mill” as this will get your post into the wrong streams and reduce its chance of influencing audiences (choose a single Knowledge Mill sub-Category instead).

Some notes:

Assignment #1:   By now you should have a topic in mind and have started to scope out the research you’ll wish to do.  I’ve had many topic-specific consultations so far, so please don’t hesitate to contact me if you have any questions about what is expected.  I’m also happy if pairs of you come together for an A1 submission, if there is good reason for this, but I’m guessing that will be easier, and also welcome, for A3.  Please use your explorations in the Knowledge Mill as way to think creatively about the design and presentation of your A1: you’ll encounter many posts from students in previous sections of the course that don’t fit perfectly, or don’t read easily, in a collectively curation mode.  There isn’t any ideal style guide, so consider carefully how your A1 will be both highly usable and exceptionally valuable.  Remember, this is meant to be a critical analysis of an existing facet of mobile, open, and/or flexible learning, and it certainly doesn’t have to be glowing and positive.

Assignment #2:   I’m hoping each of the Movable Feast teams have made first contact, and that those who are up to bat first are well underway.  Remember that you have considerable leeway as a team in determining the strategy, content and experience.  In most cases approaching the full topic may not be your best strategy – it may simply be too big and amorphous for you to create significant impact without some form of strategic focusing. Your objective is to produce an OER that offers the greatest value to a global audience of technology-minded educators like yourselves.  Once again, please don’t hesitate to bounce ideas off me if you want to make sure you’re on the right track.

Please remember your casual curatorial role as you engage with course material. Rate, recommend and review. I know the hardest part is offering constructive criticism – we don’t know each other well (if that even matters) and it may feel uncomfortable or asocial to rate or review a peer’s work. However, this platform isn’t meant to be “social”, it aims to be “professional”: you are being given an obligation to curate content for everyone’s benefit. The essence of professionalism has always been about constructive peer engagement. With mindful purpose, and creative tact, you can achieve this without ruffling anyone’s feathers.

Questions welcome.  Good luck,

David