Recently, I had the opportunity to present two papers at the Association for the Advancement of Technology in Education (AACE) EdMedia 2011 conference in Lisbon, Portugal.  One of the keynote speakers was Alec Couros who is Professor of Educational Technology and Media at the University of Regina.  Couros’ talk was fascinating for the insights into learning as it is evolving through the utilization of today’s rapidly changing technologies.  However, what particularly interested me was his description of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs).

In an article in The Chronicle of Higher Education, I read about the eduMOOC 2011 being hosted by the University of Illinois at Springfield, but at the time of Professor Couros’ keynote address, the course had not started.  However, Couros stimulated my interest in MOOCs by inviting all 900 conference participants to register for a MOOC at his university entitled EC&I 831: Social Media and Education.  According to Couros, the MOOC is free unless you want to take it for academic credit AND the course is dependent upon having the non-credit-seeking students attend.  I attempted to register immediately for Couros’ course, but registrations are closed until August.

Meanwhile, I conducted a little research on MOOCs.  Probably some of the best information can be obtained from YouTube videos assembled by Dave Cormier and his associates at the University of Prince Edward Island.  In “What is a MOOC?,” Cormier argues that a MOOC is a response to a world with information overload.  It is a course with facilitators, materials, and participants.  It is “an event in which people who care about a topic get together to talk about it.”  Participants make connections between ideas, materials, and the facilitators and participants.  The course is part of a way of building learning by creating networks that enable the participants to increase their lifelong learning.  Cormier’s “Success in a MOOC” video provides five key points for participants in a MOOC to keep in mind.  My favorite is the last one, focus.  Given that the idea of the MOOC, according to Cormier, is to facilitate a learning network in a world with information overload, it seems that participating in a MOOC with as many as 3,000 participants might contribute to that overload without a specific focus by the participant.

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Randy Pausch, Computer Science Professor at Carnegie Mellon and author of The Last Lecture, died of complications from pancreatic cancer at the age of 47.  I didn’t know Randy, but like many, I was inspired by his story.  If you would like to listen to his last lecture, it’s available on YouTube.  If you want to read his book, it’s available at Amazon.com or other bookstores.  My blog review is at http://wallyboston.com/2008/07/09/the-last-lecture/.

Randy expressed no regrets professionally for his terminal diagnosis at such an early age.  He said that he had accomplished everything that he set out to accomplish other than playing professional football in the NFL.  His only personal regret was that he would miss growing old with his wife and children and he did the book and lecture for them.  Randy, you were right; there are thousands of people like you.  We just need more of them to stand up, like you did.  My life is richer for hearing your story.  It’s my understanding that on Tuesday night (7/29) Diane Sawyer will do a story on ABC’s Primetime celebrating your life.  I’ll be sure to tune in.